The forum or the Mailing List

General discussion about Origami, Papers, Diagramming, ...

Which do you prefer/ use more

The origami forum
11
92%
The origami Mailing List
1
8%
 
Total votes: 12

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origami_8
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Post by origami_8 »

Joseph Wu wrote:Whatever you like, Anna. The confirm emails are the only tool I have for preventing spoofing on the mailing list. I notice you dislike the spam that appears here on the forum from time to time (not to mention the requests for copyrighted diagrams). Well, the confirm emails help to control that on the list. It also helps to control the homophobic diatribes, the personal attacks, and the emails full of nothing but swearing. Unless, of course, you think that "Anyone is allowed to tell his meaning on this forum" means that all of that stuff is okay?
I haven´t said that it is okay to write such stuff and I also haven´t said anything against those confirm emails. I´m no member of the mailing list, so I´m not able to tell about the advantages and disadvantages of this form of communication. Maybe I should join those list to see what you are talking about?

"Anyone is allowed to tell his meaning on this forum" is meant as long as the forum-rules are attended.
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T
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Post by T »

Quite an interesting discussion going on ...

The forum so far has the greater percentage of votes but perhaps this is because the topic is on the forum.

Question : Is there someone who runs the entire mailing list (i.e organizes it all and set it all up? ) from the previous posts I see that Joseph Wu plays an important role.

Also, many of the famous folders such as Robert Lang use the mailing list however I've never seen them post on the forum. Do they know it exists or do they just prefer the mailing list?
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origami_8
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Post by origami_8 »

TheRealChris wrote: there's the possibility to get an single email instead of multiple ones. I don't know how to do this, but there's the chance to get e.g. a weekly email. maybe somebody here can tell him how?
Send mail to:
listserv@mit.edu

Do not list any subject ..... leave the line blank. In the normal body of the letter enter:
set origami digest
TheRealChris
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Post by TheRealChris »

Until Christian has experience with that sort of thing, I think is opinion that the confirm emails are a "very bad idea" is misguided at best.
maybe you never got any bad response about that confirmation-email-thing, and that's why you react that stroppy. and, if I may add this, if you forbid me to tell my opinion about cancer, only because I don't have cancer (beside the fact, that you don't know if I have cancer), thats misguided at best!

Also, many of the famous folders such as Robert Lang use the mailing list however I've never seen them post on the forum.
regarding to Mr. Lang... well, that's not 100% correct ;-)


Christian
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saj
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Post by saj »

I sit on the fence on this one ;-) I can understand from Joseph's view the importance of having email confirmation. I remember not too long ago when a gang of homophobic trolls appeared on the O-List. Apart from causing a general stir up, I believe this also caused some members of the list to sign off.

I am glad that Joseph has set up the confirmation email, as no doubt without it we would have no end of SPAM emails and trolls. Yes the process of confirming does take a little longer, but ultimately this benefits the list.

The important thing to remember is that when an inappropriate post/thread is made (on the forum) a handful of our moderators can easily edit the response, and if necessary delete the entire topic. Simple. However, with the O-list such luxuries are not available. Without confirmation, any message can be sent to hundreds of the registered users, and there is no way of editing or deleting these messages once they are sent.

If you've been a member of the O-List you'll probably remember the flame war started by some Sylvester dude (for those needing a short reminder, check out the archived message here.) Since email confirmation, I can't recall a single offensive message being sent from the list. Happy days.
Joseph Wu wrote:Trying to decide that one is better than the other is like trying to decide if apples are better than oranges...it's a matter of personal taste.
I like Oranges.
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Post by Joseph Wu »

Christian:
1. I didn't forbid you from saying it. I just said you're wrong. It's not a bad idea. You may not like it, but it's still not a bad idea.
2. I know that people don't like it. I know that it has reduced the number of people who actively post to the list. I didn't make the decision to impose the confirm emails lightly, nor did I make it by myself. What you don't know is that the number of people who are much more concerned about morons attacking the list far outweighed the number of people who don't like the confirm emails. (Actually, that's not quite true...there are many people who don't like the confirm emails, either, but they're willing to live with it to prevent list attacks.

Anna:
I repeat myself once again: I'm not comparing the list to the forum. I don't care to. You can join the list if you like (oh, I see that you have...welcome aboard!), but that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about here. I'm simply saying that Christian is wrong when he says that the confirm emails are a bad idea. That's all.
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Post by Joseph Wu »

Oh, and to further repeat myself, from another thread,
I don't mean to sound like an arrogant know-it-all, but that's how it comes across sometimes.
:)
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origami_8
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Post by origami_8 »

Joseph Wu wrote:I'm not comparing the list to the forum.
Me too. I´m member of a few Yahoo-Groups as well as in this forum and both of these have its advantages and disadvantages. Why I haven´t joined the mailing list earlier is because it seemed every time very complicated to me. I will have a look at it for a while now and see if I will like it or not.
Also I do know that spamming mails are much harder to handle with than a spam entry on this forum (I´m moderator of a Yahoo-Group) but I don´t have a meaning about those confirm emails because I don´t have any experiences with them.
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Post by JMcK »

Personally I found the confirmation emails a very minor inconvenience. I would send a message, do something else for 5 or 10 minutes, hit the send/receive button again to get the confirmation request email and then reply to it.
The troll attack on the ori-list was vicious and spiteful. If the confirmation emails are needed to stop people from sending abusive rants under the guise of other peoples' email addresses, then I think they're worth it.
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T
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Post by T »

regarding to Mr. Lang... well, that's not 100% correct
Could you explain more.....
TheRealChris
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Post by TheRealChris »

regarding to Mr. Lang... well, that's not 100% correct
Could you explain more.....
http://snkhan.co.uk/phpBB2/profile.php? ... ofile&u=72

an OrigamiROB from California with the Occupation "Lasers"??? :)


Christian
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Post by Brimstone »

For me a forum is 100 % better than an email list. The advantages of the forum that I like best are that you can add pictures to the messages and that you have the topics grouped, so you can skip the ones you are not interested in.

And as to being more difficult to handle, c'mon people this is year 2005, a couple of clicks will get you where you want to go and if you can do those clicks you don't deserve to participate in the forum.
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T
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Post by T »

Just a quick question

Has the number of members/ subscribers to the mailing list increased or decreased over the last year or so?
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Post by Joseph Wu »

It usually remains fairly constant. And, to answer your previous question, I'm the "official" administrator of the mailing list, but there are several other people involved as well.
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T
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Post by T »

Ok

Just another question

So Joseph you are the official manager but did you set it all up as well?


Thanks very much
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