On Mon, 27 Mar 2017 11:31:02 +0900
Michael Paquier <michael.paquier@gmail.com> wrote:
> If you have subscribed to more mailing lists than -general, having one
> subfolder per list can also help a lot, grouping as well some of those
> having a low activity, for example:
> - one folder for -hackers and -hackers-cluster.
> - one folder for -general.
> - one folder for -jdbc and -odbc.
> - one for -bugs and -docs.
> - one for -jobs and -announce, etc.
> Something like that will make your hacking activity way easier to
> handle. I would bet that a lot of people around here do that.
I sure do. I have a heck of a lot of email in a heck of a lot of
folders, all stored in a nice, easy to drill down hierarchy. That
hierarchy is maintained by the Dovecot IMAP server that runs on my
desktop computer.
On every successful mailing list, somebody inevitably suggests
replacing it with "a forum" or "a facebook page" or some
proprietary website that acts as a middleman (Google, Meetup and
Linkedin are three of the usual suspects). Such suggestions usually go
nowhere, and when they're followed, communication usually ceases and
the the community becomes a ghost town. When it comes to having a
lively group discussion that focuses all minds into a supermind greater
than the sum of the parts, a mailing list is the best tool. Especially
if those who use it trim properly and make sure they're not being
ambiguous.
Another mailing list benefit: Most of these other types of "community
communicators" sooner or later disappear from the Internet, just like
mailing lists. But with mailing lists, individuals can keep their own
archives. I have archives from my first LUG, even though that LUG's
mailing list went defunct in 2002.
Because my email folder hierarchy was designed by me, I can usually
find emails of any age very quickly. Responding is as easy as replying
to an email.
One assertion in the original post was that email communication is "so
1990's". That's neither a compliment nor an insult, and has prompted me
to write an essay, for which I'll provide the URL when it's finished.
Bottom line though, don't mess with success.
SteveT
Steve Litt
March 2017 featured book: Troubleshooting: Why Bother?
http://www.troubleshooters.com/twb