Why not use forum?

[Hugo Mills]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 10:30:02AM -0700, Ben Burdette wrote:
> wim.delvaux at adaptiveplanet.com wrote:
> > I have set up a rule automatically moves the OM messages to a
> > folder I read when I have time.  Setting up that rule takes less
> > time than registering on a forum
> My thunderbird brings up a little box every 15 minutes announcing the 
> latest from the OM list primarily.  95% of it I don't care about. 

   Tell your email client to notify you only on the mailboxes you want
to know about rapidly, and then read the other mailboxes in a "batch
mode". I do this with linux-kernel -- I read it (with the "mark thread
as read" once key, mostly) once a day. I don't get notifications of
mail coming into that mailbox.

> > Because mails are much easier to process than web pages are. (bloated with 
> > stuff as they frequently are).
>   
> I have to object to this!  Email lists are far more subject to cruft 
> than forums - because everyone feels they have to include the context of 
> a conversation in every email!  So you read the same text over and over, 
> each time a little more indented. 

   I don't have many mailing lists I'm subscribed to, but at any one
time there's approximately 50 different conversations on those that
I'm reading, concurrently. How would you suggest maintaining suitable
context for replies?

   Suitable trimming in email replies is a skill that few people seem
to develop, to the detriment of all.

> > Because you have fewer steps needed to access messages.  Forums generally 
> > require you to select at least the forum you want to open).
> 
> You could always bookmark the forum you are interested in, so you go 
> straight there instead of having to navigate through the forum interface. 

   ... then navigate to every one of the threads I've been reading,
then scroll down to the bottom to find the posts that I haven't yet
seen, and remember where in the conversation I was...

   ... on every single forum I'm following.

   No thanks.

> But I still don't understand why groups choose mailing lists over 
> newsgroups.  Weren't newsgroups designed with this kind of thing in 
> mind?

   Too much spam on newsgroups, I think.

   Hugo.

-- 
=== Hugo Mills: hugo at ... carfax.org.uk | darksatanic.net | lug.org.uk ===
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