Re: (ET) Replacement of the Elec-Trak.com site

["David Roden" <etpost drmm net>]

Is a web forum really necessary?  We could use some supplemental storage 
for 
files here, I guess, but otherwise IMO this email list is quite 
satisfactory.  I've visited the ET website.  Maybe it's just me, but I 
found 
it awkward and frustrating to navigate, and haven't been back much since.

It's also much easier to administer a discussion list than a web forum.  
For 
several years now, I've been managing the electric vehicle discussion list 
(EVDL) by myself.  It had 1800+ subscribers, although only about 25% of 
them 
were really active.  (We recently moved to a new server and only that 25% 
followed.)

If you still want a webforum, why not consider what we do with the 
electric 
vehicle discussion list (EVDL)?  We use Nabble.com as an archive and forum 
front end for the list, for those who prefer that kind of interaction.  
Folks can work with it like any other webforum, and it forwards their 
posts 
to the discussion list.  It also provides some limited file storage; but 
really that's not much of a problem, with all the web file lockers now 
available.  

Another way to get a webforum style interface to the mailing list would be 
to use gmane.org. It doesn't seem to have the advanced features of Nabble, 
but it's much faster.

Probably someone will suggest Yahoo Groups, and that's one answer, but I 
personally prefer a less commercial solution.  Nabble is ad-supported, but 
it's more subtle.

I'm looking forward to hearing others' thoughts.  And I do hope nothing 
untoward has happened to Don.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

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