CANWINE Quietness
There is plenty to discuss concerning Canadian wines these days, so it's strange and disconcerting to see CANWINE become so quiet. Though it looks spiffy and all, I have to think that the blog format is part of the problem. Let's face it - we're all busy with many things, and small impediments can spell the difference between posting a message and not bothering... and the blog format puts up just enough impediments, for me at least, that I haven't bothered for many months.
For discussion groups, I much prefer the tried and true mailing list. The majority of my "computer time" is centered around email, and my mail client software is a fast, familiar and convenient interface for dealing with messages. I'm on a lot of mailing lists, and each one has its own folder. I can see at a glance when new messages have arrived on a particular list, and I can quickly zip over to scan them. If I want to post a reply, I can do that quickly and easily, using the same interface I use for all my other mail. No going off to a browser, finding the right bookmark, logging into a website, dealing with a slow, clunky interface to read and post messages, and so on. Impediments, impediments!
And here's a real impediment: bugginess. Some months ago I tried to post an account of my wine tasting expedition to Prince Edward County. I spent more than an hour typing it into the blog composer, selected "publish post", and... it vanished without a trace. It never appeared on the blog, and there was no backup available... it just went into a sinkhole somewhere. All that time was wasted, and I haven't been back since. Once bitten... It looks like that bug may be fixed now, and there is now an auto-save feature, but still, that kind of annoying experience tends to stay with you.
I know that you can get CANWINE messages sent by email, and I have that option enabled, but that only solves part of the problem. I want to both receive and post messages without ever logging in anywhere. One possibility might be to move CANWINE to a Yahoo Group. Their format is superior to the blog one, I think, because it offers both kinds of access. You can treat it like a conventional mailing list, and never have to visit the website (unless you want to change your settings), or you can use it as an online forum that is similar to this one, and not use email at all - your choice.
Regardless of whether it changes or not, I will try to post some actual wine comments to CANWINE, but I thought it would be useful to start a discussion about whether the current blog format is inhibiting the wine talk. Comments?
Barry
For discussion groups, I much prefer the tried and true mailing list. The majority of my "computer time" is centered around email, and my mail client software is a fast, familiar and convenient interface for dealing with messages. I'm on a lot of mailing lists, and each one has its own folder. I can see at a glance when new messages have arrived on a particular list, and I can quickly zip over to scan them. If I want to post a reply, I can do that quickly and easily, using the same interface I use for all my other mail. No going off to a browser, finding the right bookmark, logging into a website, dealing with a slow, clunky interface to read and post messages, and so on. Impediments, impediments!
And here's a real impediment: bugginess. Some months ago I tried to post an account of my wine tasting expedition to Prince Edward County. I spent more than an hour typing it into the blog composer, selected "publish post", and... it vanished without a trace. It never appeared on the blog, and there was no backup available... it just went into a sinkhole somewhere. All that time was wasted, and I haven't been back since. Once bitten... It looks like that bug may be fixed now, and there is now an auto-save feature, but still, that kind of annoying experience tends to stay with you.
I know that you can get CANWINE messages sent by email, and I have that option enabled, but that only solves part of the problem. I want to both receive and post messages without ever logging in anywhere. One possibility might be to move CANWINE to a Yahoo Group. Their format is superior to the blog one, I think, because it offers both kinds of access. You can treat it like a conventional mailing list, and never have to visit the website (unless you want to change your settings), or you can use it as an online forum that is similar to this one, and not use email at all - your choice.
Regardless of whether it changes or not, I will try to post some actual wine comments to CANWINE, but I thought it would be useful to start a discussion about whether the current blog format is inhibiting the wine talk. Comments?
Barry
posted by BarryM | 12:41 p.m.
2 Comments:
I investigated a range of options when I did my last computer upgrade (which sank the old mailing list software) and came away rather frustrated with what is available.
Except for this format, anything else I looked at either had security issues (which could result in spam) or would subject everyone to mountains of advertising, alternatives which I was not keen on for the obvious reasons.
If it's any consolation, I also had a number of complaints about the email/digest format and requests to shift to the blog/collaborative system.
So I guess the short answer is that there is no perfect solution.
That being said, I could implement a couple of things here that will make posting easier. Richard Best suggested that I perhaps make the blog easier to post to by moderating all comments instead of restricting posting to registered team members, and that certainly is a good option, although it does require more input on my part.
I could also take it a step further and allow anyone to post or comment but go through the "type in the funny characters in this box" process to screen out mechanized spam, but there is the excessive noise trade-off.
There are a few other leads to explore about setting up some sort of email list set-up I can implement, but certainly cost is a factor in this regard.
Thoughts?
I see no need to have a moderated discussion group. Moderation is a pain for the moderator(s), and an impediment to the discussions.
Further, I don't see why cost would be an issue. Again, look at Yahoo Groups. Anyone with a (free) Yahoo account can start a group. The person who starts the group can control access to it by exercising the right to approve membership requests. Group members have the option of using web access similar to that of this blog, or access via a mailing list interface. I'm a member of several Yahoo groups, and they work just fine. There are no issues with spam, due to the access control on group membership.
Barry
Post a Comment
<< Home