Re: Forum Only (Was Re: Improvement that Everybody Will Agree With:
Robert Craig wrote:
>
> Like a growing number of people, I use RSS (via Thunderbird) to
> access EUforum. Soon Outlook Express will support RSS, then
> lots of people will start using RSS.
I'm using RSS Popper for Outlook. Works well. I don't find RSS as convenient as
email *should* be though. It's just more reliable.
> Whenever there is a "temporary surge" in the number of messages
> on EUforum, someone starts complaining that we should break up the
> stream into a bunch of separate categories.
I've been wanting a bulletin board style forum for Eu for a long time. I just
haven't voiced it much because I don't want to be doing the work.
The fact that ppl only mention it when there is a surge is because they don't
want to do the work either and can't be bothered complaining about it all the
time.
> I wouldn't like that
> because I want to at least skim through anything that's posted.
> How long does it take you to skim a message, decide it's
> irrelevant, and click your mouse? 5 seconds?
I would like the ability to follow specific threads, comment on them at later
dates, and still have the posts properly associated so others who may not have
followed the thread originally, can catch up.
Nearly every bulletin board software has features for listing new posts.
How many threads die out because a new topic comes up and floods the old one
out?
> With separate categories, many people would end up looking
> through every category anyway.
That is their perogative.
> Messages would inevitably be
> posted to the wrong category and would draw flames as a result,
> or be ignored.
That is the purpose of having moderators.
> Eventually, we might want to split into a developers
> forum and a users forum. But I think even the ordinary users
> will want to know what sort of new features are being discussed
> by the developers, and the developers will want to know what
> sort of problems the users are running into, so a lot of
> people will read both forums.
Again, that is their perogative.
Many people don't want to be bothered with all the 'high brow' discussions as
Chris Burch put it. I'm sure it deters many ppl from even bothering with the
list.
Personally, I'm not interested in win32lib stuff for example, which is half the
posts.
During the heat of a discussion it's not uncommon for a person's request for
assistance to go unnoticed or forgotten too.
I also find it invaluable being able to peruse old topics in the forums, still
in context. Not to mention sticky posts, polls, and various other trinket
features which are very useful.
The archive search is handy too, but it doesn't retain chronology or even
subject. Browsing 200 msg's, 150 of which have nothing to do with what I'm
looking for is not what I would consider very convenient.
There is bulletin board software that will allow users to subscribe to topics,
forums or categories, or all of them for receiving via email.
I'm pretty sure IPB will even do digests. In fact I'm pretty sure you can even
request an archive of posts from a specific time or topic.
IPB also offers RSS feeds and more importantly, private messaging so I don't
have to publicize my email address and get frustrated when it's harvested by spam
bots.
Chris Bensler
~ The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra ~
http://empire.iwireweb.com - Empire for Euphoria
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