did you get some age statistics on that? I really hate e-mail, mailing lists etc. I was thinking that it might be a conflict between the generations because I am a bit younger than the people I used to see on the mailing lists.
The client (or provider) has bugger all to do with it. I'm old and cranky, and have hated mailing lists since I was a young 'un. Properly-threaded, searchable forums (preferably locally-replicable) are better in every imaginable way. Plato was able to do it sometime back in the early Devonian; Iris/Lotus (whether you like the Notes client or the default app UI or not) made it easy and distributable in the late Cretaceous. The parts exist to make it workable with FOSS and an open, less-astonishing UI, both connected and local. Neither familiarity not ubiquity is an indicator of quality or suitability, and email threads are just about the worst format that can possibly be forced into service in this sphere. That email was once, for all practical purposes, the only available choice doesn't make it the best choice.
I'm on several mailing lists, and the client I'm using shows the threaded discussion and search works fine. I get to use a real editor and not what Firefix/Safari/Chrome/IE provide in too little text areas (like now).
yes. But it's more like I'm not interested in stuff forever. if for a few months I use a lib, and wish to send a patch or something, then life move on, I change job, I replace the lib, etc. I have to subscribe, get spammed, find a way to unsubscribe filter the thing etc. Whereas on the web, I decide when I go reading and if it's not relevant to me, I don't go anymore and that's it. Nobody cares if I put my answer over or under the citation, and anyways, if anything has already been said before, they will tell me to read the ML history which lies... on the web, where it belongs in the first place.
