[Coco] Forums versus email was: Re: I think I hit a nerve with my CoCoList Survey on email.

[John W. Linville]

On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 09:12:50AM -0600, William Astle wrote:

> That said, this has, predictably, degenerated into an argument about
> whether web based forums or email is better. The actual answer is "it
> depends".

Yes, exactly.

> With email, all the messages for the discussion come to me whenever I
> open my email, which I do at least daily. Leaving aside configurations
> using IMAP and other fancy protocols, that means I download absolutely
> everything from the discussion.

* chuckle *

Is IMAP really a "fancy protocol"?  I've been using it for at least
the last decade... :-)  I suppose I could host an email account for
anyone on the list who just can't get IMAP from their current ISP.

> Many people are screaming at me saying "how hard is it to remember to go
> to a web site to keep up on something?".

Don't forget the people screaming "how hard is it to filter your
email?" :-)

> I'll leave with one final note. If we had such a system as I just
> outlined, it would solve any problems for Steve's hypothetical user that
> has email access but no web access.

I find it curious that I know of no such system.  Such integration
would seem obvious.  Perhaps web developers just don't grok email
standards?

John
-- 
John W. Linville		Someday the world will need a hero, and you
linville at tuxdriver.com			might be all we have.  Be ready.