[GZG] Re: [LST] Mail list vs. Forums

["Allan Goodall" <agoodall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 7/10/06, wscottfield@xxxxxxxxxxx <wscottfield@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Another advantage forums have over mailing lists is that some people are hesitant about
> sending their email address out to people they don't know.

Personally, I prefer e-mail. I am on a bunch of forums, including
Yahoo Groups. I visit them maybe once every month or two. The main
exception is the RPG.Net group, but I only bother looking through
first page of messages.

The "giving e-mail address" thing is no big deal, since there is a
plethora of free e-mail sites. If you get a Gmail account you have 2
GB of storage with an excellent search engine. I doubt the full 7 or 8
years of list archives touches 10% of that.

I use my Gmail account for all my e-mail. I have some mailing lists
forwarding into folders automatically. You can do this with any
competent e-mail programs, and MS Outlook. I don't understand the
"wade through hundreds of messages" comments, as it is so easy to have
inbound e-mails from this list shunted to a folder.

Gmail supports POP, giving me full offline editing with an online
personal archive.

A forum would allow HTML editing and posting of pictures, something
that is verboten on the list (though I notice quite a few people
squeezing in HTML e-mail).

As others have said, if the list was shifted to a forum I would be
less active. I suspect, though, that this will be an invevitable
shift. Forums are the de facto standard. Most folks don't have a clue
how to sign up to a traditional mailing list.

Allan

--
Allan Goodall            http://www.hyperbear.com
agoodall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
awgoodall@xxxxxxxxx
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