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