[Coco] Mailing lists vs web forums (was: OS-9 Book)

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 10:10 PM, Roger Taylor <operator at coco3.com> wrote:
> At 04:34 PM 6/28/2010, you wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 5:19 PM, Stephen H. Fischer
>> <SFischer1 at mindspring.com> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > A much better answer, but can people be trained to do it?
>> >
>> > Or can they be trained to recognize the wrapped link and how to rebuild
>> > the
>> > correct link.
>> >
>> > I suspect that some will fail at both tasks.
>> >
>> > Just another cost of using such ancient method of exchanging messages.
>> >
>> > Usenet is going away, Microsoft has ended theirs.
>> >
>> > But I do realize that this COLOR computer group will never move to a
>> > forum
>> > that allows use of COLOR!
>> >
>>
>> personally, I don't think color has any place in a discussion list or
>> forum.   Most email clients allow you to configure any "theme" you'd
>> like, if you really want to see that horrible green backgound (which I
>> actually do love, but only on a CoCo :)
>
>
>
> Aaron, I've been following the forum bashing messages and since I run a
> forum (like quite a few other CoCo admins), I was wondering which of the
> current green-background forums out there you were calling "horrible"?
> Just curious.  I know of a few green blogs/forums and they look ok to me
> because the text and color theme is easy on the eyes.
>
> And if I may comment about your statement about color having no place in a
> discussion list or forum.. are you saying that all backgrounds should be
> bright white and possibly hard on the eyes after long viewing periods, or
> perhaps black background with white text which can also be painful to some,
> or perhaps would a smooth yellow background work for you?
>

I prefer black text on white, especially with today's high DPI
monitors.  Maybe book publishers got it right (not sure they had much
choice in the beginning, but they stuck with it in any case), or maybe
I've just spent too much time reading books, but that is what feels
natural to me.  What I like about an email list is that I can have my
preferences set in my email client, you can have yours, and we both
see things just as we'd like to (as long as nobody uses HTML in their
mail... ugh).  Also, my email settings effect all the messages from
all the various sources that I receive, instead of seeing a different
format at each forum.  This goes beyond just the appearance as well.
Every web forum software has its own mechanisms and quirks, and while
none are all that hard to figure out, it can be frustrating sometimes.
 Not an issue with email lists.


> Should we go back to b/w TVs ?   :)
>

My philosophy is "use the best tool for the job".   I have nothing
against color where it adds something.

>
> --
> ~ Roger Taylor
>
>
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