[Wine] Re: Sum-up: Re-proposal: web forums
deedee
deedee at writestop.com
Sun Apr 23 15:29:07 CDT 2006
Hi all,
Having been on a lot of forums and mailing lists, I definitely
prefer mailing lists. I've read the various pros and cons of both
with interest here. Frankly, I've never found it a problem to do
everything people say is great with forums with mailing lists --
and I do a lot of traveling and frequently do not have access to
my own computer when I have to check mail (and reply to posts) or
do web searches.
The biggest issue I have with forums is that it is a nuisance to
save important posts which I need to keep for whatever reason. If
I can't save the post at the time, later (which might be several
months later), I find that if I don't remember some of the exact
wording, I may never be able to find it again on a forum. Once
something moves down to the 4th or 5th page, it's gone as far as
I'm concerned. I don't have that problem with mailing lists. The
archives are usually threaded in such a way that I can locate
posts that took place even years earlier without having to
remember an exact phrase. Using Google (and Yahoo! and I assume
MSN) to search a particular archives (even when the archives has
no search feature) is very easy.
Also, with mailing lists, I can glance at all the Subjects: in my
mailbox and decide if I'm interested -- I'm frequently not. I
don't have a problem with deletion. However, it happens often
enough that something I hadn't thought about but turns out to be
very important gets brought up by someone else on the mailing
list. I would never have seen it otherwise. I certainly would
never have seen it on a forum.
My experiences on forums compel me to reply to one thing
(otherwise I probably would have not said anything at all)...
On Saturday 22 April 2006 09:07 pm, Sterling Christensen wrote:
> > > You can't cancel or edit posts. Forum moderators can delete
> > > spam posts.
> >
> > That's just a horrible feature.
> > As with any kind of censorship it will do nothing but make
> > people suspect you for deleting legitimate posts.
>
> There've been forums like that, but they die quickly. Only
> forums with trustworthy admins get popular. So that's generally
> not a problem.
Forums can tend towards cliques. So-called "popular" forums,
especially, can have this quality -- because popularity
frequently equates to regulars who always show up and post.
Whether you notice the censorship or not is directly related to
whether you agree with the dominant viewpoints. A trustworthy
admin often is one the reader agrees with -- not necessarily one
that is impartial. I've seen threads locked or deleted on a
number of very "popular" forums because someone aired a grievance
against an important advertiser or sponsor of the forum.
That isn't to say that prima donnas don't appear on mailing lists,
but it's easier with a mailing list to suggest a point of view
that is not the dominant one and get it heard and responded to.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Add a forum if you feel
you have to have one, but don't get rid of the mailing list.
Please.
deedee
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