The decision by REAL Software to shut down the maling lists got me thinking about the differences between Forums and Mailing Lists. A lot of people have expressed the most common problems with Forums -- they are slow, web-based, and don't "push" postings to you -- and I agree, but I tried to look at it from the other direction, as in what's good about a forum.
I concluded that because forums are a visual presentation of data, they are extremely useful for those searching for answers. You merely click on categories and subject lines and read the answers. Entries are static, making a Forum an ideal repository of answers. Mailing Lists are worse for finding answers -- you have to wade through lots of chaff trying to find an answer as often the subject line doesn't match the post, people quote too much previous text, etc. However, Forums are *horrible* for asking questions. Who, other than those paid to do so, lurks in a Forum looking for questions to answer? The biggest problem with Forums is their interactivity: there's no way to tell if a post has the answer or not and you have to wade through dozens (or hundreds) of responses, one by one, and see if it answers your question. (Email in a Mailing List has this problem also, but it's much easier and faster to browse through emails offline.) * The Solution * What would be the ideal situation would be a combination of the two concepts: a Mailing List for the discussion, followed up a Forum where summaried answers from the Mailing List are posted. The Forum would be locked so only moderators could post these summaries. With this concept, you get the best of everything: the Forum acts as a visual archive of the Mailing List, ideal for beginners and those searching for an answer. The Forum is static, so once an entry is added it's there forever, making it a wonderful linkable resource. And the Mailing Lists still retain their immediate "push" nature and are excellent for debates, discussions, and group thinking. Once a topic is concluded, you summarize the conclusions and move the summary to an entry on the Forum. There's no longer a need to search through thousands of garbage emails trying to find an answer. I'm not sure how to go about implementing this (summarizing ML posts would be time-consuming, though perhaps it could be automated), but I love the idea. Everything ends up consolidated on the Forum, which ought to please REAL Softwrae, but only relevant answers are posted there, so no more wading through chaff to find an answer. This seems like a win for everyone. What do you all think? -- Marc Zeedar Publisher REALbasic Developer Magazine http://www.rbdeveloper.com _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> REAL Software has decided to consolidate this mailing list with the online Forums. On Monday, February 12, 2007, this mailing list will no longer be active. We encourage you to continue your REALbasic and REAL SQL Server discussions on the Forums. If you are not presently a member of the forum, please sign up today at <http://forums.realsoftware.com>.
