Re: Forums

On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 5:33 AM, Matthew Wilcox <elvendil@gmail.com> wrote:
> Has the group considered using Forums instead of the mailing list?
>
> I am having a horrible time trying to get the system to work properly
> with my Gmail account, it keeps resetting itself to send replies from
> my main address which the www-style list doesn't recognise (and so
> doesn't post). Everything is a PITA to find and follow, if you're not
> already involved in a thread it's impossible to look further back in
> time than when you joined. I don't even know why the list is using my
> gmail address because I signed up with my primary address (which Gmail
> also sends with some magic via functionality).
>
> A mailing list seems archaic and (to my mind) a badly implemented
> communication medium for what we're doing. Forums are designed
> expressly for what we're doing here on the list, having numerous
> advantages and being far more useful. I don't get why we're still
> using mail lists. Entropy?

We use mailing lists for roughly the same reason we use IRC - it's
what we've always done, and it works well enough.  Email is also
friendly in some ways that forums aren't - it's easier for me to read
email on my phone than it is to browse any of the forums I frequent.

The major problem is that our archives are horrifyingly bad.  That's
just a technical problem, and can be fixed (though no one has put
serious effort into it so far).

The rest of your issues appear to be problems with Gmail itself, or
your use of it, not with mailing lists specifically.

~TJ

Received on Thursday, 5 January 2012 18:31:11 UTC