there doesn't seem to be much difference between email lists and forums.
Are you kidding me?
I'm in Outlook all day long. I've got a bunch of folders, I can see a view of Midrange, SQLServer, .Net, IRB, 21CFR11, etc. All from one spot. Oh, and it's the same spot I get "real" work done w/clients and vendors.
The web is _nothing_ like that. I (the human being) have to open numerous sites, click through numerous pages and then I get a bunch of fluff and pretty colors, in-between which, I might see a topic that interests me, I then have to click another link, wait for another page to open, and then click through a bunch of pages to see the entire message trail because the stupid web admin only shows 5 messages on a "page." Not to mention that I've got to see messages I've already seen, because they're part of the "thread." Oh, and the UI for each of these web-forums is different. Plus I've got to remember different usernames and password, and/or enter captcha info each time.
In the time it takes me to open a page to a single web forum I can scan the subjects from a day's email from midrange-l, bulk-delete a bunch of it, and then read 10 messages and reply to 2.
I can (obviously) only speak for myself. But I will not partake in a web-based forum, take _way_ too much time. Email lists, sure, I'll use them all day long.
-Walden
midrange.com
