I agree with both Francis and Julia. A good, well run, forum is a
great and flexible tool for the discussion of all matters piping. I
have been a member of a number of forums for my other interests and
compared with the mailing list style of interaction there is no
comparison. I have also created and managed a forum for the support
of a Computer Aided Design package (now defunct) as well as been a
member of several music mailing lists (bluegrass and mandolin) so I do
have some experience.
Some of the benefits of a forum are as follows:-
Topics are threaded so that it is easy to follow a discussion.
Topics are easy to search and easy to archive.
Posts can have attachments such as PDFs, MP3, pictures and many other
useful files.
Special interest areas are easy to provide and can be easily moderated
(policed)
Sections for classified ads, rants etc will keep the main discussion
areas more focused.
Posts can be edited by the poster for a period set by the list owner
(usually 24 hours)
And many more.
I would suggest that the forum being set up on the NPS site would be
the best place to use as it does look as though it could be good.
There are a couple of niggles however:-
I have tried to register but, despite having received an
acknowledgment some 4 days ago, I still haven't been "approved".
This is not helping the forum grow.
On the forum I managed I used the forum's automated registration tools
so that a user could register and be on the forum in a few minutes and
all I had to do was to throw off the very few people who abused the
forum.
Also I think that the forum should be on the front page of the site
rather than being tucked away on the members page.
This forum should be a powerful tool in the NPS task of spreading the
word and supporting Northumbrian Piping across the world
Mike
Quoting Julia Say <julia....@nspipes.co.uk>:
On 27 May 2011, Francis Wood wrote:
this kind of discussion is best held in a dedicated area.
Perhaps the best destination for this
interesting discussion is a dedicated area of an already existing
forum. Peacock's
Parlour perhaps?
http://www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/pipersforum/
is working and available. Since it allows separate threads, those
with no interest
in the subject can avoid it.
In order to start a "Peacock's Parlour"...or any other topic, registration is
required.
Julia
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