Re: [Sheflug] Use of mailing lists and online forums

[(Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 09-Apr-08 07:11:06, Robert Holland wrote:
> Following on from James Vasile's talk last week I'm trying
> to get a feel for free software community collaborative tools.
> In particular I wondered how people view the advantages /
> disadvantages of using email lists compared with forums.
> 
> I've done a quick search for published studies on this but
> couldn't turn up anything which offered a useful summary of
> opinion.
> 
> If anyone has any pointers or would like to share their
> thoughts it would be appreciated.
> 
> Bob

I have no pointers relevcant to what you ask, but I'm
happy to share a thbought.

The principle difference between a mailing-list (as such)
and a forum (as such) is that the mailing-list sends you
a personal email which is yours to keep and do what you
like with.

With a forum, on the other hand, you log in (assuming
you're a subscriber), read anything posted to the forum
that's interesting, and then if you wish you can post a
reply which you compose while logged in. There's no direct
method to get either the posting or your reply onto your
own machine. Similar with web-mail, of course.

Personally, I value the convenience and flexibility of
the email approach, and the fact that I can preserve my
own archive of emails (and my replies) for as long as I
want and in a place where I can always easily access them;
and would never want to depend mainly on the "forum"
paradigm.

Of course, with many forums you can register on an "email"
basis too, so you get sent the postings and can reply
from your own mailer if you wish; and you can still log
in to the forum and do it the other way as well.

So then you get the best of bioth worlds. But in that case
the forum is also doing suty as a mailing-list.

On that basis, I think both should be available.

Best wishes to all,
Ted.

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Date: 09-Apr-08                                       Time: 18:17:11
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