[BWNA] Re: [BWNA-Board] BW blog or forum?

[Rob Vaughn]

Hello all,

Sorry for the length of this but I wanted to try to explain things to people
who might not understand the nuances of different forms of online interaction.

I have been dealing with a health problem since December now and have not
been able to put much time into the BWNA, at least in person, and won't for
the foreseeable future.  That said, I have tried to make sure the mailing
lists and Web site have continued to run, which has involved a string of
problems with computers, wiring, UPS power backups, etc.

I bring this up only because hosting a forum of some sort is yet more of a
load and yet another thing to support on the server.  If I had the time,
money, and good health, this would not be an issue.  But as such, I don't know
how soon, if at all, we could get this set up, since I have little or none of
any of these right now.

I also think Mario did an excellent job outlining how a forum works.  There
are reasons why mailing lists still exist, and why there are forums (the
revival of what was once Bulletin Board Systems, aka BBS's) and why there are
blogs.  They are all very different forms of communication, just like mail
differs from the phone which differs from email.

My experience is that a forum is best for a certain on-going discussion about
a particular subject matter.  Forums are great for particular subjects: Xbox
360, modifying Ford motors, posting info about and discussing the "rave
scene", etc.

A blog is yet another beast - it is really for one person to post to, with the
ability for people to leave comments.  I think it's obvious that a blog is not
appropriate for a neighborhood community.  It is some times very interactive,
like some of the local political blogs, but that is the vast exception to the
rule (my job involves working with blogs, so trust me on this.)

All that said, Mario is absolute correct that the best way to build community
is face-to-face, which I wish I was able to do more, and I encourage others to
take the time to do.  The next best thing is something direct to members,
immediate and potentially interactive: a mailing list.

The problem with a forum is that you need to go read it on a regular basis and
be involved in it.  If you're an Xbox 360 fanatic, that makes sense: you'll
want to talk about when it came out, the new games, etc.  But in this case,
Mario got the problem exactly right: people will have to go and check it to
participate on a regular basis.  This will work even worse than the mailing
list.

A forum will reduce the number of people to just the few who have the free
time and the desire to be involved in that manner, and even then it will
probably stagnate and "die" from lack of a particular focus.  I've seen this
happen a number of times.  As such, I personally can't commit what time and
energy I currently have towards it.

That said, there are plenty of free alternatives out there, and if there is a
desire I would encourage setting up a forum elsewhere.  But I believe it will
be an ultimately futile effort.  What I didn't get from Mario's email was
exactly what the problem that's trying to be solved is?

To me, the problem is to get more people to attend meetings and to be on the
mailing list and use it to make announcements and to have meaningful and
productive discussions (not "flamewars", aka on-going arguments.)  I don't
believe a forum nor blog is the answer to these issues.

Apologies if this seems overly negative or critical, but as mentioned, my
health is not well, so this email has been a great effort for me.

P.S. Mario said: "The advantages of a forum are that people can post and
respond to discussions by topics which are easily viewable, sorted by date,
and are archived for viewing at any time so that old and new people coming in
can view previous discussions and respond to them."

Please note that the BWNA mailing list is archived in a way such that all
messages are saved, sorted by date or subject, etc.

Again, let me reiterate: what problem is trying to be solved exactly?  If
it's that people are not attending public meetings, then I believe no online
"solution" is available.

>Ankist, in your personal email to me, you attached an email from Mike which 
>describes exactly the forum I was talking about, a web-based discussion 
>board. I have already created a BW forum using Simple Machines Forum (SMF), 
>but I cannot install the forum because I do not have access to the necesary 
>MYSQL settings on the BW web server, which is owned by Rob Vaughn. Rob lives 
>in the neighborhood and hosts the BWNA site.  His health has not been good 
>for quite some time and so I have not bothered him with this until now.
>
>The question is: Does the board want a BWNA forum? An example of what an SMF 
>forum looks like, here is the SMF community forum:
>
>http://www.simplemachines.org/community/
>
>The advantages of a forum are that people can post and respond to 
>discussions by topics which are easily viewable, sorted by date, and are 
>archived for viewing at any time so that old and new people coming in can 
>view previous discussions and respond to them. The best way to build 
>community is through face-to-face meetings, but the majority of BW residents 
>either have no interest in or cannot attend meetings. A forum is one more 
>tool for building community and it is open 24/7. Also, being web-based, 
>posts to the forum do not overload people's email boxes. If we have a forum, 
>I suggest we have a general forum open to BW residents and the public to 
>take the place of the BWNA list and a transportation and land use forum, 
>visible only by T/LU committee members. We could also have a board forum, 
>only for board members. The inherent disadvantage of a forum is that, unlike 
>an email list, people have to take the initiative to go to the forum to view 
>and participate in discussions.
>
>If the board decides to have a forum, one option is to switch to another web 
>host where I can install the SMF forum for BW. I personally use Lunarpages, 
>($6.95 per month if we pay 2 years in advance, that's $166.80 total for 2 
>years) http://www.lunarpages.com/.  Lunarpages allows one free mailing list. 
>I suggest we use that for the BW board list. (An additional mailing list 
>costs $70.80 for two years). The advantage of a mailing list is the 
>immediacy of posts going directly to subscribers' mail boxes.
>
>The second option for the board is to keep the two mailing lists we have, 
>and stay with Rob Vaughn and his web server and not have a forum. Since Rob 
>has donated his services for a long time, I am sending him a copy of this 
>email so he can let us know what he thinks.
>
>The third option is to stay with Rob and host the forum in his server. Rob, 
>if you can tell me the first three items in the MYSQL server settings for 
>the SMF installer at http://www.bwna.org/forum/install.php I will input them 
>and install the BWNA forum, and we would not have to switch. If we go this 
>route, the board should consider compensating Rob for these services.
>
>We need to hear from the rest of you. What do you want?
>
>
>
>Mario
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Ankist" <ankistz at comcast.net>
>To: <mc-hk at comcast.net>
>Cc: "Beaumont-Wilshire Neighborhood Assoc. Board" <bwna-board at bwna.org>
>Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2006 8:40 PM
>Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: [BWNA-Board] BW blog or forum?]]
>
>
>> Mario,
>>
>> Let Albert and the Board know what you think.
>>
>> Ankist 
>


Cheers, Rob V.

--
robv at sound-o-mat.com