Re: Postresql RFD version 2.0 Help Wanted.

Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:

> On Saturday, in article <2v5jonF2hmf8kU1(at)uni-berlin(dot)de>
> mikecoxlinux(at)yahoo(dot)com "Mike Cox" wrote:
>
>> Woodchuck Bill wrote:
>>
>> > Mike Cox <mikecoxlinux(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote in
>> > news:2v5e77F2hdbblU1(at)uni-berlin(dot)de:
>> >
>> >> I cannot handle the volume of email that a mailing list would place
>> >> on my
>> >> inbox.
>> >
>> > Ever heard of a digest version?
>> >
>>
>> I don't care. Its too much of a hassle to dig through without being able
>> to google groups search it.
>
> Mike makes here a VERY valid point about the mailing list vs newsgroups
> controversy: often there is no means to search past articles from the
> mailing list unless one maintains one's own complete archive thereof. In
> contrast, posts of articles to *public* newsgroups (which includes the
> Big-8, alt.*, and thousands of national and other hierarchies, such as
> demon.*) are generally[1] archived by GoogleGroups, and thereby readily
> searchable.
>

There is also the point of having to post. If I post and I subscribe to the
digest version or if I post with the option of no emails (since my inbox
cannot handle the load), how would I respond to a thread I created? Would
I have to create a new thread for each response nameing the Subject with
the previous one, and prefixing it with "RE:"?

The usenet experience is more seemless and efficient IMHO. That is why I
rarely subscribe to mailing lists. The KLM (kernel mailing list) destroyed
my inbox after a few hours and I bet the postgresql mailing list would do
the same if I didn't delete my inbox within a few days.

A news reader is meant for the high amount of posts that many groups get.
An email inbox is not meant to have hundreds of emails weekly (or daily in
the case of KLM). Email is personal, so one knows that each messege is
addressed to you and could be very important. In usenet, one can choose to
follow threads created by themselves or with browse, knowing that if they
miss an article it won't be something that can have a personal consequence
like email.