[plug] Forum Software

[Gavin Chester]

On Wed, 2007-07-25 at 10:15 +0800, W.Kenworthy wrote:
> The basic problem is that a forum requires the user to go there and
> participate.  Email is more in your face and comes to you.  you can
> then
> stay informed or choose to participate - much less effort and only
> takes
> a few seconds in comparison to browsing forums 

... and therein lies the nub of the problem. In other contexts they
refer to it as 'push' vs 'pull' technology and 'push' is known to be
more effective. That is, I know from my experience that unless it's
pushed at me my interest wanes. Surely, only the dedicated user logs on
and surfs around a forum several times a day. That's not me. 

Alternatively, plug is good because we* are small and intimate and
mental filtering or 'rules-based' filtering is a snap. Consider bigger
mail lists where I get more than a hundred messages a day. It can seem
daunting to find the gems in the poo, but it is still do-able. I
wouldn't bother on a forum.

BTW: I think this issue/dilemma comes up on many mail lists ;-) Just
another $0.05 worth ;-)   

Gavin

(* : I boldly say 'we' because the group is small and you get to know
something of each other through postings. However, I am not a financial
member because I live too far for meetings and am an impoverished
student. Sorry about that apparent lack of commitment, but nevertheless
I think the plug list is great!)