Re: [ARSCLIST] ruminations on the ARSClist-was: message board vs. listserv

[Michael Fitzgerald <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As variously an active member, occasional reader/researcher, and 
owner/editor/moderator, I have dealt with scores, maybe even 
hundreds, of listservs, newsgroups, message boards, and other 
approaches to group communication on the Internet. Although I am not 
the most active member, I am MUCH less likely to participate *at all* 
in an ARSC message board (read: Yet Another Message Board). It's like 
having to stop in somewhere everyday to keep up on the news. Why 
can't the news come to me?

The ability to have automatic emails when new posts are made is even 
worse - redundant and unproductive. Like the damn slip that tells you 
that the postman stopped by and delivered....a slip telling you to 
*go* to the post office to pick up a package. You were *on my 
doorstep* *with the package* - just leave the package instead of the 
note! (and a message board doesn't require a recipient's signature!)

Regarding the list archives on the web - any inconvenience is NOT due 
to the email nature of the list, but rather of the implementation of 
the searchable archives. I have seen excellent implementations of 
searches, and exceedingly poor ones (Yahoo Groups, anyone?). BTW, I 
have never seen an excellent message board search (with a dozen 
boolean terms, filters, etc.), which is not to say that it can't be 
done, just that it doesn't seem to be common.

With an email list, I can create my own archive, accessible to me 
without an Internet connection (and using the phenomenal search 
capability that is built into my personal email program). I can keep 
a record of all of my contributions all in one place (my Outbox). Not 
nearly so easy on a message board and if you are active on many 
message boards it's even more complicated.

Just as I can create my personal archive, organized in the way I 
prefer, every other list member can do the same, keeping a different 
subset of the total messages. And all personal emails, messages from 
my other list memberships, draft notes to myself, etc. can be 
included in my searches.

Message board? Not for me.

Mike

mike at JazzDiscography.com
http://www.JazzDiscography.com