A quick look
at some of the successful forum/mailing list projects, for
instance Ubuntu, reveals that not only they have both, but also both
methods
of communication are teeming with activity.
Teeming with activity but close to zero signal amongst the noise.
I keep on searching google for solutions to Ubuntu based problems.
All of the top hits on google point to UbuntuForums and when I
go there there is almost never an answer. The UbuntuForums are
absolutely chock full of "Me too" or people saying "that didn't
work for me".
Ironically, my experience is that solutions to most of my very hardware and/or
setup-specific problems were found on Ubuntu forums. More so, some of them were
even applicable to Fedora install but were not available on the Fedora forums...
Many of their how-tos are very helpful which points to another advantage of a
well-designed forum: readability.
FWIW, as far as the "speed" of forums
is concerned, it largely depends on
what you use in combination on what kind of hardware you run. I've seen
some
that are quite fast despite the often dubious
eye-candy.
Connecting to some web server on the other side of the planet
will always be slower than accessing mail that has been delivered
to me and is sitting on my hard drive.
You still need to receive such e-mail either actively or passively. It does not
miracoulously teleport into your HD. Either way, we are again talking about
personal preferences, rather than potential needs and/or interests of an
average user (which may or may not be something you find of value and/or
importance).
Best wishes and Happy Holidays to you and the rest of the list!
Ico