.org forums instead of mailing list?

[ty at festf.org (Tyler P.)]

Well here's how I feel about it.

Good thing about email lists is that it does have a better community feel.
Also you don't get so many people telling you to go check archives or
whatever.  Some forums I'm in have idiots tell people to go check the
archive every time to the point that the only right question to ask is one
that is totally unique...

Bad things are that it allows topics to go on far too long and topics almost
always go way off topic on this list, thread hijacking is another problem in
my opinion.  Also, a good post is often quickly covered up by some stupid
thread that 2 or 3 people are exclusively adding life to.  This really
pisses me off when it's a political debate that's flooding the list making
it hard for people to notice a legit post.

Good things about actual forums: items are very well categorized and if a
post does go off topic it stays off topic at the bottom of the pile so only
those who care about it have to see it.  Newer posts are always at the top.
This also results in to-the-point answers and most threads last 2 to 3 posts
and that's it.  

Bad things about forums: it seems that most these days forums are being done
over http with slow html code... slow slow slow... arg... Don't people know
that a protocol was made for forums??? its call NNTP.  Its not hard at all
to create a news server.  I even offered to do it for the list 2 years ago.
This is fast and easy and nice.  But the reality is that everybody ignores
specific protocols today and uses http for everything and therefore I hate
web forums, which is what the scirocco list would probably end up being if
it went that route.  Not only this but http forums take away some of the
benefits of forums (for instance, Delphiforums move the topic to the top of
the list every time a post is made making it so OT posts quickly move
quieter posts out of site). Also, forums are generally filled with
administrator who enjoy abusing power and like to lock or delete threads at
their will.  I like how the scirocco list allows people to post whatever
they want.  Sure they may get banned from the list but at least their
message can't be censored once its sent.  

I guess if I had my way I would opt for an NNTP based Scirocco list... but
the email list is far better than an html based newsgroup and I don't find
it too hard to get through the off topic crap that the 3 to 4 participating
members call "community spirit" :o)

I have spoken.

-----Original Message-----
From: Erik Seo - The Canyons Resort [mailto:eseo@thecanyons.com] 
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 2:52 PM
To: Scirocco List (E-mail)
Subject: .org forums instead of mailing list?

Not sure how everyone else feels about this, has there ever been any talk of
going over to a forum instead of the mailing list?

I'd much rather see that than getting 100 emails a day in my inbox......


__________________________________
PRAY FOR SNOW!!!

Erik Seo
Internet Media Specialist / Staff Photographer
The Canyons Resort

435.615.3418
eseo@thecanyons.com
www.thecanyons.com
www.thecanyons-summer.com

_______________________________________________
Scirocco-l mailing list
Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l