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

[John Beaumont <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2008-04-10 at 10:29 +0100, Robert Holland wrote:
> (Ted Harding) wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On that basis, I think both should be available.
> > 
> 
> I guess there is a use for forums as an easily browseable archive of 
> public information for tech support and the like - though I've found 
> some of these can be really difficult to navigate whereas Google will 
> often turn up a useful posting in an email archive. I'm less convinced 
> of their value over closed email lists for collaborative work in small 
> groups, mainly from the convenience / workflow aspects.
> 
> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
It is good to see some small support for online forums from a question I
knew would illicit a bit of a circlejerk over mailing lists.

I visit the Ubuntu forums every day and rather enjoy the community
there. The sheer amount of posts per minute would make a mockery of
keeping track of a mailing list. Where is this extra effort in visiting
your favourite forums everyday? I open firefox, all my sites are
immediately there on the toolbar, and I can browse at my leisure without
having to store hundreds of thousands of posts (in Ubuntu's case
millions) locally.

Both formats are useful and have a place. Sheflug wouldn't work as a
forum, it would receive low traffic and appear dead at times.
Ubuntu-security-announce is a godsend of a list. But I would prefer the
higher traffic sites to remain as huge publc archive forums. Can anyone
see somethingawful forums being successful as a mailing list? Nor can I.



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