----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Sconce" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "gnhlug" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 4:46 PM Subject: Re: Message Boards
> For what it's worth, *I* don't get message boards. Several other > groups(*) I'm involved with have tried to set up message boards, > or message-board-like facilities, in the past few months; the > ensuing dialogue in each case was suggestive of a solution in > search of a problem. > > I'm not attacking message boards; I just don't understand them. > Message boards are like news servers. The advantage of message boards is that you can set one up on a server you don't have control of, such as a shared hosting box. Most are written in PERL and all you need is the ability to run CGI. The advantage of message boards over PUBLIC news servers is they allow you to control who has access and who does NOT have access. However, if you have a machine and can set up your own NNTP server and moderate and control access to it, you probably have no need for a message board. The advantage of message boards over mailing lists is that YOU go to THEM, they do not come to you. Thus, you read only what you want to read, when you want to read it, and don't have to delete messages or whole threads from your mailbox that you have no interest in. (I have joined and dropped many mailing lists over the last few years for just this reason. I also considered dropping THIS list once for that very same reason.) :o) There is nothing inherently wrong with message boards. Their only downfall is who runs them. You can have some neat features, like todays active topics, threads sorted in order of most recent post, private messaging, and the ability to see who's on line, and you can prevent users from using html tags or "ubb script" to link to stupid sig images if you want. Rich Cloutier President, C*O SYSTEM SUPPORT SERVICES www.sysupport.com ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
