>The biggest killer for me is search.  Find a forum - ANY forum -
>and do a search.  It takes forever.

The search feature on a properly hosted forum can be about as fast as
Gmail's, and while Gmail's search might be "smarter," a forum search (using
software like vBulletin) can be much more* effective* IMHO.

>Also I end up with a full archive - if the forum or mail server go
>down I still have access to the archive, and I find that with fast
>search most problems I have with a PIC can be dealt with very quickly
>simply by searching the archive.

A forum is basically just an archive with an interface :-)

>Further, there are piclist reflector forums, IIRC.  If you don't like
>them, build your own - the software is out there.

Catching emails and posting them on a forum is* not* the same as a regular
forum.

As far as hosting the forum, you're probably right in that it would take at
least a shared VPS. But, like someone in this discussion said, not everyone
will join at once. It would take at least a few months to grow, seems like.
And it everyone finds the forum to be agreeable then it can be supported by
a strip of ads on the portal page, or something like that.

These days, forums are very flexible when it comes to email notifications.
And if the forum software doesn't by default provide a "nice notification
every 10 or 20 (configurable) minutes," then I'm sure a plug-in could be
easily written, purchased, or available for free online.

>There is nothing wrong with the list as-is.  Everything you've asked
>for can be built around your own email client.  There would be
>tremendous friction in such a shift.

Maybe there's nothing technically "wrong" with an email list, but a forum
could be a huge improvement:

1) How about the ridiculous way I have to quote you? It would be so much
easier, not to mention more readable, to just click "quote" next to your
post and encapsulate your paragraphs in quote tags.

2) Wouldn't it be nice for users to have the ability to upload things like:
    - Tutorials
    - Schematics
    - PCB designs
    - Photos
    - Etc..

3) Posts don't get bounced! I am trying out Gmail now (and the stacked
emails are much nicer then in Outlook), so I don't know how many emails will
get bounced, or marked as spam, but I've had tons of emails bounced using my
web host's (Godaddy) email service.

4) There are tons more advantages, I could go on all night.


So far, the only actual downside I see in having a forum is the bandwidth
(thus cost) that it would take. The cost issue, however, could probably be
easily be overcome by even just one small strip of ads..


Regards,

Nathan
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist