Jump to content

Forum existence Meta Discussion


Marc Zeitlin

Recommended Posts

Exposure, thats really the long, short and cozy of it. Right now there 11 guests signed on, they didn't need to sign up, they can just come and lurk and then maybe join and then maybe build! The lurking is the start and it is easy to lurk here.

 

They are all over the place, viewing many subjects and this is the onliest place they can do it this easy!

 

Mike

maker wood dust and shavings - foam and fiberglass dust and one day a cozy will pop out, enjoying the build

 

i can be reached at

 

http://www.canardcommunity.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

BOTH of the "fora" have benefits, and different uses. Both also have drawbacks, and I'm not sure they are for the same audience.

 

The MZ Maillist is "almost" perfect, as it delivers the info as it becomes available. I can access my mail from anywhere in the world, so access isn't a problem. "perceived reliability" of the maillist seems spotty, however it is more cyclical postings by the users - there's days happen without a message, and then a brief spurt which shows me it is active. However I have my computer separate all COZY posts to a different folder, and I have about 2700 messages logged on my computer that I can search when I don't have net access. This has proven to be an extremely valuable resource, and really should be the prime source for information and low-level discussions.

 

The Forum however has a number of "problems" that have been previously mentioned.

1 - it's a website. I MUST be online to use it, or to type a message, or look something up.

2 - I have to remember to go to it every once in a while - not conducive to continuous use.

3 - doesn't track what messages I read, or allow me to locally archive the messages. A few days ago I looked at the forum, found a lot of "new" messages, and was interrupted with a phone-call. When I returned a couple of hours later, every message was OLD, so I now have to figure out what MESSAGES - if anything - is new to me, not just if I've been to the site.

4 - it DOESN'T e-mail me messages as Nick had indicated, it can e-mail me 1 message that there are messages that I might be interested in. - if I can't get to it, I'll never see another reminder.

5 - email gets delivered despite problems on the net. There have been several outages between me and the forum server where both were up, but the forum was unreachable!

 

It also has a "freer" flow of sideline discussions that are not appropriate for an e-mail forum without threads and filters.

 

Ideally, I could "subscribe" to the forum and it would act like the maillist with archived threads. As it is I feel obligated to visit occasionally, however it chews up a lot of time waiting to look at the "next" message.

 

E-mail isn't perfect, but it's still better than the alternative!

 

Dan Tomlinson

#0962 - Building 19 & 20

/dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the things that I don't care for on this style forum is the lack of density. A normal maillist doesn't really solve that either, but the archives are a great source of information.

 

I have downloaded all the archives from Marc's site, and would read through them on a regular basis. They are easy to load onto the laptop so I could review them while on a trip, sitting in a hotel room someplace. And you could search for a certain word or phrase.

 

Once this forum gets loaded so there are 8 pages of posts on a topic, it becomes somewhat tedious to page through the messages to find the important stuff. I know you can do a search on the site, but you still have to go message by message to see what the context was.

 

The other problem that I have with sites such as this is that they seem to accumulate jerks who make it a point to comment and snipe at most threads. Sorta takes the fun out of it. When you go back through the archives, you see where that has gone on in the past on the maillists also. But the threads continued and the content is still in there someplace. It will take this forum several years to develop meaningful knowledge base.

 

One of the reasons that I built a Cozy is because of the archives. The maillist is/was also an excellent resource. This is another website, and is also of value. To each their own.

 

Regards-

Norm Muzzy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information