> > You know, I've wondered for the past couple of days if the mailing > list might be better presented in some form of web forum, like phpbb > or ubbthreads. I say this not so that we can have picture sigs or any > of that crap, but rather just that it would be much easier to trim out > stuff and might make reading a particular thread a little nicer. Also, > if you ignore an entire thread, you don't have to delete it from your > Inbox. I know that most people won't like this suggestion, but it > occurred to me. Oh, and, you can do things like password protect the > forums and have people have to register to post, etc. so that you > don't have trouble with bots posting, etc. > > Thoughts, opinions, flames? Btw, I do appreciate having this mailing > list, and I also appreciate the people that make it possible. I'm not > trying to offend anyone or raise any hackles, but just wondering > something outloud... err... in text. I personally agree with you and I think this has been discussed before, there isn't anyone stopping anyone from creating such a forum. What we have here though is a system that is pretty proactive about involving everyone in a conversation (most of the time about Dragaera, sometime about Steve, and the rest of the time well, I think you can guess) I think we also get a higher readership rate with the list because the content is delivered directly to the inbox. I also think the mailing list receives more rhetoric than a posting board would, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on your tastes (I can say personally I've got 1400 unread dragaera list e-mails spanning the last year, when I don't have time it just goes on the back burner and most of the topics have little for me to comment on after such a period of time.) I don't think a posting board would have topic death near how it happens here, and with a moderated system we would also be much less likely to have duplicate topic threads. It is what it is, what gets me is I *think* there are systems that will allow you to basically run a posting board and have the members reply either at the board or through e-mail to the board and each user can choose to have all replies to topics they are involved in (or all topics) sent to their mail box. That would essentially make it both and at the moment our 'Archives' work like a write once posting board, so it is possible for new readers to see where we have been in the past etc. That's pretty much what I think on the matter for all that it's worth. - Angelo