Module 2: Lists

What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
The battle of the decade is taking place.

Email lists vs discussions boards - which one is better and will rule supreme?

Both offer:

• a community of people who share an interest in a specific topic
• are easy to participate by posting or responding to posted messages
• sharing of extensive information on a shared interest topic
• make it easy to target members to flame
• not able to provide immediate response to posts

Over to the blue team, what makes email lists better?

• offers convenience of information in a standard email format right to your inbox. Recipients can track, save and respond to posts through their email client
• limited to text based formatting to remain cross platform friendly
  
• messages can get lengthy when a topic receives a lot of discussion
• only able to be accessed from email client
  

Now the red team, discussion boards and forums. How do you respond?

• visual format allowing HTML formatting and imagery
• web based interface
  
• easy to view index
• flags new posts and topics
• not limited to operating system
• unable to provide immediate response to posts
• able to access from any internet browser
  

Which one is better? It's not a knockout and depends on the recipient - for users without regular internet access, email lists offer flexibility as the messages will build up until the user reads or removes. Discussion boards can have fast flowing conversation and it can be easy to miss information if you haven't been able to log in.

Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?
In today's internet based society, a large number of communication options are available. Each option has advantages and disadvantages and what works best in one situation isn't guaranteed to have the same 'knight-in-shining-armor' approach in the next.

Email
Not suited when an immediate response is required but perfect for sharing attachments or extensive information to specific individuals or groups. Highly suitable for a business, education or home environment.

Instant Messenger
Suited when an immediate response in required as this allows the user to communicate in real time with specific individuals. Not suited for sharing attachments or extensive information. Best suited for home environments. Suitable for specific education and business environments for internal communications - particularly large organisations where individuals may be in different offices across the city, country or even the globe.

Chat Rooms
Suited when an immediate response in required as this allows the user to communicate in real time with multiple people. Information must be communicated in succinct messages. Great way to meet new people interested in the same specific topic. Not suited for sharing attachments or extensive information. Highly suitable for home environments. Suitable for a home environment but could work in an specific education environment. Unlikely to work for a business environment.

Newsgroups
Not suited when an immediate response is required but perfect for sharing extensive information with a group of people interested in the same topic. Unlikely to be useful for many environments - suitable for specific individuals interested in participating in ongoing discussions on topics. Potential to be completely replace by discussion boards/online forums. Due to lack of input from moderators, these can be an excellent forum for spam.

Discussion boards / Online Forums
Not suited when an immediate response is required but these are an ideal forum for sharing extensive information with a group of people interested in the same topic. Discussion boards can provide useful solutions to specific problems to individuals in a number of industries - the Information Technology (IT) industry definitely benefits from this forum. Useful for specific individuals in a business environment as well as students and home users. Forums are available for just about every topic from weight loss tips through to solutions for software issues or problems. Online forums do require registration and moderators can oversee to ensure there is minimal spamming.