[clue-admin] Clue mailing list

[erik at ezolan.com]

> I assume you are talking about a web based bulletin board, right?  Or
> do you mean a real "BBS" or a newsgroup?

Heh, I meant the web based forums. Like PhpBB.

> What are the benefits of a web-based BB?

> Well, poor threading and management is your mail client's problem.  I
> use gmail and labels and it works great.

Web based email? A web based forum you hate, but moving it to email is ok?

> I've also used thunderbird with folders and filters and was very happy.

Can't install software at work. Probably not a good idea to download your
personal mail to machines at work anyway. Although some people have their
web access locked down at work, I don't think that is a issue with the
people of CLUE. Computer techs need access to the web.

> Searching?  Well, up until the server issues, this would work:
>
> http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awww.cluedenver.org+sparc+scsi
>
> I imagine it's just a matter of time for google to reindex those pages
> since they aren't blocked in here: http://cluedenver.org/robots.txt
>
> With...a little...ahem...encouragement it should get done faster :)

In a forum you press the "Search" button or link. No need to depend on a
3rd party search engine either. :-) Lately I've soured on Google.

>> Also, if you're a new member, you're stuck with going through zipped
>> downloads to catch up.
>
> You can get threads here:
> http://www.cluedenver.org/pipermail/clue-tech/2005-July/thread.html

Or, using real forum software, you simply let your eyes drift down the
page of topics. :-)

> And you can take those gzipped archives and unpack them and use them
> for a private index on your machine (make beagle search them for you).

Although technically interesting, wouldn't simpler be better?

Forum software has been refined over the years to do its job really,
really well. Email list software is simply a way to collect and distribute
cc: mail in an orderly fashion.

And finally, I believe a forum is better at building communities.

Erik Z