Paul Jacobson wrote to Rory,
>While there is a web interface to yahoo groups, I believe you are
>missing a significant aspect of the list if you regard it as a web
>based group. Perhaps email lists are outmoded to a generation weaned
>on forums etc, but it allows users to maintain a sense involvement
>with group interaction in a way that is simply not possible using
>forums. A forum requires active intervention by the user to access
>any of the information that is posted. A mailing list allows a
>subscriber to "filter" the data stream - everything that is said on
>the list arrives in your mailbox where you can process, filter and
>access it how ever you choose. Lists are certainly a much more
>dynamic form of interaction than the imposed data organization of a
>forum. Btw seeing blackberries use "push email", I would have thought
>an email list was better adapted than an WAP version of a forum :)
I don't use web forums. They're too much trouble. I like getting my
discussion lists in my mailbox, where I can filter and sort them
automatically. This list, for example, gets filtered into its own
mailbox, then sorted by subject. I don't see this process as
old-fashioned; rather I consider it fine-tuned by experience.
Yahoo may not be the best list host, but it does the job and it's
convenient. I've started several discussion lists there myself.
-Dan Dugan
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