DCML or forum?

[Olaf Solstrand]

What I find amusing is that it seems as if we're having a long discussion  
on a mailing list about whether or not it's even possible to *have* a long  
discussion on a mailing list.

I use discussion forums online, and I use them a lot. But still I can't  
imagine cutting out DCML in its current form -- because the DCML, as a  
mailing list, is made for those people who actually don't have the time to  
sit on a forum all day -- and that way, attending DCML *in addition to*  
any Disney forum I use gives a whole new range of people to talk to all  
around the world.

And sure, the delay from a message is sent until you recieve it can be  
annoying, especially if you're used to forums. But wasn't this extra delay  
added so that one could have the chance to moderate the list? Hey, this is  
a mailing list, whenever anything is sent out, it appears in my personal  
mailbox, and Per can't go in and delete obscenities in my personal mailbox  
-- thus, it must be done before the message is sent. And unless we all  
chip in on hiring people to do this job 24 hours a day, I don't see how  
the necessity of moderating a mailing list can be done any other way than  
delaying it.

And hey -- we're donaldists. The precursor of mailing lists were fanzines.  
You got the donaldist magazine in your mailbox, you read the readers'  
column, you were angered and upsed with something you read there, you  
typed up a reply and sent it to the editor, and if you were lucky it was  
on print three months later.

Sure. On the internet, it is possible to have real-time discussions.  
That's one of the advantages of forums. Moderated mailing lists have other  
advantages.

You can't choose between a mailing list and a forum. Or, you can, but they  
aren't really comparable. A mailing list is one technology. A forum is  
another. A chat is a third. A fanzine is a forth. They have certain things  
in common, but they still are completely different.

Sure, real time discussions have been available on this list at a point.  
Sure, if we ignore the advantages of disabling it, we can miss it. But  
still, real time discussions are *not* the purpose of a mailing list, and  
asking it from a mailing list is like asking that all story books should  
come with a parent attached to read the stories out loud to you like when  
we were kids.

A warm thank you to Per for maintaining the mailing list throughout the  
years. It's been a pleasure reading it.


-- 
Olaf Solstrand

Norway's biggest Disney fan portal, with more than 1000 daily visits:
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