At 09:30 AM 8/27/2008 -0700, David Kao wrote:
>Yahoo, Gmail and probably most other mail programs are all web based.

Beg Pardon?  Yahoo and Gmail are mail services, not programs.  They
do have a web interface, but Gmail at any rate also has a POP server
so that you can also retrieve your mail with Eudora, The Bat!,
Thunderbird, Polarbar, Outlook Express or other email client program.

The Gmail web interface works quite well, but it's no comparison to a
proper email program.  I only ever visit gmail directly to check the
spam trap; but my email program fetches mail from gmail every few
minutes, as my attglobal.net address is forwarded there.

>So a web based forum is not going to be any slower, if the graphic
>content and java scripts are kept at a minimum.

See above...

>With the current list platform it is impossible to respond to posts
>interactively. Yahoo very often delays list emails until the next
>morning.

That sounds like an excellent reason to leave yahoo, not a reason to
change the list.  My list mail goes to attglobal.net and is then
forwarded to gmail, and I still receive it within a very few minutes
-- and I'm pretty sure that delay is mostly at gerry.vanagon.com, as
I receive my own posts from other lists within seconds of sending them.

>  It is very difficult to search the archive.

I believe that will be addressed by a hardware change, as will the
slight delay in serving outgoing mail.

Regards,
David

--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"