Hi Alan, Is there an example of such an animal out there that you have been subscribed to and have found useful and amenable? As opposed to the "bulletin board" or blog formats where there is an initial "item" (could be an article, a product, whatever) and then a bunch of comments posted (which could be sent automatically to everyone who is involved). [With that kind of format (ie, on a web page with comments posted below something or other), I find that I am only interested in wading through if there has been, like on Amazon, a way for readers to say "this was useful," which makes it possible to "skip the crap" without wading through pages of posts.] Personally, I have my doubts that there would be enough interest in such a complex means of communication: You have to search for an appropriate thread before asking a question or posting an idea. What if nobody is "there" (nobody happens to be subscribed to that topic, or nobody you want to communicate with)? You start a new topic. How long before somebody else notices? somebody responds? I guess it is a good way of creating an organized archives, but I'm not so sure it works with "real people in real time." Maybe you have seen an example in real life that functions well, and can provide some testimony. I agree with Ron that an open forum like this (caut) means that I am likely to find things I didn't think I'd be interested in, things I would be unlikely to "subscribe to" as a topic, and discover that indeed I AM interested. And, frankly, the psychology of an open conversation among colleagues, even if much is just chatter, is more appealing to me. There is a sense of connectedness, which I have found psychologically very important over the years in this isolated and isolating profession. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu On Jul 14, 2008, at 7:31 PM, Alan McCoy wrote: > Well Ron there's nothing really limiting by using a forum structure > for the > conversation instead of a list server. The conversation would still > exist in > un-digested form. People would choose to reply to a thread or begin > a new > one, or not read it at all. The system would not in any way limit > what you > see or what you say. You choose what you want to pay attention to, > or not, > by subscribing to whatever you want to subscribe to, or not. The > organization of the threads, the conversation, is neither in your > control , > nor not in your control. The organization of the conversation > reflects the > sensibilities of all who use it, and changes as the community of > users see > fit, dynamically and ongoing.
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