----- Original Message -----
From: <jon@dakota-truck.net>
To: <dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: DML: Re: Now message boards
>
> "Jeff Durling" <jdurling@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> [...]
> : As for Jon not replying he's working I'm sure or just hoping that this
> : thread will die and he doesn't have to worry about it. ;-p
>
>
> Heh heh heh! A little from column A, a little from column B... ;-)
>
> Actually, my real job kept me busy all day running around instead of
> sitting at the computer.
>
>
> Ok, here goes... :-)
>
>
> Having been weaned on mailing lists and Usenet, I personally don't
> care for web forums too much mainly because they (for lack of a better
> term) are "too much work". I like mailing lists and Usenet because
> its a passive activity - you are a part of a group, and all the messages
> come to you. With a forum, you have to find the time to visit the
> site, then actively navigate through umpteen different categories.
> (pray that people actually post in the proper sections!) I am a member
> of a few web forum style groups, but I rarely visit them just because of
> that overhead.
>
> Granted, it is nice to be able to post pictures right away...unless
> you are on a dialup. :-) I do still have to think about dialup and
> text based users; this is also why I don't allow attachments or HTML
> posts to the DML.
>
> A part of it also is I enjoy the "pure" content, and the web
> interface seems to put "fluff" in the way of that content.
>
>
> I do run a web forum on dragtruk.com, so I am familiar with not
> only the use, but the administration of them.
>
>
> Essentially what it comes down to is that I absolutely refuse
> to eliminate the e-mail/newsgroup versions of the DML. Of course,
> the DML started as a mailing list, and the newsgroup version was
> added later and tied in nicely; someone could read and post on
> either version, and no matter which version other DMLers were
> using, they would all get the same messages. If it were possible
> to do the same with a web forum, where anything posted to the forum
> would show up on the e-mail version of the list, and vice versa, I
> would have absolutely no problem implementing that. Unfortunately,
> as far as I know, this sort of interoperability is not yet possible.
> Just as I am unwilling to completely convert the DML to web forums,
> I am equally unwilling to split the DML such that some messages show up
> on the e-mail/news side, and some on the web side. In order for me
> to implement web forums, all messages MUST go to all versions of the
> list.
>
>
> I guess what it comes down to is, what is the reason for wanting
> a web forum? To be able to have a place to read & post to the DML
> via the web? (That ability is already somewhat here by reading the
> DML via the archives - every message in the archives now has a link
> in it to be able to reply to that message - though it does so via
> your e-mail client. The disadvantage is the delay for the posts
> to show up in the archives, and the size of the archive index as it gets
> towards the end of the month. I could speed up the time for the posts
> to hit the archives to every hour, but the archive size problem there is
> no getting around.) Perhaps there is a web based newsreader
> software out there which I could install on the server that would
> allow DMLers to access the list through the newsgroup version, via
> their web browser. Would that accomplish the desired goal?
>
> I have a feeling that is probably about the closest the DML
> will be able to come to a web forum - because if the desire is to
> have it divided into several different forum sections (i.e. engine
> related questions, Gen I/II/III, whatever), I don't see a way to
> translate e-mail and newsgroup postings automatically into one of
> those forums - since e-mail and news has no such preconception...
>
>
> Anyhoo, there's where I am coming from - I don't know if it
> helps or not or if it will lead to anything more useful to the
> web forum inclined DMLers, but if I am able to make the DML better
> for some without compromising it for others, I will make every
> effort to do so!
>
>
> --
>
> -Jon-
Sounds fair to me. It was just thinking aloud anyway. One thing I think that
ouwld help out would be to get some of the members together to help with the
webpage a bit. You have even stated you don't have time so maybe if someone
does a little here and there we could improve that.
Another thought os instead of a forum could we set it up like a BBS, mybe a
little different. I know right now we have the ability to post to either the
newsgroup and by email but is there a way that we could access teh active
discussion form the webpage? Maybe like having the newsgroup setup right on
the webpage. This would get rid of it but instead look basically the same
and be accessed form the webpage. You may have touched on about this above
but not knowing the exact terminology for this I may have missed it.
One last thing via the pictures. Is there a way that we could setup like an
image server? That way you have an account and post whatever pictures you
want to it. When you want to share a picture you just post the link to it.
Again, just thinking but right now I have way too much time on my hands.
Jeff Durling
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:46:30 EST