Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Forum Format

From: Mark R. Harris ( brokerharris@gmail.com)
Date: 18 Feb 2008


The bottom line is, using thread subscriptions on a web-based forum, you greatly reduce the number of emails you receive that are of absolutely no interest to you. I consider that a gain. Sure, it's good to visit the forum once in a while to check out new topics, but that's no big deal; create an icon on your desktop and click on it occasionally. A web-based forum can accommodate more subscribers, posting on a wider range of potentially marginal sub-topics (and off-topics), without any strain whatsoever.

Mark

On 2/18/08, Patrick < malone.ps@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I rarely post, but usually read, so I'm chiming in here.
>
> A more fundamental issue to to me is "push" vs. "pull."
>
> The basic problem with web-based fora is one has to go to each of them
> to read them (and typically have to work through several layers to
> read several topics), versus with mailing lists having all of them
> come to one place. If one subscribes to 20 or 30 or more mailing
> lists on a variety of topics, the web-based approach becomes quite a
> barrier.
>
> And for many years now, it has been in many or most POP and IMAP
> clients a simple issue to filter out discussion topics that are not of
> interest.
>
> Pat
>
> On Feb 18, 2008 10:52 AM, Mark R. Harris < brokerharris@gmail.com<brokerharris%40gmail.com>>
> wrote:
> > Spelling is a minor issue; the full range of functionalities is a major
> > issue. A key point: the way Yahoo Groups is set up, I can receive all
> > emails; a daily digest; or no emails at all. What I can't do is decide
> which
> > topics and threads are of interest to me and receive update notices on
> just
> > those topics. Once you have gotten used to the ability to do that, the
> lack
> > of ability to do it is frankly somewhat infuriating. Think of all the
> > annoyance that was created by the endless back-and-forth on Altman's The
> > Long Goodbye, which could have been easily resolved if people could
> decide
> > to subscribe to that thread or not, based on their preference.
> >
> > Formats move on and improve. The "no frills" approach strikes me as
> > antiquated and very lacking in user-friendliness, and I am scarcely a
> > technological determinist.
> >
> > Mark
> >
>
>

-- 
Mark R. Harris
2122 W. Russet Court #8
Appleton WI 54914
(920) 470-9855
brokerharris@gmail.com


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