Yes! Although I spoke up for a "forum," I wasn't around for former discussions on the topic and didn't realize how divisive a forum would be for those who prefer the listserv format.
I don't have any expertise, I'm only an end-user of these services, but the distinction that David makes between a forum and groupware is important and useful. In the end whether you like David's tone on the list or not, I think is advocacy for groupware is reasonable and looks to me like a welcome compromise. Web functionality for those who can and want to use it, and listserv functionality for those who want it, all at the user's option. I've used Yahoo and Google groups, and as a non-expert end-user, I know it is that simple. I was in college in the '90's and we didn't have what we have now when it comes to online community tools, but we had listservs that though I am sure lacked many behind-the-scenes technologies that our software here has, behaved for
the end-user exactly like this list does now, made in 2004 or not. It makes me kind of nostalgic, honestly. :) If I am failing to understand the critical reasons why a move to groupware would be fatal to the community or even to a few loyal members, I really apologize. I don't have much at stake in this besides a cleaner inbox :).
David Artman <david.artman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yes, you can set a Google Group to behave like a normal mailing list; see the link to the Help article that says as much, which I posted in one of these threads. You can also reply in the same manner/paradigm. I've found Google Groups to be better than Mailman at maintaining threading (though both are vulnerable to Digest replies that splinter threads). I think an end user's email client has far more influence on maintaining
threading than the relay software (listserv or web or pigeons or whatever).
Of course, if one makes a new subject line, one can break the threading (as on Mailman).
And I realize some confusion, here: I and other haves conflated groupware with web forums. Regarding a Group, yes, every single one that I have seen behaves like a mailing list. Then again, I'm only a member of about ten, so maybe I am underexposed. As for forums, there are a lot of different applications (like, hundreds, it seems) and some can be set to behave as email, others only notify, and others use feed technology (a halfway house: read all with whatever tool you choose; but only reply through site... I think; not doing much with feeds, so maybe some feed setups have a "reply" link or even form).
So, to be clear and to avoid immediate dismissal by those who prefer email, let us only discuss groupware henceforth. It's not really that big of a difference between groups and forums--we
gain mailing list behavior at the cost of a categorization interface (sub-forums). As for which sort of goupware: if it must be "installed" onto a private site, I don't have much advice--I'd have to research to see which backends behave like Yahoo or Google. But if we're talking an unofficial fan list (i.e. no official support or redirection), then I'd suggest Yahoo if we prefer Calendar integration on-site (Google has it "over yonder" relative to the group site) or Google if we want easy wikification (Pages act more like a wiki--if cross-linked, of course--than Yahoo Files).
On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Dan Isaac <
disaac1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It has been said that you can configure your account to receive emails just
like a list server would do. But,
can you also just reply to such emails, or
create an entirely new email to send to the "forum" list?
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