Hi Bruce,
Many thanks for your evaluation and accurate assessment. As one of the
webmasters for the Tayana Owners Group, I have seen a serious erosion of
participation in postings and participation. One of the things that
attracted me to the Baba site was that it showed considerable vibrancy.
Ongoing discussions would show up in my EMail inbox, and I could enjoy
learning about various issues of interest. The similarities between the
Baba/Panda/Tashiba and the Tayana 37 were obvious points of interest.

There is an option under the PHPBB forum software that does allow individual
users to receive email postings of the same items posted on the Bulletin
Board FORUM. However, we had a lot of trouble with multiple postings,
largely because of a glitch in the software at our Host's server. This
prompted our previous webmistress to turn off that function. While members
were no longer receiving multiple postings of the same message (because the
people who posted the message hit the "Submit" button several times), it
resulted in far fewer overall contributions.

FORUM Bulletin Boards are useful when you want to search for archived items,
and follow a specific thread. However, they require an online internet
connection, require that you spend the time to remind yourself to check the
Bulletin Board, wander through various menus to get to the latest postings,
and then find that the posting may be of little interest. If you want to
respond to a message on the bulletin board, you have to maintain your
internet connection.

The advantage of the EMail method of distributing messages is that the EMail
is automatically deposited in your Inbox, you can download all your messages
at one time, disconnect from the internet, and sort your messages offline at
your leisure. You can answer or comment on those messages, and the outgoing
reesponse will be stored on your computer until you next have a chance to
connect to the internet.
The disadvantage is concern about the amount of spam that may also come to
your Inbox. Spam filters are less than perfect. But we have all come to
learn how to deal with junk mail, whether it arrives courtesy of the U.S.
Postal Service, or via our EMail Inbox. The big PITA is that junk EMail now
constitutes about 98% of all incoming messages.

Would it be possible to use software that provides both Bulletin Board
FORUMs and also sends out a copy of the message via EMail? The EMail message
would be an option selected by each member.
regards,
Harvey

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Pappas" <bcp@pappalini.com>
To: <baba-l@ballreich.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 6:46 AM
Subject: [Baba-L] Yahoo Groups alternative

> Fellow Baba-Panda-Tashiba owners:
>
> I would like to continue to participate in an e-mail list discussion group
> for Baba-Panda-Tashiba owners. To that end, I have set up a Yahoo-based
> group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baba-l/. To subscribe, go to the
> group page, or send an e-mail to mailto:baba-l-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
>
> I am not a fan of forum-based discussion groups, if they do not offer
> e-mail
> as an option. I seldom go to forums. I find them inconvenient and
> impersonal. I tried one as an experiment on the babaowners.org website and
> eventually shut it off.
>
> Valiant owners have successfully used a Yahoo group for years. Tayana
> owners
> are struggling with their custom solution and are currently forum-based
> only, while they search to return to e-mail. They have seen their
> participation drop off. Yahoo has more features for our group than does
> Google.
>
> I post this with reservation. I don't want to see the Baba-Panda-Tashiba
> group splintered. In fact, I will remain a member of the Sail2Live Baba
> forum. But I also want to see the discussion continue in an easy-to-use
> manner.
>
> If Cindy sends me off-list the names and e-mail addresses of current
> subscribers to the Baba-L Ballreich.net list, I can bring over a few a
> day.
> This would greatly simplify the registration process.
>
> Also, if anyone would like to share the moderator status of this new Yahoo
> group, my mom taught me to share.
>
> Best of luck to Rick with his work.
>
> -Bruce, former webmaster of www.babaowners.org (still working, but
> inactive)
> 1983 Ta Shing Panda 40 PH "Whisper"
> Duluth, MN (Lake Superior)
> www.pappalini.com
>
> Group Email Addresses
> Related Link: www.babaowners.org
> Post message: baba-l@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: baba-l-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: baba-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: baba-l-owner@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Baba Panda and Tashiba Owners Mailing List --
> For more info, please check out the FAQ...
> http://www.ballreich.net/hypermail/baba-l/faq.html

-----------------------------------------------------------
Baba Panda and Tashiba Owners Mailing List --
For more info, please check out the FAQ...
http://www.ballreich.net/hypermail/baba-l/faq.html
Received on Sun Jun 17 08:18:32 2007