[Coco] [Color Computer] CoCoList and the Web, was Re: CoCoList Survey on email but no web browser

[James Diffendaffer]

(Replying to the mailing list topic)

I think you'll find that most of the people that are admins, Linux/Unix developers, or are just very tech savvy will prefer the email method.
I used to read a lot of mailing lists that way on my Amiga.
When I switched to the PC and started using Linux only to develop with I found myself using the www and forums more instead.
Setting up macros and filters just isn't my thing anymore and some forums let me block users and a few other things pretty easily.

Over broadband I really think the forums load so fast I don't notice a lot of difference over email and I only look at the topics I want and can be notified if an interesting one is updated without having to check it.

I've done it both ways and I just think it takes less filtering and tinkering to read forums.  Call it the lazy factor, call it uber geek burnout or whatever, I just don't want to hassle with the readers that make mailing lists more accessible.

The regular waves of flame wars on the less regulated email lists haven't helped.  If I don't want to read for a month while things settle down I can still read other forums without having to change the setup of a program.

The fly by night trolls that go through on a regular basis also seemed to get banned quicker on forums and the mess they start is deleted and I don't ever have to look at it.

Some of the most active places I visit are forums so that doesn't hurt either.