[ale] Reply-To controversy: a solution

[Ben Coleman]

On Mon, 21 Apr 2003 02:20:40 -0500, ChangingLINKS.com wrote:

>My question:
>Why have we not opted to go with the latest and greatest php threaded forum 
>complete with pics (of ourselves) and emoticons? A forum like the one at 
>www.tinyminds.org, but with less topics, and a way to click the poster's name 
>that will send an email to them (without the email address being exposed to 
>spam of course. 

Oh, gag, please, no.  At the volume of messages that ALE generates, a
web-based forum is a pain.  Even on DSL, it's noticably slower (with a
web-based forum, messages have to come across the wire while you're
reading, whereas with email (or with newsgroups) messages are typically
brought down to a local hard disk in bulk, making 'between messages'
pauses much faster, because they're coming from the local hard disk,
while you're reading.  At ALE volumes it will make a noticable
difference in the time required to keep up (not that I necessarily
always keep up now).  It also means that you're stuck with one user
interface, as opposed to the user being able to choose the mail client
he/she's comfortable with.

Ben
-- 
Ben Coleman oloryn at benshome.net      | The attempt to legislatively
http://oloryn.home.mindspring.com/   | micromanage equality results, at
Amateur Radio NJ8J                   | best, in equal misery for all.


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