On 1/26/06, Alex Fisher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It will also result in quite a few current readers of this list no longer > being able to follow discussions. There are quite a few who detest the forum > format (I'm one - I fond them clunky and very difficult to use, and > invariability very slow - Email has disadvantages, but IMO fora have even > more. > > Unless there is some way of forwarding posts to the forum to the mailing list, > and vice versa, then such a move is of very limited use or benefit > (personally, I can't see any benefit).
If you were talking about the older generation of forum software, I would agree its really clunky and hard to use. I hate using those and no longer participate in older generation forums. They are organized poorly and typically don't have the ability to subscribe by e-mail. If you use a modern latest generation forum software, they are actually much better than an e-mail list and are easier to follow. If it wasn't for Gmail's excellent search ability, it would be extremely hard for me to follow this e-mail list. And even then its hard to follow. In a forum, posts are organized better, making it easier to follow and find what you want. Plus you can subscribe (receive e-mails) to only the topics/threads that you want, and not have to subscribe to the whole forum, although you can subscribe to the entire forum if you want too. Basically, the latest generation of forum software (with or without plugins) actually is an e-mail list AND a forum, since both features have now been built into the forum software. There are some forum software that include the entire post in the e-mail notification. Web Wiz Forums ( http://www.webwizforums.com/ ) is one of them. You can subscribe to any topic or forum area without participating, and you will receive e-mails like the ones you are receiving now with the entire text of whatever the person wrote. No need to actually visit the forum unless you want to reply, which a link is provided on the top of each e-mail so you can reply directly to that post without having to wander around the forum. Also, other forum software may have the ability to e-mail the entire content of the post to subscribers as a built in feature or by the forum admin adding a plugin or mod. Using a modern forum software, you actually have the same thing as an e-mail discussion list, with the only difference being that you have to fill out a form on the forum to reply instead of pressing the reply button on your e-mail. And, someone may have written a plugin to handle that as well. depending on the forum software you use. Scott M. Stolz http://www.wistex.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
