Re: [Leica] Leica E-mail group

["Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>]

On 13 Jan 98 at 15:40, T Loizeaux wrote:

> It seems that this E-mail type newsgroup creats problems for many of
> us. I find the loading in of this quantity of messages a real
> inconvience. I like the Leica newsgroup idea, but would prefer it to
> be set it up in DaJa News, or something sinilar, where we could
> access it at will and scroll thru the headings, without having it
> all loaded into our mail systems ?

Hi, Tom --

The possibility of having a Leica newsgroup has been discussed before 
on this list.  Some people said they like the idea; others (myself 
included) prefer a mailing list for a variety of reasons.  These are:

1) People have to make a concerted effort to join a mailing list; 
   thus some modicum of real interest on the part of the posters is 
   assured.
2) (Related to (1)) A mailing list has an actual membership that can  
   be identified.  I think this fact gives mailing lists a 
   character very different from newsgroups.
3) A mailing list does not receive bunches of advertisements for porn 
   web sites.
4) One doesn't immediately start receiving junk e-mail after sending 
   a message to a mailing list.

For these reasons, I find mailing lists much more useful and
interesting than newsgroups.  If you wish, you can go through the
procedure to try to get a Leica newsgroup created under the
rec.photo hierarchy.  It might pass (the public votes on the 
creation of these groups).  Personally, I would probably not be very 
interested in such a newsgroup, because the quality of postings in 
newsgroups is terrible, whereas I have actually learned a lot from 
this mailing list.  So I'd stick to this mailing list.  But others 
might prefer your newsgroup.

It does sound like the main issue for you is your mail reading 
software.  There are mail readers that will filter your mail, so that 
the messages to this newsgroup could be stored in a separate folder 
and you could read them at your leisure or delete them without 
reading them.  If your mail reader is a modern one, you might 
consider taking advantage of its features to make the list more 
convenient for you to read.

- -Patrick