OK, the forum is coming..

Mark markitect at gmail.com
Tue Jul 24 20:17:11 CEST 2007


On 7/24/07, Daniel Robinson <dgrobinson at dgrobinson.com> wrote:
> The fact that you are subscribed to 20 different mailing lists and you would
> find it difficult to read all of that information on 20 different forum UIs
> is your issue, and it is not the responsibility of this community to
> address.
>
> To state, axiomatically,  that mailing lists are more efficient is to
> attempt proof by assertion.
>
I think  you may fine that mailing lists are more efficient if you
want to read all information that comes across the list.

If however, you don't care about a significant portion of the posts
(like I have stopped caring to see this one). A forum is more
efficient cause you end up deleting it over and over again instead of
just not clicking on that thread.

> The goal is communication, not rightness.  How is communication best served?
>
Most people seem to specialize and therefore don't actually care about
all posts, so I think a forum is marginally more suited especially
when most of the traffic is dedicated to dumb arguments like this one
(which I realize I have now participated in).

So to increase communication I really think both solutions,
synchronized is best.  But I really think it should wait for some
official word if an official one is on its way (and delayed by more
important things like shipping the phones).
Mark

> --Dan
>
>  On 7/24/07, Andreas Kostyrka <andreas at kostyrka.org> wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > No, it's just habits. And it's not about Engineers, it's about long time
> > email users. (I mean the generation before the invention of the "http
> > protocol". If one can consider HTTP 0.9 to be a protocol ;) )
> >
> > And yes, email is important to these old timers. Mailing lists are quite
> > well standardized, there are less than half a dozen mailing list
> > management packages that matter, and even these have mostly the same
> > behaviour. I'm subscribed on more than 20 mailing lists (most of these
> > in the Linux/Python/PostgreSQL realm), that I follow more or less
> > depending upon work pressure. I can keep a tab on these mailing lists,
> > because they use a standard interface.
> >
> > Navigating 20 different "forums", is not feasible:
> >
> > - -) I need to actively pull information. That's time I could be already
> > using to read messages.
> >
> > - -) the UI of forums is really not uniform. I need to join, login
> > (depending upon the forum and my browser setting each time, every 2
> > weeks, never), manage to find if new messages that might interest me, ...
> >
> > - -) the UI of mailing lists is my known standard mail client.
> >
> > You can see the difference, e.g. my wife participates in a forum based
> > cooking community. Notice: "relative newcomer" (less than a decade
> > Internet experience), 1 community (not dozens of mailing lists needed).
> >
> > Basically, mailing lists are more efficient. Not necessarily easy on
> > newbies. (And yes, efficient does not mean easy. Efficient is measured
> > in units like "transaction" per "time unit". And I can clearly "process"
> > (or decide not to "process") more messages per hour in my mailer than
> > with my browser)
> >
> > Andreas
> >
> > Daniel Robinson wrote:
> > > What is it about engineers that they act like any idea other than theirs
> > > is not worthy of consideration?
> > >
> > > I don't know any of you, and I am only responding to this email because
> > > it is typical of the kind of traffic that has been going back and forth
> > > about this issue.
> > >
> > > Don't build your house on ice?  This is typical of the dismissiveness
> > > with which people have responded about this issue.  The straw man being
> > > used here, that wanting one position or the other is as meritorious as
> > > building one's house on ice, is not valid.  It smacks of sanctimony and
> > > that should be avoided.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 7/24/07, *Ted Lemon* <mellon at fugue.com <mailto:mellon at fugue.com>>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >     > Quite frankly I am completely, totally,
> > >     > overwhelmingly baffled at the resistance to the forums.  Quite a
> few
> > >     > people have expressed their dislikes of mailing lists and how they
> > >     were
> > >     > *very* reluctant (like myself) to join.
> > >
> > >     Worrying about your email address being exposed is pretty silly.
> > >     That's like worrying that the ice on a pond will break when it melts
> in
> > >     the spring and your house will fall in.   Don't build your house on
> > >     ice.
> > >
> > >     As for forums, they are very nice for casual use.   They are
> terrible
> > >     for staying in touch, unless you visit them obsessively.   The nice
> > >     thing about a mailing list is that the mail keeps arriving in your
> > >     inbox, you see it go by, and you can pay attention or not as you
> choose.
> > >     And if you miss something, it's easy to go back and find it.
> > >
> > >     Forums aren't bad - they're just different.   I think it would be
> great
> > >     if the casual traffic migrated to a forum.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >     _______________________________________________
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> > >     community at lists.openmoko.org <mailto:community at lists.openmoko.org>
> > >
> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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