.org forums instead of mailing list?

[MK1Scirocco16v at attbi.com (Dave Ewing)]

I feel similar to Tyler on this except a few choice points.  Kudos to Tyler
though!!

> Good thing about email lists is that it does have a better community feel.

One of the biggest reasons why I wouldn't want to go to forums!!

> 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...

This is true, but we still have people here that don't want to spend the
time to go over something with newer people and refer them to the forum BUT
it is usually on a topic that has been hashed, rehashed and then hashed
again!

> 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.

I agree here to a point.  Usually if a post goes on and on it is between a
smaller group, ie Cincy or a topic that has a lot of different angles.  I
have noticed that the list has gotten better (in general) about renaming the
thread if it goes off topic.

>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.

Again, these are usually labeled as such and are easily deletable (is that a
word??)

> 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.

Most of the forums I have visited go off topic rather easily and if someone
doesn't agree with someone else the name calling starts.  I realize that if
the administrator does their job that this would be fixed pretty easily but
usually it's just passed over as (I guess) this creates a ton of work for
the administrator.  To have 400+ (or whatever it is these days) people on a
forum and have one or two people policing it seems like it would be a huge
job.  But then again, we would probably loose quite a few people as I
believe that the reason why the list is as popular as it is is because of
the way it is set up now.

> 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)

Usually, Tyler, the of topic posts that create "community spirit" are such
labeled.  There are occasions that a topic goes off topic but usually you
see that it has done so and know to delete it.  For the most part, as far as
I'm concerned, there doesn't seem to be enough emails on this list daily for
this to be a big deal.  Again, this is my opinion as I realize some of you
are getting alot of other emails from other sources.  I usually get about 5
to 10 personal emails a day on top of the list and it doesn't overwhelm me
in the least.

Dave