Forums vs Mailing Lists

[Ben Francis]

Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
> It would be great to post the regular development updates from Jane
> Weideman to the Forums as well as the lists.

Has anyone ever wondered, like me, why mailing lists and forums are
separate? What is the distinction between the two? I must be missing
something but surely a forum should just be a web front end to a mailing
list? The only difference I can see is that you are more likely to want
to view *all* of the threads on a mailing list than on a forum, but
that's just down to people's subscription preferences.

There is software available which can create a combined forum and
mailing list so people can either take part in discussion via the forums
on the web site or with their favourite mail client and email addresses
are sufficiently obfuscated or removed on the forums.

Just a thought

--
Ben Francis
http://hippygeek.co.uk