Kevin Jarvis wrote: > So why do we stick with an antiquated email/digest system when we can > have a full blown multi-subject, multi-faceted forum.
I did consider the Wings Forum when Sean first invited me to moderate it. In fact I WAS the moderator for a month or two. But there were about 3 posts during that time, and I found that I never even checked it, and certainly didn't do any moderation. > At first, Mark Langford sounded like he was very interested in slowly migrating > both the KR and Corvair lists to the forums, but at some point it appears that > he changed his mind. It was right about the time William Wynne left the > Corvaircraft list. I wouldn't say that I was ever "very interested". I did it reluctantly on a trial basis, and after the trial I decided not to do it. Part of the reason was that I'd asked 7 of KRnets oldest (and most internet savy) users what they thought about it. Their decision was unanimous AGAINST changing over to it. Part of the reason is that what we have works, and like Michael Gaskin says, archiving data would no longer be in my hands. As it is right now, I have every email ever sent to KRnet sitting on my hard drive and burned to DVD, and John Bouyea has another copy of it in his archive. I know what it means to have an internet company that you've trusted all your data to disappear one day. I saw it happen to a photo forum that I was on at one time. The users had all this time involved in setting up photo galleries, and one day they were gone, with no warning at all. And I don't see a problem with the KRnet archive search engine located at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp . It does everything I need for it to do, and instantly. Another reason given by the seven was that there are a lot of folks on KRnet who have a hard time even reading and replying to email. Swapping to a new kind of forum would derail a large percentage of KRnet members until they could figure out what was going on. It just seemed needless. One other area that I wonder about is advertising and email address harvesting. I can't see somebody going to the kind of trouble Sean is investing without expecting to cash in someday somehow. I may be completely wrong about that, but I like the advertising free, no-cookies-required, "private" KRnet email list, and I want it to stay that way. I've seen way too many of these sorts of things start out as user interest groups, but eventually turn into paid mouthpieces for vendors and manufacturers. Not gonna happen to KRnet. What finally did me in was when Sean sent a post to KRnet saying something like "I have a question for you guys, but you'll have to check the WingsForum to see it". That cooked my goose, because he could have just as easily posted it to KRnet, but deliberately sent it to KRnet (or maybe it was CorvAircraft) to focus attention on the Wings Forum. I'd already decided that it made no sense to swap over at that point anyway, so I asked him to take me off the moderator list. And it simply doesn't make sense to have several different KR forums for everybody to check. We're all right here, and people know where to come to get KR building information. > As for the naysayers, and Mark L. has said that a majority of users here do not want a change, go to >Wingsforum, register and then snoop around. Go right ahead. I've been there, done that, didn't see anything all that great about it that we haven't already worked around. > Yes Mark, I understand that you have built these lists from the git-go, that they are YOUR babies and I want nothing less than you and the others experts here to step up and moderate these details, but as for email/digest is passé and it's time to upgrade. < I didn't build either one of these lists from the git-go, although I was on them both from almost their inceptions. I eventually took them both over when the previous list-owners got tired of doing it (and I wasn't real thrilled about how they were being run anyway). Over the years I've come to the conclusion that I care too much about KRnet and CorvAircraft to let anybody else run either one of them. I like to be able to set the tone and keep things from getting out of hand. And on three occasions so far, I've thrown people off permanently for flagrantly violating the rules. I don't brag about being the owner, I just do the job. This particular incarnation of the list is a little clunky, but it does work. KRnet pays for itself out of voluntary contributions every few years (can't say the same for CorvAircraft though). Bottom line is that anybody that wants to go to the Wings Forum is welcome to it, or start you own KRnet. Matronix has one too, and it had about 3 posts on it last time I checked. But I'll still be right here in the dark ages of email lists. And what's the difference in me getting hit by a truck and Sean getting hit by a truck? End of discussion, as far as I'm concerned. Sorry, but I've got an airplane to get ready to haul to the airport... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama see homebuilt airplane at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford email to N56ML "at" hiwaay.net
