Re: We're all Dinosaurs

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

Sniper8052(L96A1) <[email protected]> wrote:

> What's the difference between a
> usenet group and a web forum?

One advantage is that you can use a free choice of lightweight clients
to present the newsgroups of your choice in a common, usually highly
configurable interface. Kill-filters, crosspost filtering, decent
support for proper interleaved quoting and so on - all these are
collateral benefits.

The biggest drawback of web forums is you have to visit them each in
turn. Also, few of them follow the threading model particularly well.

--
Guy

 

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 07:14:39 -0700 someone who may be MSeries
<[email protected]> wrote this:-

>In some
>respects the unthreaded way of forums follows real life more, hwoever
>confusing and difficult that may be it is what everyone is most familiar
>with. You are in a room with say 6 others talking about say, dynamos v
>battery lights. Points are made all the time in no order really other
>than chronological. Some are responding to earlier ones some or new.
>Some replies carry a mix of both. No real thread exists in real life one
>has to remember the material that went before.

That works when one is in one room at a time.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

 

[Patrick Herring]

MSeries <[email protected]> wrote:

| Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
|
| >
| > The biggest drawback of web forums is you have to visit them each in
| > turn. Also, few of them follow the threading model particularly well.
| >
|
| What threading model ? the usenet one ? why should they ? In some
| respects the unthreaded way of forums follows real life more, hwoever
| confusing and difficult that may be it is what everyone is most familiar
| with. You are in a room with say 6 others talking about say, dynamos v
| battery lights. Points are made all the time in no order really other
| than chronological. Some are responding to earlier ones some or new.
| Some replies carry a mix of both. No real thread exists in real life one
| has to remember the material that went before.

That's why usenet is better. It enforces some useful organisation.

I don't know why web-forums don't do threading properly -
Dejanews/Google managed it. I have a suspicion that their users also
don't grok "top-posting v bottom-posting".

I'd guess the main reason web-forums appear to be proliferating and to
be popular is that they can be set up unilaterally (AIUI alt.* doesn't
really have that, despite the rumours) so any special interest subject
can have one. I'd favour a convergence towards newsgroups, but maybe
the hierarchy system wouldn't cope.

Patrick Herring, http://www.anweald.co.uk/ph.html

 

[Chris Malcolm]

[email protected] (Patrick Herring) writes:

>MSeries <[email protected]> wrote:

>| Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

>| > The biggest drawback of web forums is you have to visit them each in
>| > turn. Also, few of them follow the threading model particularly well.

>| What threading model ? the usenet one ? why should they ? In some
>| respects the unthreaded way of forums follows real life more, hwoever
>| confusing and difficult that may be it is what everyone is most familiar
>| with. You are in a room with say 6 others talking about say, dynamos v
>| battery lights. Points are made all the time in no order really other
>| than chronological. Some are responding to earlier ones some or new.
>| Some replies carry a mix of both. No real thread exists in real life one
>| has to remember the material that went before.

>That's why usenet is better. It enforces some useful organisation.

>I don't know why web-forums don't do threading properly -
>Dejanews/Google managed it. I have a suspicion that their users also
>don't grok "top-posting v bottom-posting".

That's why they are so useful and should be encouraged. They're so
much easier and more friendly for people to use who can't follow
discussions. In time most of those twits should migrate to them and
stop polluting newsgroups with their complaints & attempts to emulate
pub conversation, which is what most of them think "Real Life" is.

--
Chris Malcolm [email protected] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Patrick Herring
('[email protected]') wrote:

> I'd guess the main reason web-forums appear to be proliferating and to
> be popular is that they can be set up unilaterally

The only reason web forums proliferate is because people believe you can
make money out of them. And, indeed, you can - if you develop a really
good focussed community and then sell advertising assiduously. However,
most don't, and where it works it is in my opinion verging on the
immoral, simply from the 'enclosing the commons' effect.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
; gif ye hes forget our auld plane Scottis quhilk your mother lerit you,
; in tymes cuming I sall wryte to you my mind in Latin, for I am nocht
; acquyntit with your Southeron
;; Letter frae Ninian Winyet tae John Knox datit 27t October 1563

 

[Tony Raven]

Simon Brooke wrote:
>
> The only reason web forums proliferate is because people believe you can
> make money out of them. And, indeed, you can - if you develop a really
> good focussed community and then sell advertising assiduously. However,
> most don't, and where it works it is in my opinion verging on the
> immoral, simply from the 'enclosing the commons' effect.
>

The Singletrack forum seems to work, not that I use it much, but I
suspect its by raising the profile of the magazine and therefore the
number of subscriptions rather than pure advertising.

Tony

 

[Patrick Herring]

[email protected] (Patrick Herring) wrote:
....
|
| Patrick Herring, http://www.anweald.co.uk/ph.html

ug, no .sigsep, hmm.

I recently finally got tired of Netscape4 being so often so crinkly
(and IE6 being so smug) so I went through an exercise of trying all
the latest versions, what fun. Settled on Opera7 for browsing and
Mozilla Thunderbird for email (didn't like Operas "filters" for
sub-folders) but stuck with Free Agent for news (I /like/ quoting with
"|" even if no one else does). Except I see MoTh puts in the .sigsep
whereas Free Agent doesn't, so now I need two .sig files, ug.

--
Patrick Herring, http://www.anweald.co.uk/ph.html

 

[MSeries]

David Hansen wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 07:14:39 -0700 someone who may be MSeries
> <[email protected]> wrote this:-
>
>
>>In some
>>respects the unthreaded way of forums follows real life more, hwoever
>>confusing and difficult that may be it is what everyone is most familiar
>>with. You are in a room with say 6 others talking about say, dynamos v
>>battery lights. Points are made all the time in no order really other
>>than chronological. Some are responding to earlier ones some or new.
>>Some replies carry a mix of both. No real thread exists in real life one
>>has to remember the material that went before.
>
>
> That works when one is in one room at a time.
>
>

Which I always am. Don't get me started with x-posting.