a projected combination as discussions on forums vs mailing lists arise and divide groups

forummailinglist.md

FML - Forum Mailing List

This is the result of a short thought after the Open Knowledge group discussed whether forums or mailing lists are the way to go for our communication.

Naturally the developers like more the ml approach and people dedicated t interfaces for end users like forums much more.

For me there is not much difference between both solutions as I regard it in means of presentation and accessibility rather than content. Of course the technology used also differs, but the main actions of participants are very much the same.

Arguments

These arguments are snippets in general, no implementation is to be mentioned / criticized.

Please add positions as you like..

Solution	Pro	Contra
Forum	easy Interface	bloated

      | has topics / subforums   | security issues in tech stack
      | easy setup/signup        | db data format
      | more advertising         | posts are changed/edited
      |                          | central storage of communication
      |                          | lacks clarity

ML | threaded View | presentation less user friendly | archive | email data format | simple use/access | cannot concentrate on topic-groups | decentral storage of communication | common | has information | splits the group | can be searched | no enriched open data format as we request from others FML | view switchable | needs to be implemented | access via mail or forms | possible security issues | based on simple ML | no central content control (maybe advantage ;) ) | subforums emulation | | possible presentation how OK should look like |

As I got the opinion that a combination is possible and would serve both sides quite well the arguments are more a survey on essential features that are needed.

Idea / Solution

• we shall combine the advantages of both
• include practical UI for our needs
• stick to our claims on open data solutions

1. setup mail server for catch all @lists.whatever
2. use a ML implementation
3. activate archive function
4. add forms to archive-view to submit via http
5. add mod event on new subforums (subforum.forum@lists.whatever)
6. add view functions for threaded / chronicle (both list & single)
7. add interpretation on markups (md / bbc)
8. add options for signup/decline threads, subforums
9. add view option for original / interpreted