Discuss mailing list

[opennic AT ned-ludd.com]

On Sun, 31 Dec 2017, vv AT cgs.pw wrote:

> Yes it's a dead forum.

I just googled 'mailing list vs forum' and found a /lot/ of 
opinions expressed in very reasonable terms.  Here's just one 
(from a guy whose business is forums) which I think addresses 
the dilemma well: 
<https://www.freelock.com/blog/john-locke/2010-03/mailing-list-or-forum-theory>

(TL;DR?  The lower the volume of posts, the less likely a forum 
will work.  The more groups a subscriber is in, the less likely 
they are to engage with a forum.)

After reading that I tallied my active involvement/interest in 
groups to over a dozen (which is probably not that many).  Some 
of those groups are busy and some aren't.  Some are email-only 
and some are forums with an optional email feed.  Most of these 
I read via an email feed regardless.  This is because I'm very 
comfortable with my email client and have it well tuned for 
quick and easy sorting and scanning of all incoming email.

A very few forums I'm in are so incredibly busy that my email 
would be quickly overwhelmed with content, so I wouldn't dream 
of switching on their email feed.  I monitor one very busy forum 
constantly because it's a subject that's very much a current 
preoccupation of mine.  Even so it's almost impossible to keep 
up with the torrent of posts.  If my interest wanes I'll 
probably simply drift away and lose touch because I won't get 
reminded of its existence via the occasional email.

Other forums are nowhere near as busy and I can handle the 
textual feed via email.  When I want to see pictures, get an 
overall view or reply in a thread I choose to actively visit the 
forum's web pages.  This may only happen a few times a week.

For everything else I stick to email.  It's quick and easy and 
requires very little effort on my part; it's just a part of my 
daily routine.  With my email client (Alpine) I never even have 
to reach for a mouse!  Most youngsters scoff at my 'archaic' 
command line email client when they first see it but once they 
see how quickly I can deal with my email they tend to change 
their tune.


I know there are forum platforms out there that can offer the 
sort of web interface plus email feed that keeps everyone happy 
and I'd be content to use one.  One group I'm in uses Discourse 
but it's not universally liked, had quite a few teething 
problems and seems to require a lot more active management than 
the mailman platform we migrated from after almost two decades 
of use.

--
ChrisG