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

[Robert Holland <bobholland@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stephen Carter wrote:
> 
> He says that from the ISP oriented conferences  
> he goes to (here in the USA) the message he is getting is to deprecate  
> mail lists, use forums.
> 
It would be interesting to know if this were just to make life easier 
for the ISP rather than as a response to customer needs.

>  From the point of view of usability and user acceptance, I also  
> haven't been able to find much authoritative opinion.

I did find a debate on Wikipedia relating to collaboration on that 
project - it seemed to me to be pretty strongly in favour of retaining 
email lists.

  I'd like to know
> how much the spam problem has reduced the usability of the email  
> system--that is, are people so swamped in email, both spam and things  
> they want to see, that forums with email announcements of new content  
> are the most effective way to set  up group collaboration.

Yes - I am swamped in email and see its effectiveness reducing due to 
unsolicited emails, but the postings from email lists which I subscribe 
to - like Sheflug - I can easily filter into Thunderbird folders and 
deal with them efficiently off-line. For other stuff in my inbox there 
is a delete button.

So far I personally have not made much use of forums and share what 
seems a common view - I really (and I mean really) do not like having to 
visit a web site to find the content. This probably stems from a history 
of low bandwidth and lack of 24/7 connectivity. While the email 
announcement option may sound OK, there seem to be many different 
implementations - the really annoying ones just send an email telling me 
there is a new posting of interest and send a link without sending the 
content. Why?

  The ability
> in a forum to see the whole conversation nicely laid out with indents  
> and color coding  should make for a better experience--graphics,  
> "normal" web navigation, all that sort of thing is available with the  
> forum interface, and one would suppose it would make for a better  
> experience. But where's the data showing, or refuting, this?

My own impression is that it gets in the way, especially if the forum is 
quite active and the server is not up to the job, but I guess some of 
this is down to server management. The display order on long threads 
often leads to these being presented across several pages and it is then 
very difficult to track responses to different posts. I can't see how 
this is more effective than a threaded email client where I can go 
directly to unread messages and easily see the ordering of responses.

I'm trying to find some killer advantage in using forums. I've also 
often admired the free software community for keeping things simple and 
effective.

Thanks for the response.

Bob
-- 
Robert E B Holland CEng FIET
Bradwell IT Solutions Ltd
Registered in England & Wales No: 2564938
Registered office: Throapham House, Oldcotes Road, Throapham Sheffield 
S25 2QS
Phone: 01909 568630 Fax: 01909 567825
Skype: rebholland
Web: http://www.bradwell.net/

*** For luxury bed and breakfast accommodation in South Yorkshire visit 
http://www.throapham-house.co.uk ***

_______________________________________________
        Sheffield Linux User's Group
  http://www.sheflug.org.uk/mailfaq.html
 GNU - The choice of a complete generation