SubscribeYes… it’s a subject that I just can’t let go, and tonight I have found a perfect example of why I prefer Forums over Mailing-lists for discussions. Below is a picture of my inbox with 4 highlighted topics… the problem is, all of these are part of the same topic, yet you need to know that there are multiple subject lines now to follow each of these threads.
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| From Screen Captures |
Even if the topic of discussion in the thread has changed slightly, it’s still all part of the same conversation, yet if you wanted to follow this conversation in the archives, assuming you knew how to get into them, you would have a hard time. You would need to read down each of these branches then go back and find where the thread split, then follow that down another branch… Think of that happening multiple times in each thread, and you’ll begin to understand the madness of it all.
I also keep hearing the excuse “I pay more attention to email”, yet I have explained multiple times that Forums allow subscriptions so that people are notified when changes are made to a forum, and no-one has noticed this. Email gives you a snippet of information… unless you keep the entire conversation and your email client is fantastic at backing-up and thread management, then I will never value email for information collection and collation. Forums keep the discussion on a website, they keep it together there for new people to register and read from start to finish if they need to. Email keeps each message seperate and usually on your local system. If something goes wrong with your local computer, say goodbye to your history of that discussion unless you have it all backed-up. Forums are usually kept on web servers with backup facilities.
Anyway… It’s my personal opinion that relying on email for discussions that you don’t wish to repeat many times over is a very stupid thing… Yes, if you still think Mailing-lists are better, I am trying to change your mind… but I’m doing it on my website, and I’m not going to force you to change your mind, i’m just going to whinge about it here incessently. ;)
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