On 10/11/2011 6:10 AM, Dmitry Kozhinov wrote:
> doesn't "pull" let them manage their own time better?
Yes. This is why my vote is for forum, not mailing list.
Dmitry.
I've stayed out of this thread thus far, and probably will going
forward, but I vastly prefer mail lists and I think the above is a
non-argument. Forums do not allow better time management by any
objective means. In a mail list, I am equally capable of sending all of
the mail list to a folder, or not, threaded in my mail reader, or not,
as I choose, and I can read them whenever I want. If I see a topic pop
up that interests me, I can read it then, or not. I can make agile
changes in my interests easily.
Forums have one major failing for me: Out of sight is out of mind.
If I have to go to a website, login (maybe it has cookies, maybe it
doesn't; maybe it does and I don't want the website to remember my
password!) then find the thread or topic where I left off, which will
take a few clicks or more depending upon how long it has been. Mail
messages are all right there, and I only need to go to the most recent
undeleted or unread one with less effort.
But, there is also a tradeoff in volume. If a mail list starts receiving
100s of messages a day it becomes less useful and it might as well be a
forum. Linux kernel development lists come to mind. Those would be more
useful as a forum. There are very few topics in there that actually
might interest me and the flood of mail makes it a chore. OI is a
smallish mail list (aside from this thread!) so managing the (normally)
20 messages that come in in a day is easier in my inbox.
thresholds matter.
$.02
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