Re: Re: Sum-up: Re-proposal: web forums

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Hi all,

Having been on a lot of forums and mailing lists, I definitely 
prefer mailing lists. I've read the various pros and cons of both 
with interest here. Frankly, I've never found it a problem to do 
everything people say is great with forums with mailing lists -- 
and I do a lot of traveling and frequently do not have access to 
my own computer when I have to check mail (and reply to posts) or 
do web searches.

The biggest issue I have with forums is that it is a nuisance to 
save important posts which I need to keep for whatever reason. If 
I can't save the post at the time, later (which might be several 
months later), I find that if I don't remember some of the exact 
wording, I may never be able to find it again on a forum. Once 
something moves down to the 4th or 5th page, it's gone as far as 
I'm concerned. I don't have that problem with mailing lists. The 
archives are usually threaded in such a way that I can locate 
posts that took place even years earlier without having to 
remember an exact phrase. Using Google (and Yahoo! and I assume 
MSN) to search a particular archives (even when the archives has 
no search feature) is very easy.

Also, with mailing lists, I can glance at all the Subjects: in my 
mailbox and decide if I'm interested -- I'm frequently not. I 
don't have a problem with deletion. However, it happens often 
enough that something I hadn't thought about but turns out to be 
very important gets brought up by someone else on the mailing 
list. I would never have seen it otherwise. I certainly would 
never have seen it on a forum.

My experiences on forums compel me to reply to one thing 
(otherwise I probably would have not said anything at all)...

On Saturday 22 April 2006 09:07 pm, Sterling Christensen wrote:
> > > You can't cancel or edit posts. Forum moderators can delete
> > > spam posts.
> >
> > That's just a horrible feature.
> > As with any kind of censorship it will do nothing but make
> > people suspect you for deleting legitimate posts.
>
> There've been forums like that, but they die quickly. Only
> forums with trustworthy admins get popular. So that's generally
> not a problem.

Forums can tend towards cliques. So-called "popular" forums, 
especially, can have this quality -- because popularity 
frequently equates to regulars who always show up and post. 
Whether you notice the censorship or not is directly related to 
whether you agree with the dominant viewpoints. A trustworthy 
admin often is one the reader agrees with -- not necessarily one 
that is impartial. I've seen threads locked or deleted on a 
number of very "popular" forums because someone aired a grievance 
against an important advertiser or sponsor of the forum.

That isn't to say that prima donnas don't appear on mailing lists, 
but it's easier with a mailing list to suggest a point of view 
that is not the dominant one and get it heard and responded to.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Add a forum if you feel 
you have to have one, but don't get rid of the mailing list. 
Please.

deedee

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