Sven-Hendrik Haase wrote:
> Forum spam shouldn't be a problem if a board system like PHPBB3 is used
> since it ships with a strong and configurable captcha. The PHPBB3 forums
> I run have so far not have had any problem at all with automated bots,
> unlike these mailings lists, it seems.

I must have missed something.  I keep a regular eye on a number of web
based forums and they've all seen a dramatic increase in spam in the
last few weeks.

This mailing list, on the other hand, (touch-wood) remains remarkably
spam-free.

> Other advantages I see compared to using mailing lists only:
> 1) Improved overview since it is visually more pleasing and more
> sub-categories can be used.

IME sub-categories don't work terribly well, either because people post
to the wrong subcategory (possibly they don't really understand the
system well enough to post to the right subcategory in the first place)
or because the people who can help are only browsing a few
subcategories.  They might work if you're dealing with a large system
(such as a full-blown Linux distribution) but I don't think they'd be
particularly helpful to a single application.

I think forums can work if:

- They are the first point of contact and always have been.

OR

- They are nicely integrated with a plain mailing list - I believe the
Gentoo forums do something like this.  An email reply automatically
appears on the forum, a forum reply is automatically sent via email.

In any case, you then need to manage a web-based forum, most of which
have a shockingly poor security track record.

> 2) It's easier to track complex topics.

As others have said, this is not a problem in any half-decent mail
client.  Even Outlook can be configured properly, though it may take
some work to do so - and automated mail filtering really isn't difficult
with any modern email client.

Sourceforge's search facility is truly abysmal, but gmane archives this
mailing list and has a pretty effective search facility.  This is
mentioned on the mailing lists page on the bacula website but it's right
at the bottom.  Perhaps it could be moved higher up the page?

-- 
James Cort

IT Manager
U4EA Technologies Ltd.

-- 
U4EA Technologies
http://www.u4eatech.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SF.Net email is Sponsored by MIX09, March 18-20, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The future of the web can't happen without you.  Join us at MIX09 to help
pave the way to the Next Web now. Learn more and register at
http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;208669438;13503038;i?http://2009.visitmix.com/
_______________________________________________
Bacula-users mailing list
Bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users