minor list changes

[Doc Shipley]

John Foust wrote:

> At 08:28 AM 3/7/2005, David H. Barr wrote:
> 
>>>>>Why the emotional attraction to a mailing list as opposed to the web?
>>>>
>>>>Because the web is shit for just about everything?
>>>
>>>That would explain its unpopularity, of course.
>>
>>If it's popular, it *must* be right.
> 
> 
> Given the task at hand, given the needs of the users, given the 
> recently described hassles, is mailing-list technology the best 
> design and solution for this task?

   Yes.  In my Never-Humble opinion, yes.

   I have a ton of technical information archived in my CC email.  Web 
forums don't offer one-click archival.

   A bunch of us don't have fast connections, and any web interface is 
going to be slower than text email.  If I'm paying by the byte or by the 
minute for a connection, I can download all my mail, read it and compose 
replies offline, and upload all my replies in a very short time.  There 
is NO corollary option on a web forum.

   How the heck could I kill-file Sellam on a web forum?

   Who told you that managing a web forum would be simpler than managing 
a mailing list?

   Email offers many, many options for thread views, sorting, saving, 
and sending that may be _available_ on a web forum, but that are not 
variable on a web forum.  What I mean is that depending on my mail 
client, I can pre-sort list mail, see it in sequential order or as 
threads, color-code various posters, etc.  You can do some of that in 
web fora, but every subscriber has the same very limited set of options 
and views.  As a mailing list, it's totally customizable by the user.

   All the world is not HTML.  I personally don't care much for the 
World Wide Web, the software to "surf" it, or the content it attracts.

   I've seen several LUG mailing lists go webbie, and a couple of 
Unix/SIG lists go to forum basis.  They all either folded or went 
strictly L33T H4XX0RZ in a matter of months.  It's a fool's interface, 
and it attracts fools and hordes of dilettante subscribers.

   Imagine 3 Jim Isbells for every serious collector on the list.  I 
really do not think that an exponential increase in subscriptions would 
be anything but a disaster.

   You mentioned ease-of-use and accesibility in another post.  I've 
received 350-odd emails today, mostly not spam, and will read it all and 
reply to 30-40 of them tonight.  I will very likely not touch my mouse 
during that process.  Please feel free to name a platform-independent 
browser/forum combination that allows reading, sorting, and replying 
with simple hotkey navigation.


	Doc