Poll: Which do you prefer? Listserv or Discussion Board ...

[Mary B.]

Please add your thoughts.

Some people like listserv discussions. Organizations and associations love them because they can build traffic from their member lists. Some members love them because they can discuss topics via email.

Others, like me, prefer a more viewable and organized format.

Which do you prefer?

PS. You may have to register to vote. Don't worry, it's free!

[jerryg]

Looking for a basic communication tool for a single cohousing community. Are the choices listserv vs boards like this?

[Mary B.]

There seem to be advantages to both, so modern organizations usually use a software that offers a little of both.

First, for those who are wondering what the heck we're talking about: www.memberpath.com/Blog/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/31/Blogs-vs-Forums-vs-LISTSERVs.aspx

Here are some opinions posted in the comments area at TechSoup: forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/f/26/t/579.aspx
An old blog article (2010) at Freelock: www.freelock.com/blog/john-locke/2010-03/mailing-list-or-forum-theory
Another comparison (2013): blog.socious.com/online-community-software-blog/bid/65034/Which-is-Best-Email-Listserv-Software-vs-Discussion-Forum-Software-vs-Both

If you have a WordPress site, the designers of WP have created a plugin called bbPress: bbpress.org/
This allows you to integrate a discussion board into your site. It also offers notifications (like this site does) so people can subscribe to topics that interest them.

For organizations with huge listserv memberships, here is an excellent article on making the transition to a board: blog.socious.com/bid/72206/How-to-Successfully-Upgrade-from-a-Listserv-to-an-Online-Community

Socious is a robust, integrated software platform that allows a group to publish a beautiful online "magazine" front with discussion boards that allow people to communicate online (board-style) or by email (listserv-style) and through mobile apps, with all responses displayed in one place. info.socious.com/tour/associations/forums--listservs

Hope this helps!

[Mary B.]

Personally, I do not like listservs because many of them do not allow you to subscribe only to topics of interest or that you have replied to. They have hard to read fonts, and limited search engines. Also limited ability to post photos, social media links and post from mobiles.

The main reason, though, is that as a full time freelancer working with dozens of clients and projects a month, I often have a lot of current stuff happening-and-hanging in my inbox. I get notifications and digests from numerous sites, and when I do, it's important to me to be able to see the whole discussion at once and not go through the laborious process of opening every comment.

That being said, I know a lot of people prefer their listservs. It's a comfortable, familiar interface. It's less threatening in that communication comes directly to their inbox and so it feels more personal. Entering a board for the first time can feel like taking your first ice skating lesson.

[Mary B.]

Sept 26, 2015 18:51:12 GMT -8 jerryg said:

Looking for a basic communication tool for a single cohousing community. Are the choices listserv vs boards like this?

Jerry, some cohousings use the Mosaic website tool created by ZenLunatics. It offers a basic website and listserv, and has features for calendars (general, guest room, classes etc.), common meal reservations and other things particular to cohousings: www.zenlunatics.com

It also has a built-in discussion board, although people in our cohousing don't use it. And I'm not sure it has a notification feature.

[jerryg]

Mary, thanks for pointing me towards zenlunatics; I'll investigate it. And thanks for your prior comments. Do you personally have an opinion or preference for software so far as a single cohousing project is concerned? Would you say that this board would be fully functional for that purpose? Of course, since we are simple "forming" today, we might use the board-type for our discussions, while ultimately switching to something more cohousing-specific when the time comes ...

[Mary B.]

Jerry, for my business clients who are embarking on a complicated project, I generally recommend a project management platform like Basecamp or Central Desktop. Basecamp is $100 a month and you can create "project spaces" with discussions that function like a discussion board, email notifications (instant or digest), to do lists, assignable tasks, reminders and so on. I think it's really important, paramount in fact, to host discussions in a place where everything is archived, and not through chains of email on personal computers with people using subject headers that aren't pertinent.

However, if you are organized souls and have a few digitally literate types on your crew, you can use a discussion board like this to get started. ProBoards is 100% free. However, it's also pretty basic and if you're unfamiliar with board management it might require a brief learning curve. If you decide to go this route and run into technical difficulties you can contact me any time and I'll try to help.

On a discussion board like this, you can create sub-boards, much like the project "spaces" on Basecamp, so you get the same effect. And people can elect to get email notifications when something is updated. You can also email all members of the board.

So yes, I would recommend using a tool like this for the building/planning phase, and a platform like zenlunatics for the hospitality/management phase.

[jerryg]

Mary, just to illustrate my ignorance: I love much of the functionality of the ProBoards message board, but I can't figure out whether it would serve as a communications device in the way that a listserv does. Example: in our group, some people apparently don't think to go to a place (like Facebook,or this board) if they don't have a trigger to do so, like an email or a FB notification. So I worry that conversations could be going on with some segment of our group not knowing about it. I hope I'm expressing this concern clearly.

[jerryg]

Mary, another way of asking the question: can ProBoards be set so that every member always sees every post when it happens, rather than just if they happen to remember to go into the board?

[Mary B.]

Yes, everyone can set their preferences to receive emails instantly when a post goes up, or as a daily or weekly digest.

Just go to your Profile, choose Edit, and then Notifications. You will see a long list of preferences to choose from.

[Mary B.]

There's a really interesting blog post on cohousing.org today called The Advantages of Discussions on Email by Sharon Villines.

What do you think? Agree / disagree?