Web forums vs mailing list (was Re: minor list changes)

[Dave Dunfield]

>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?

I prefer the mailing list for several reasons:

1- I am on dial-up. I can just "let it download", and then come back to
   read the messages as quickly as I like - web based clients are SLOW
   on dial-up, and you have to be there to click on every item you want
   to read, so you have to wait for it. This by itself would probably be
   a show stopper for me.

2- The list comes as nice plain text. If I want to save something, I simply
   save it - Saving text from the web is usually (not always, but usually)
   much more a pain in the butt.

3- Many sites nowadays use "extensions" and other goodies (and I use the term
   loosly) which make them unreadable on my anicent browser... It's fine to say
   "you just have to upgrade your browser", however there ARE no newer browsers
   for the particular platform that I use - If staying connected to this list
   means that I have to change to a "modern" OS, then I would simply wave goodbye
   and bow out. I expect there are a few others who would do the same...

4- Another point relating to #3 - this system I am using does not EVER download
   a "plug in" or applet and run it - attachments that I do accept NEVER
   automatically launch themselves (and if they did, they wouldn't know how to
   run here) ... so this machine has no "anti virus" software, doesn't need it,
   and never gets "infected" (because it never auto-runs anything). I have no
   doubt that a web based interface would have all kinds of neat-cool java
   applets, plug-ins and other things which compromise security - Even though
   the "list" site might be safe, forcing people to turn these things on will
   cause trouble for those of us who choose to avoid them.

5- The mailing list has an element of privacy - Since you have to both know
   about it and manually subscribe to it, there's a good chance that by the time
   someone shows up here they really are more than casually interested in classic
   computers. Once we get links from non-classic sites (hey, here's a place where
   I've seen XP installs discussed), and indexed by the search engines, you can
   bet that non-topic material will rise.

Regards,
Dave
-- 
dave04a (at)    Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot)  Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com             Collector of vintage computing equipment:
                http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html