Addressing Ongoing Community Confusion and Proposed Next Steps

[Paillat-dev]

@erogol @reuben @Edresson

First, I apologize for mentioning you directly. I understand you may have moved on to other projects or responsibilities since the shutdown. However, given the ongoing confusion in the community, I felt it necessary to bring this to your attention.

Current Situation

It has been nearly a year since Coqui officially shut down operations. Despite this significant time lapse, there appears to be persistent confusion within the community. New issues, feature requests, and even pull requests continue to be created on a weekly basis, often lacking context about the project's current status.

Observed Issues

1. Lack of Clear Status Information: The repository doesn't clearly indicate its non-maintained status to newcomers.
2. Ongoing Community Activity: Despite the shutdown, the repository continues to receive regular activity from users unaware of the situation.

Proposed Steps Forward

To address these issues and provide clarity for both existing contributors and newcomers, I suggest considering the following steps:

1. Update Repository Status:

   • Add a clear notice at the top of the README.md about the project's current status and the date of the shutdown.
   • While it might be too much, consider archiving the repository to signal that it's no longer actively maintained.

2. Pin Explanatory Issues:

   • Pin an explanatory issue, such as the next steps after shutdown #3488" issue to the top of the Issues page for immediate visibility.

3. Clean Up Open Items:

   • Review and close any outdated or irrelevant issues and pull requests.
   • Add labels to remaining open items to categorize them appropriately.

4. License Clarification:

   • If possible, provide clear guidance on the license status of the existing models and code, especially regarding commercial use and fine-tuning.

Community Discussion

Input from the community on these proposed steps would be valuable. I encourage anyone with thoughts or suggestions to share them in the comments below.

Acknowledgments

While I'm not affiliated with the project, I believe it's important to acknowledge the efforts of all contributors and users who supported this project. The work done here has clearly been valuable to many in the open-source community.

By taking at least some of these or similar steps, the repository could provide much-needed clarity and direction for anyone interacting with it in the future. This would help reduce confusion and ensure that community efforts are directed appropriately.

Thank you for taking the time to read this issue. I appreciate your consideration of these suggestions. Your attention to this matter, despite the project's inactive status, is greatly valued by me, and likely, many others.

❤️

[haydonryan]

I second this - it caught me. If it's not maintained and won't be reopened - point to current forks. make it clear and even consider archiving the repository.

[rose07]

https://tts.byylook.com/ai/text-to-speech