[MLB-WIRELESS] Mailing list Vs Forum?

[Andrew Dean]

> On Sat, Jun 29, 2002 at 01:38:56PM +1000, Andrew Dean wrote:
> > Is there an advantage to running a mailing list rather than say a web
based
> > messageboard/forum type thing?
>
> Web based forums aren't as convenient.  Some people may not even
> remember to check them and as a result questions would go unanswered.

- I see it quite the opposite, if you aren't at your computer that has your
mail client setup then you can't read them (well you can read the archvie,
but how up to date is it?) and you can't reply because they don't accept
email from none registered users now... and you can subscribe to good forums
so you get threads mailed to you... new or existing...

> > - It would reduce the load and bandwidth used on the servers as it
wouldn't
> > have to send out an e-mail to the (i have no idea how many people are
> > subscribed to this list) XXX people subscribed to the list....
>
> On the otherhand it'd increase load and bandwidth for messages that get
> read by everyone that would be subscribed to the list.  Reading through
> every message in a forum would be much slower and would have a higher
> load than mailing someone the messages.

- How do you figure this? if you have a decent forum all messages for 1
thread can be shown (or say 10 at a time) and what are the chances that 100%
of the list is going to read a message? at the moment the message is mailed
out to 100% of the list so it will be less load and bandwith used on the
server through the forums... Slower for the reader, yes i guess it would for
all those plebs still on dial up :) heh I think the mailing list would have
a much heaver load on the server ... look at how late some people get
messages and how much time difference there is between 1 person getting the
message and some others.. if your at the top of the list you get it sooner,
if at the bottom .. then i think i've seen people get it alot later...
understandable this could be thier mail servers or something on the way
there.. but consistantly getting it later... just speak to ProFX on
#melb-wireless

> > - You could track the threads that interesed you, I know i skip through
some
> > messages, mainly the political cra... stuff... when i know this is
important
> > but not to me
>
> If you have a decent mail user agent that supports threading then you
> can do that anyway.


- Yes but you are still recieving the mail/threads you don't want ie wasting
bandwith and server load...

> > - The different mailing lists you have setup - you could make these
> > sepereate forums and maybe give everyone else read-only access to them
so we
> > can see whats going on? etc...
>
> Could use online archives.


- Yeah i wasn't sure if we have access to reading other lists...


Ferni



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy Lunn" <jeremy at austux.net>
To: "Andrew Dean" <ferni at shafted.com.au>
Cc: "melbwireless" <melbwireless at wireless.org.au>
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2002 2:18 PM
Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] Mailing list Vs Forum?


> On Sat, Jun 29, 2002 at 01:38:56PM +1000, Andrew Dean wrote:
> > Is there an advantage to running a mailing list rather than say a web
based
> > messageboard/forum type thing?
>
> Web based forums aren't as convenient.  Some people may not even
> remember to check them and as a result questions would go unanswered.
>
> > - It would reduce the load and bandwidth used on the servers as it
wouldn't
> > have to send out an e-mail to the (i have no idea how many people are
> > subscribed to this list) XXX people subscribed to the list....
>
> On the otherhand it'd increase load and bandwidth for messages that get
> read by everyone that would be subscribed to the list.  Reading through
> every message in a forum would be much slower and would have a higher
> load than mailing someone the messages.
>
> > - You could track the threads that interesed you, I know i skip through
some
> > messages, mainly the political cra... stuff... when i know this is
important
> > but not to me
>
> If you have a decent mail user agent that supports threading then you
> can do that anyway.
>
> > - The different mailing lists you have setup - you could make these
> > sepereate forums and maybe give everyone else read-only access to them
so we
> > can see whats going on? etc...
>
> Could use online archives.
>
> Perhaps the ideal thing to do would be to have an NNTP server with
> newsgroups that are gatewayed to a mailing list and have a web based
> NNTP client.  That way, those who want to use a newsclient can do so,
> those who went to use the web can do so and those who want to the
> mailing lists could also do so.  Everyone would be happy that way.
>
> --
> Jeremy Lunn
> Melbourne, Australia
> http://www.jabber.org/ - the next generation of Instant Messaging.
>
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