In a message dated 05/02/2001 9:26:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

<< Subj: [M]: RE: Dumb question about this list ...
Date: 05/02/2001 9:26:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Pardon a question from the uninformed... I am not a newsgroup user, but
what could be easier than sending and receiving MAPUG list messages by
Email? You press a button, you get your messages, you press a button, your
replies go to the list. Seems pretty simple to me, am I missing something?

Anthony J. Kroes
Green Bay, WI >>

That's certainly one of the strengths of a mailing list, which isn't to say
that there aren't pros and cons to it.

A newsgroup allows threading, where all the emails on this "Dumb question
about this list.." thread would be grouped together for reading, at least in
theory. Often they wind up scattered among many threads of the same name, at
least using my AOL newsgroup reader and sci.astro.amateur as an example.

Threading can be helpful when it works, but you can also accomplish the same
effect via putting all [M] emails into a folder and then sorting by subject,
although "Re: [M]: RE: Dumb..." wouldn't be listed right with "Dumb...", just
as newsgroup threads splinter into multiple threads.

Email requires less bandwidth and infrastructure of the user than any other
means such as Web-based lists or Usenet newsgroups. I sometimes even
subscribe to the list or digest on my email pager when I'm traveling, and
monitor the list from a taxicab or an airplane sitting at the gate, all at no
incremental cost to me. I can participate for a week using just one alkaline
AA battery, as well as anyone sitting at home. The same isn't true for Web
or newsgroup access via wireless. People in countries with poor or expensive
connectivity use email well before using newsgroups or Web access...and as
wireless connections in cheap-connectivity countries get more and more
popular, email will enjoy a second wind relative to higher-bandwidth
alternatives.

The thing I like best about an email list vs. newsgroups, is how easily you
can see in what order things were said. People often write something about
another thread in their messages, which can be deadly in a newsgroup: a great
many people will never see it, or when they do, they won't as easily know
what it was in response to. For instance in this message I might say "I've
heard Bob's Nobs are good except in hot conditions, where they melt in your
hands like chocolate while collimating". In both cases, people reading only
the Bob's Nobs thread might not find it, but at least people who were reading
both threads would know when it was said in terms of chronological order,
without resorting to comparing time stamps. It's like sitting in a big room
with people taking the microphone in hand one at a time, with chronological
order of their comments across multiple threads being quite obvious.

Email is simple, and more people know how to use it properly than other
methods.

John
MAPUG list admin.

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