Kevin Keane schrieb:
> > ...
> > Finally, mail allows me to keep the whole history of this list on my 
> > site (disk space is cheap, and Bacula can back up my mail storage). I 
> > see no way to easily access a larger forum locally.
> >   
> I think you are making some rather large assumptions here, namely that 
> all users have the freedom you apparently enjoy.
> 
> Many companies have policies against using gmail, yahoo mail etc.; all 
> mail must go through their corporate mail server, which is often 
> constrained by a 500 MB Exchange mailbox size.


Many companies also have policies which web pages are allowed. And
forums are often not on that list, at least here where I work.

 
> And your scheme breaks down completely when you are away from your own 
> personal computer, or, worse, when your hard disk crashes.


I hope that bacula will be useful at that point...


> >> ...
> >> - It preserves threading properly (unless somebody using email breaks it 
> >>     
> >
> > No problem with any decent mail reader.
> >   
> That's assuming you want to see all your mail threaded. 90% of my email 
> is better read in an unthreaded format. It goes back to: why should I 
> have to adjust my whole email system just for the bacula mailing list?


Why should a project change it's style of communiction, just because
some people can't use a decent MUA? Others are not allowed to visit
forums or have no access to web pages at work at all.


> >> - Nearly everybody already has a Yahoo account anyway - and tied to an 
> >> email address.
> >>     
> > Now that's a big claim. For example, I don't have a yahoo account, and 
> > I'm pretty sure I never will.
> >
> That's why I said "Nearly" ;-)

+1


> >> - You can turn off email delivery, and still participate in the group.
> >>     
> >
> > Actually, I think we've got a nice group of very active users here who 
> > probably don't even *want* to turn off mail delivery, but instead 
> > wouldn't show much activity if they had to use a web-based interface.
> >
> > People searching for help can easily unsubscribe from the mailing list 
> > after their questions are answered.
> >   
> But see, the point is that then they have to re-subscribe the next time 
> they have a question. Signing up for a mailing list is just as tedious 
> as signing up for a forum, and far more tedious than simply turning 
> email on or off.


You can just disable email delivery for the list on the member options
page. There is absolutely no need to unsubscibe or re-subscribe.

I think repacing the mailing list with a forum would reduce the the
quality of support. Adding a forum wouldn't be much better, because I
haven't seen much enthusiasm about a forum from the regulars that
answer 90% of the questions here. YMMV.



Ralf

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