14 Jun
2004
14 Jun
'04
2:23 p.m.
At Mon, 14 Jun 2004 15:51:33 +0100,
Daniel James wrote:
Maybe it's because mailing lists are anachronistic, relatively
high-commitment, and generally sucky?
Yeah, I don't like 'em, and I'm signed up for 4. The forum is much
nicer IMHO because you can just pop in, see whats up, possibly say
something, and leave without any hassle. Mailing lists require that
you fill out a form, then setup folders and filters, and upgrade your
account to compensate for all the bandwidth your using. Lists are
also inferior for searching and categorizing since the integrity of a
thread can be comprimised by one response from a maladjusted client.
Another nice thing about forums is that you can sub-categorize them.
If the linux-audio scene were forumized, there would be one message
board with a sub-forum for developers and a sub-forum for users. This
way you could interact in both communities without having to sign-up
for two mailing lists.
But the biggest thing, in my opinion, is the level of commitment.
Mailing-list archives flat out suck, so the only real way to see
what's up is to join. It's an "are you in or out?" sorta proposition,
and it makes you feel like you gotta totally immerse yourself before
you're even allowed to see wtf is going on.
My vituperative $0.02
-Pete
I can't
really use web forums - I already find difficult enough to
handle e-mail!
I do know what you mean, but it seems to me that the mainstream
computer musician with a Mac or PC tends to use web forums as well
as, or instead of, mailing lists.
Maybe this is because most of these people only started using the
internet after the browser was invented, who knows?