[bf1942] Future of this list

[Reinder P. Gerritsen]

Virusses arn't my biggest concern. Surely, there is a risk about
virusses, but it isn't that high if defences are kept up like they
should. Spam would be much more of a concern since there isn't a real
defence against it. Then again, also on fora this might be an issue.

phpBB like you propose is a fine board for a clan site. (I use it
myself, including quite some modifications and I have plans to extend
its usefullness into a complete webcontent creating backend) However, I
find its banning and moderating capabilities for a forum with quite some
visitors rather disappointing. It isn't bad, since it's free to use, but
it lacks in easy backend management.

-----Original Message-----
From: [JiF]Mike [mailto:jif at mike3d.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 18:01
To: bf1942 at icculus.org
Subject: RE: [bf1942] Future of this list


Hi, these are just a few of my thoughts of mail lists/forums.  If your
sick of this topic, don't read anymore.  :)

---------

One of the primary reasons I don't like mail lists is the high risk of
viruses being spread through them.  More people now have my email
address than did before I joined, which makes it very easy for a virus
to be sent my way.  I keep up on virus defs, but defs only protect
against the known viruses out there.  Mail lists are also piled high
with topics with no real way to sort through them other than the subject
of the email, listed in alphabetical order, or time received.  There's
no general overview of topics...it's all one group. Which is fine in
thread view...but get behind and your searching all day looking for
messages that may be of interest to you, and if someone changes the
subject line too much...there goes your thread just like that. In the
forums, depending on how they're setup things are usually very well
organized.  Announcements one place, bugs another, feature enhancements
another, and OT another.  If you just want announcements, then ignore
the others.

You also don't typically get too many people registered to the forums
that don't want to be... I think we all know who that effects here.. :)
and thus don't get rants/raves about being removed.  The forums are also
much more robust, and "normalized" everyone uses the same format for
posting, and topics are easy to follow with just a quick check to the
top page of the forums to see if anything is new.  I will admit that the
immediacy of the list is nice.  Open my mail..there are the messages
quick and slick. However I rarely check them on the weekend, so when I
get in on Monday, I sometimes get quite a few and skim over them
probably missing quite a bit. With the forums, I can check from any
internet connection whether I'm on vacation a buss. trip or sitting at
home.

Are forums hard to use and deal with?  I don't think so, I like being
able to post screen shots of error messages I might receive. The admin
also has full control over  messages, say one message isn't in the right
category, click and move it to where it needs to be.  A topic not
appropriate? Admin can delete it and no one else stand the chance of
being offended by it.  Unmoderated mail lists like this one, admin has
no control once the message is sent.

I've been using phpBB2 for quite a while now on my clans website and
can't imagine how many opportunities we may miss for collaboration, just
because someone is too stubborn to try them out and give them a real
chance.  If it's been a while since you last used forums, give this one
a try, they've come a long way since the old BBS systems like Renegade
and Wildcat, and you may find them much more useful.

PS.  If you have anything derogatory to say to me, please do so
privately as to keep it off the list. Thanx.

-Regards,
[JiF]Mike
www.mike3d.net
www.jiff.net <---clans web site, forums can be found there if you want
to see another example of them.