In the case of the special interest group mailing list I mentioned, it is not used nearly as much as it used to be. Some of the people still fly, but dropped off the list. A big reason being that at one time it was totally unmoderated, and by the time moderation got restored, a lot of damage was done.
Now, I still expect that list to continue, not be replaced by the forum. But it usually has so little traffic, and the spurts of traffic are mostly the same limited number of people talking about what to do to make that activity more active. Such as.... more new blood, young and old alike. Well, most of the new fliers are more accustomed to web based forums.
Where the forums excel at are the structured mean of following discussions. Sub-forums about various things. Threads about a certain topic, so if you read that thread you see all the messages in chronological order. In my e-mail client I have it set to show me most recent messages, so there is a blizzard of old messages to go thru to try to pick up who said what on a certain thread. If I go to the Yahoo-based website for that group it is a nightmare to follow threads anymore.
But one of the biggest pluses is the ability to have photos in the forum postings. So if someone is discussing a new model, or a technique, or whatever, they can put the images right in the message. In most mailing lists, including the one I refer to, attachments are not allowed. So, a person has to put their pics into the album section of the mailing list website, then let people know that they posted such and such in this or that folder, so stop reading the e-mail message and go jump on the web and manually look for the pics (as too many do not even post a direct link). And sometimes they announce it.... and the mailing list automated system also posts a message to announce a new file, file by file, message after message for each file posted, unless the poster thought to actively turned that OFF for each upload they did. Annoying and frustrating.
There's GOT to be a better way.... oh, there is..... online forums.
If we are successful at launching the forum for that group then we hope for it to become a popular "go to" site for that particular part of the hobby.
The one plus that a mailing list has is that it can "actively" announce something important so it ends up in your mailbox right away..... if you bother to read your e-mails more often that check web forums. I literally have friends who go days/weeks without checking their e-mail.... but see them post regularly on Facebook or such. So, it varies.
As for people not wanting to change things.... well, I agree that is an issue. And I'm one of them at times, really depends on what it is (Spend $10,000 , again, on a website overhaul so it looks prettier, but people can NOT FIND stuff on the site anymore? LOST sight of the big picture!). Some ask me to use the "messages" feature on iOS... and I refuse. Not to refuse the technology, but to limit the ways of communication to something manageable. If anyone ever asks me why don't I reply to their message on Facebook, or anywhere else, I'll tell them why didn't they E-mail me????? My main means of active personal communications are phone, e-mail, and letter, in that order (or Skype if we make arrangements by phone or e-mail for a time to do so, but that's more like a phone call, with video. Otherwise I do not have Skype running on my computer). Anything else, don't count on me seeing it.
But in any case, certainly for the people in the group I refer to, I figure for the most part they'll also be willing to go to an online forum. And a lot of them will probably THRIVE with the additional capabilities and hopefully the more active discussions, information, and answers, and most importantly to help draw in new people wo are seeking all sorts of info and have lots of questions (almost nobody comes to the mailing list to ask for info or help anymore.). Well, eventually we'll find out, once it's online and has had a year to get going.
- George Gassaway