let's use the forum! (was RE: How to get a reply on this list?)

[m akeijou <ak...@netscape.net>]

Donie Kelly <do...@tecnomen.ie> wrote:

>Well said Richard, I'd have said the same myself if I had time (not meaning
>to be discourteous). Good point about the forum, if more people used it we'd
>eventually be able to go away from this mailing list. I have over 1500 mails

perhaps also people are getting tired of answering
the same questions over and over again.

i can imagine people saying as they see the questions,
"please check the archives!"

myself, that's where i usually go to first.  but searching the
threadless archives for this mailing list can itself be frustrating.

yes, good point about the forum.  more selling points:
- messages organized by threads/topics
  - will be easier to search
  - less repeated questions
  - we won't need to include the entire original message in replies
- will make for a good source of documentation
- the experts will have more time for newer questions/topics
  - more questions will be answered
  - we'll have a richer and growing knowledge base
etc., etc.

so, why aren't we using the forum?  i think it's because the way it's set up right now it's possible to miss postings if we just stick to the forum.  so, we keep checking the mailing list anyway.  and if we do that, why bother with the forum.

i'm on another mailing list (horticultural society) that was having similar problems with volume and searching.  a web-based forum was set up and it was a successful switch.  what they did was set it up such that any and all messages that are sent to the mailing list also posted on the forum, and vice versa.  users immediately unsubscribed from the list
soon after that.  but the mailing list is still around for people who prefer that sort of client.

i think that might work for our list too.  let's try it?

>I'd really rather go to the forum and search for stuff.

me too.  but it's very empty right now.  is there any way we can grab all the messages in the mailing list archive and place them in the forum?
--meg


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Re: let's use the forum! (was RE: How to get a reply on this list?)

[Steve Gass <sg...@gass.com>]

Pardon me, I just joined this list, and missed the earlier posts on this
thread. Which is one of the many reasons I find forums to be preferable
to mailing lists. :) 

> so, why aren't we using the forum? 

What forum? There's a forum? Oh boy! Where is it?

> i think it's because the way it's set up 
> right now it's possible to miss postings 
> if we just stick to the forum.  so, we keep 
> checking the mailing list anyway.  and if we 
> do that, why bother with the forum.

Wouldn't it be fairly straightforward to dump the mailing list messages
into the forum database?

Steve

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