I know you said "most may not see my reasons as valid" but this went to the
entire list so I would like an opportunity to address each of your issues
for the benefit of the other members that may not be familiar with how
forums work.
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#1 - most require a sign in identity AND a password (I can hardly keep track
Of all the passwords and sign ins I have already). For instance, I refuse to
have anything to do with Yahoo because of their obsession with signing in,
passwords, etc.
The Met List required you to create a password when you signed up. There
has to be a cookie somewhere on your computer that identifies you when you
send an email to the list otherwise anyone could send emails to the list
without subscribing.
When you sign up for most forums you can elect that it bypass the sign in
procedure every time you visit which will put a cookie on your computer.
Yahoo does require you to sign in frequently but most other forums don't.
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#2 In some forums people do not identify themselves, but instead have a
"handle" or forum nickname. I don't care to communicate with people whom
I cannot identify.
The Met List allows people to do the same thing. On this list you see my
email which is bobadebt at ec.rr.com, my real name is David Deyarmin.
Several other members use email addresses that are not connected to their
real identity.
HOWEVER, a forum admin can make it mandatory that you have your real
identity attached to your profile. An added benift of a forum is that you
can use avatars (small pictures) to represent yourself in each post. I'm
sure most people would use a real picture. The Admin can actually require
that a member either uses a real image or none at all.
Being new to the community I would love to see who I'm talking to when I
read this list.
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#3 Forums are always "live" - right now, for instance, it is 5:43 AM and I
Am writing the list. People will read it when they are ready, when they are
Not at work, or eating dinner with their wife or watching TV or the like. I
doubt any forum has anyone "on" at this time.
Of all your reasons I find this one the most confusing. You do not have to
use a forum in real time. A forum can be accessed by any member at their
convenience. I think your talking about chat rooms.
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#4 People can pretend they are ME and say horrid things in such a format.
(There was a Meteorite Blog that started about a year ago - I dropped out
within 20 minutes for this reason and the general filth of the place).
People can do the same thing at the met list
I could create a yahoo email account that was "mblood at yahoo.com" and make
it appear as Michael Blood when I send emails. I could subscribe to the
list and pretend to be you.
Forums are actually have more security protocols available designed to
prevent this very issue.
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This is from your other post to the list
The greatest problem I have with the list is people send Me private emails
with the list in the subject box: Since I sometimes Don't read all the posts
or sometimes take days to read them all, This means some private posts never
reach me. We would all do well to NEVER send a private post with
[meteorite-list] in the subject box - unless it is preceded with "OFF LIST"
All forums have a Private Message System which allows any member the
opportunity to send a message to a single person. Members have the option
to disable this feature if they do not want to receive PMs. Some forums
have a "Send a member an email" option which enable a person to email a
member without that member having to make their email address public.
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I hope this helps clear up a few of the concerns that you have.
Art has already said he's implementing code that will allow users to use
this list as an Email List or a Forum so hopefully it will please satisfy
all the members that use this venue to communicate with the meteorite
community.
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