[Gmecm] comments on reorganizing lists

[Ryan Hess]

I think you'd get more membership with a forum style discussion.   I'd be all for it, because it would still mean immediate notification  of a topic reply, but without clogging up any inbox...  

Steve Ravet <Steve.Ravet at arm.com> wrote:  I've thought about moving the lists to the forum style format that most
other internet groups use -- corral.net, thirdgen, etc.  I've been
opposed to this for some time, liking the email format these lists have
always used.  So I've put together a list of what I think the pros and
cons of each are and I'd like to solicit some discussion and opinions on
whether a switch would be good or bad.

email pros:
1)  new posts come to your inbox, or can be filtered to another box.

email cons:
1)  surprisingly high bandwidth usage
2)  archive/search engine isn't automatic.

forum pros:
1)  possibly lower bandwidth
2)  message context always available.  Don't have to depend on included
replies or memory to know if the discussion started out about Ford or GM
intakes, for example.
3)  archive/searching built in.
4)  sticky posts mean good information doesn't disappear into the
archive abyss.

forum cons:
1)  overly cute dancing smiley faces
2)  chatty
3)  no digest mode (?)

The owner may be able to turn off dancing icons, and I don't know if the
chatty-ness of other forums is due to the list membership or encouraged
by the format.  An ideal solution may be like yahoo where you can sign
up for email delivery of all posts if you want.  Note, I am not
suggesting moving the lists to yahoo.

If the switch is made I plan on having the same lists available,
possibly dropping the diy_wb list since it's very low traffic and on
topic for diy_efi.  I don't plan on having a lounge forum.

Anyway, if you have an addition to the pros and cons listed above send
it, and if you have an opinion on switching send that also.

--steve


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