Good points, Mike.

I personally prefer email because I use an email application and store
my messages locally. I suppose some of that preference is also due to
the fact that it's "always" been that way.

There are some strengths of web-based forums, the foremost being (in
my mind) ease of searching. Additionally, there's more room for a
wider range of discussions, since you can create forums specifically
for discussion of particular threads, some of which might be "off
topic" in an email list. All messages post to the list, so you're less
likely to have a thread which abruptly ends because people just reply
to the sender and not the list.  Finally, web-forums are the modern
incarnation of the list discussion group.

Of course, newer isn't always better. And this is a list of folks who
prefer things somewhat old-fashioned as we drive around our 20+ year
old vehicles.

-Jarrett

On May 20, 2008, at 12:45 PM, Mike S wrote:
>
> It allows one to read and respond at their convenience. You can
> connect, pickup messages, then disconnect and read/respond whenever.
> That's especially useful when travelling.
>
> Email is much lower bandwidth, nice for those who don't have high-
> speed
> access. It's also much cheaper to host, for both bandwidth and
> processing costs.
>
> Email allows easy local archiving of "keeper" messages, especially
> handy on a list where technical information is discussed.