Hi Ron and list members: Sorry I haven't had a chance to formally vote on this issue. But let me give my reasoning on this issue. Personally I am all for keeping this as a listserv. And I certainly do not give precedence to a bulletin board over a listserv. And I am a member of four bulletin boards or forums (my understanding of the two is that bulletin boards are posted on whereas on forums you get an alert that someone posted to a discussion thread you have participated in. But essentially both bulletin boards and forums are much the same. Please correct me if I am wrong about what distinguishes one from the other.
Anyhow, what is of relevance is that in one of the bulletin boards over a period of about 5 years only about 20 posts have been made. Of these 20 posts, about 5 or 6 posts were mine. At the present time I do not know what the status of this bulletin board is. On the other bulletin boards, I participate actively in one of them. And I get alerts when someone has responded to the same thread that I posted, so I can check on how the discussion on the thread is shaping up. On the other two bulletin boards, well I have never posted and in fact never visited them after I first joined them. My reasoning on why I prefer listservs over bulletin boards/forums goes like this. Bulletin boards or forums require the member to take more initiative and be more actively involved, because the bulletin board / forum is more passive, in the sense that you are left to yourself to explore discussion topics and you get alerts only when someone posts to the discussion threads you have participated in. Listservs in contrast are more active (i.e. they circulate more discussion threads, since every discussion thread is circulated to all concerned) so they are more user friendly, and the expectation is that the member may respond *IF* (s)he finds a discussion thread relevant. In my opinion (and experience) the chances are members are more likely to respond to a discussion thread, rather than take the initiative of visiting a bulletin board or forum to scan for topics relevant to them. And despite that fact that they are searchable, over time one gets just too many hits to actually sift through what is relevant to the information one is looking for. In fact at the one forum that I frequently post to and visit (it is a very active forum), the place has become way too unwieldy, and I consider it too massive to really explore ALL discussion threads with any seriousness. Because there are just way too many threads or topics. In sharp contrast listservs are relatively painless and effortless because they take away the effort of doing anything but responding to a discussion thread one finds relevant. And in fact over the years I have saved EVERY post that I have found to be *of relevance to my OT practice*. I have never been able to understand why anyone would have a beef that they are getting too many e-mails from a listserv. Because all one has to do is delete the e-mail post that one is not interested in. I mean can there be anything easier than deleting an e-mail. In fact this is the cost of a free service. And if we consider ourselves knowledge workers who want to be able to give our point of view, learn from our peers, seek information and professional resources, sharpen our critical skills, hone our judgement around professional issues AT NO MONETARY COST then deleting e-mails is hardly something to complain about. Consequently I am refraining from voting, but offering my reasoning on this issue. For these reasons Ron I hope you will continue to stay with the listserv, rather than change to another format. On my part I am not sure how much I would participate on a bulletin board or forum. Perhaps more initially and less as the board or forum grows. Hope this is of some help. Best wishes and take care all, Biraj Charles Willmarth wrote: > I like bulletin boards/forums, though I prefer forums that use > "vbulletin" software > (http://www.vbulletin.com/). But I do realize that hosting these > boards does require resources. Forums can be configured to alert you > by email that a new message has been posted and will provide a URL > directly to the new message. At the same time forums do require a bit > more "work." Email comes to you rather than you going to the board. > Forums require the creation of a user name and password. But forums > offer archives of discussions that are searchable. Over time such > forums can become a wealth of knowledge. > > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 3/11/2004 9:22:38 AM >>> > Hi Ron and list members > I've spent some time navigating around the trial Bulletin Board. I > found > the poll but can't figure out how to cast my vote. Clicking on the > white > oval didn't produce any change, however I clicked on it several times > which might mean a lot of votes for staying with email. Personally I > avoid bulletin boards. I find them cumbersome. I'm sorry I haven't > been > participating much lately. If there are 475 or so lurkers who don't > post > and haven't unsubscribed the content must be useful. Come on guys > click > a few keys and let us know what you are thinking. > Perhaps this is the time to say how very much I have appreciated your > time and attention to the practical and theoretical issues facing > occupational therapy Ron. I know more about the views of participating > list members than about the views of the people I work with (with whom > I > work) > > Joan Riches > 1109 4th St SE > High River, AB T1V 1J2 > 403 652 7928 > FAX 403 652 7970 > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, visit: http://otnow.com/mailman/listinfo/otlist_otnow.com The OTnow Mail Archive: www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ===============================================
