[C320-list] Forum "architecture"

Fri Jul 31 14:05:38 PDT 2015

As much as I hate so many emails (especially during the summer months) I do read all of them, and occasionally there is a real nugget in them that I know I wouldn’t read in a forum format.   My day job is a process improvement consultant, so I get the idea of doing things better and more efficiently.  But I have to be honest that I never would have seen this if it didn’t end up in my email. I also concur that when I need this email list the most is when I’m sitting on my boat with the engine compartment open and I have a problem.  I can always be assured I will get a response to a question with a few minutes usually.  

Jeff Brown
"Out of the blue" Dana Point, CA
Catalina 320, Hull 78
(949) 350-5123
oceanblues at mac.com

> On Jul 31, 2015, at 1:22 PM, Chris Burti <clburti at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ultimately, the Association leadership will do what it deems to be the best
> interest of the membership in light of what the majority demands.
> 
> That said, my preference is for a list format. I tend to be an early
> adopter of technology generally, so it is not about an unwillingness to
> change. Forums just don't seem to work very well for me. I am signed up for
> at least four sailing forums and probably more that I have forgotten
> about.  I check only one of them with any regularity and then only every
> other week or so. As a result, many of the strings that I find interesting
> have died before I read them. The main reason that I check it at all is
> that it tends to have an active 'for sale' forum. The rest, almost never
> and a couple of those were originally lists that converted to forums after
> which i have drifted away.
> 
> I belong to three other lists beside this one and am active on all four...
> but I use email constantly in my work, so I am constantly checking email,
> regardless of whether I have an internet connection or not.
> 
> My expectation is that if we convert to a forum, that I will become
> inactive after a period of time as I have done elsewhere...while some will
> feel that is not necessarily a bad thing...my concern is that others will
> also drift away. Perhaps people who hate getting emails would prefer a
> forum and our membership could grow as a result...I just don't have an
> answer.
> 
> Best regards,
> Chris Burti
> Commitment, #867
> 
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 3:46 PM, Doug Treff <doug at treff.us> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Graeme,
>> 
>> Probably because it's free, and works with no fiddling by anyone.
>> 
>> Also, in the past, it was felt that we might lose some people who "just
>> prefer email" but now that there are gateways to allow forums to accept
>> email sending and receiving, (phorum allows this with the external
>> phorummail module and mailinglist module), we really should look at the
>> possibility. Then we get the best of both worlds...
>> 
>> On the other hand, there have been times when I've gotten a quick
>> response to a cry for help on some issue during the off-season and I
>> wonder how quickly that response would have come if there were fewer
>> people reading a forum when sailing is not on their mind. Email comes to
>> you - you have to go looking for a web forum.
>> 
>> Just my $0.02.
>> 
>> ---
>> Doug Treff
>> Catalina 320 - 1996 - September Song - #350
>> http://savvysailor.blogspot.com/
>> doug at treff.us
>> 
>> On 2015-07-31 15:19, Graeme Clark wrote:
>> 
>>> An earlier post by me generated a question about responding to list
>> messages without having to cut and paste.
>>> 
>>> Until now - as a relative newcomer - (from foreign shores, too) - I have
>> remained silent, but at the risk of incurring the wrath of the volunteers
>> who look after this list I am now going to mention this 'elephant in the
>> room'!
>>> 
>>> Why on earth are we using this outdated, email-list type of forum
>> architecture?
>>> 
>>> It is clunky, and frequently, undisciplined use means that many
>> responses are posted with the inclusion of the entire list message or the
>> entire thread, making it difficult to follow. (Not least because responding
>> is not a simple matter of just hitting 'reply' in your email program. You
>> have to fiddle around and edit the subject title, remove messages from
>> other threads and so on
>>> 
>>> You cannot even post messages from the web interface in Google groups
>> either, it's 'read only'
>>> 
>>> You cannot add rich text features like bold or italic, except like
>> *this*!
>>> 
>>> and its all so ancient an un-necessary!
>>> 
>>> take a look here at the C34 owners site
>>> 
>>> http://www.c34.org/bbs/index.php [1]
>>> 
>>> This is a standard message board format (available as freeware); you can
>> subscribe to receive new emails, choose to follow certain threads or not,
>> and so on.
>>> 
>>> Guys and Girls - at the risk of upsetting someone, this froum is the
>> technical equivalent of hemp rope when everyone else has moved on to
>> Dyneema, we are the typewriter to everyone else's iPad, we are the sextant
>> to everyone elses's GPS!
>>> 
>>> I am more than willing to help us move into the 21st Century if its help
>> thats needed.
>>> 
>>> Or am I missing a trick - is there some perceived benfit to the email
>> list that I haven't understood or some trick to using it that would make it
>> less a labour of Hercules?
>>> 
>>> (tin hat on, for incoming!)
>>> 
>>> Graeme
>>> #366 Jaskar, England
>> 
>> 
>> Links:
>> ------
>> [1] http://www.c34.org/bbs/index.php
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Chris Burti
> Farmville, NC