<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I contend that there needs to be different styles or formats for different purposes.  I think this is an example of one size <i>doesn't</i> fit all.  I hear many of you saying (and I agree) that regular email is more efficient and simpler.  <div>The new format works for meeting and greeting new people, but not for efficient communication.  </div><div><br></div><div>jeannie<br><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Mar 7, 2011, at 8:34 AM, Fred Sturm wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Mar 7, 2011, at 8:31 AM, David Love wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">I'm sure that the move to do this was well intended but in terms of my<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">participation, I can see this has just added enough unnecessary steps to<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">make it questionable as to whether it's worth the trouble.  It's certainly<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">less expedient and that may be enough to push me out of active<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">participation.  If that was the intention, to make it just that much more<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">difficult to try and remove some of the chatty garbage that tends to clog<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">the lists then I would say it's a success.  But if the idea is to encourage<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">participation by making it easier, then so far it's a failure.<br></blockquote><br><br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I don't know anything about interfacing with this using PDA, but I have found, through a good bit of fooling around to learn the ropes, that with a laptop it isn't so bad. Certainly different, and not as convenient, but I am happy to put up with that extra bit of work in exchange for all the positives. (Maybe the confusion about where posts come from is due to the PDA notification as opposed to the text option I use - it is easy to see the difference by the heading showing where the post came from: caut vs. noreply@egroups).<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>We are used to a listserv, with instant communication in a fairly chatty format. We have two lists, each of which is pretty general in content. Topics ebb and flow, threads last a while and die. Participation is essentially dominated by maybe 20 people on each list. Lots and lots of people try them and find them far too time-consuming to participate in, keep up with.<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The format of more focused discussion groups ("communities") has the potential of keeping threads alive for longer,going into topics in more depth with less repetition, getting more participation from a variety of people. They offer the opportunity to post files, once and for all, for anyone to search and use (no more posts asking someone or other to give yet for the umpteenth time a spreadsheet for X). The archives become that much more easily searchable.<br><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I, for one, will abandon the listserv quite happily. It will be quite different, but change isn't always a bad thing.<br>Regards,<br>Fred Sturm<br><a href="mailto:fssturm@unm.edu">fssturm@unm.edu</a><br>“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Brecht<br><br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>