forum vs. mailing list (was: Popular pills - 75% OFF)

[Bob Nielsen]

On Wed, Jun 22, 2005 at 11:18:41AM -0700, Jim Richardson wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-06-21 at 10:54 +0200, Shot - Piotr Szotkowski wrote:
> > Hello.
> > 
> > Vincent Trouilliez:
> > 
> > > I think it's great to be able to READ the mailing list from the web,
> > > to get a taste before joining (that's what I did), but you should
> > > not be able to write from the forum. If one is so interested in
> > > the mailing list that 1) he reads it regularly and 2) wants to
> > > reply/participate, then it's only logical that he subscribes to
> > > the mailing list... well I think ! ;-P
> > 
> > One could argue the other way around, i.e. that the mailing list is
> > just a gate to the forum, and it's the mailing list which should be
> > read-only.
> > 
> 
> I participate in the mailling list via email (on evolution, not that it
> matters), and if it were read only, I'd probably unsubscribe. 
>   
> I find web forums to be clunky and annoying to use, compared to mailling
> lists, although I am sure opinions vary. Web forums can be useful, but
> they are not a substitute for mailling lists imho. 
> 
> > IMHO both the forums and the mailing lists are just interfaces
> > to channels of communications and should be treated as equal.
> > Crippling one or the other is not a proper solution to spam problems.
> 
> Allowing only subscribers to post to either, is probably the easiest way
> of controlling such mal-usage. Beyond that, it becomes too much of a
> pain for the legit users. 
> 

I agree 100 percent.  Mailing lists are much easier to use than forums 
(and news groups are really bad, spamwise).