Re: Forum

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

This has come up a number of times...

There was an "advanced" list once (run like ours).  But it seemed the 
really knowledgeable people on it were just "preaching to the choir" 
and interest fell off...  It seems you need "new and old" folks to 
really keep things interesting...

We have the HV list and our local GNATs list, but post to those are 
rare unless something special pops up...  The HV-list seems to hold 
its own fine.

There was once a good IRC chat, but one person ran that every night 
so it was always "there"...  Unless someone is "always" there, it is 
just hard to get it going at any given time...

UseNet has Alt.Mad.Science I once suggested.  But that went over like 
a lead balloon.  No moderation, but it goes everywhere fast...

USA-TESLA has survived over the years:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/usa-tesla/

Your on your own there ;-)))

The Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tcbouklist/

Does very well!  Since the UK does not have a lot of HV transformers, 
they are really into solid state coils...

I also run an antibubble and thereminvision groups on yahoo.  The 
problem with yahoo groups is yahoo's never ending adds and generally 
obnoxiousness...   It is "painful" to deal with yahoo, and many 
groups have left there now that folks can do there own groups 
independently of anyone...

One recent web forum that has done really well is 4HV:

http://forum.4hv.org/
http://forum.4hv.org/index.php?board=7

"I" have never quite figured out how to "join" it, but many 
have.  They have had a lot of DRSSTC stuff there.

A list serve, like ours, is fast efficient and easy to deal 
with.  You just sort by subject and delete what you don't care 
about.  You can scan through the mail quickly.  Most people can 
figure out how to join and there are no great hurdles to being on or 
getting off the list.

One big factor is reliability.  If it breaks, it can be 
fixed...  Yahoo won't "can" use because we don't have enough add 
space.  If a server blows up, Best Buy has a new one on the shelf, if 
something needs to be changed, like hiding mailing addresses from 
spammers, chip can "fix" that...  The software is free...

A big factor is that the list is "moderated and controlled"...  99% 
of the time I just forward mail...  But if things do go bad, we can 
pull out unlimited Draconian resources to fix it...

It really does seem to be one of those Keep It Simple Stupid 
things...   This forum seems to endure over time just fine.  We have 
a little trouble posting pictures and movies, but we manage...

Right now, we send out the mail just fine given the bandwidth.  If 
all 1500 of us had to pull a full complex web page off the server, 
the bandwidth would be gone...  All the servers are sitting in our 
homes connected via DSL...  Hot-streamer can get easily clogged if 
something cool gets posted there...  We could go to outside high 
bandwidth providers, but if something goes wrong here, we can pull 
the hardware in minutes...  Far easier, faster, and cheaper than 
having it FedExed back for repair...

Maybe some new big deal web thing will come along and wipe us out 
overnight...  But it has not happened yet, and we do not feel the 
urge to really change at all...  So unless we get slaughtered by an 
I-PodCast or something, we will not change.  Mail list servers were 
here before all of them. and we might still be around after they are 
all gone too ;-))

There is a giant advantage in having it all run locally just by 
us...  When NetowrkSolutions was getting goofy about POing the net, I 
went to a meeting about what would happen if the net lost (or wished 
to get ride off) nameserver services controlled by NS.  It was like a 
laugh feast since most of use could do our own NS and reprogram all 
the important stuff over locally in a day...  We could then combine 
and share our lists...  But there were many established alternatives 
we could go to directly...  Now suppose Yahoo or 4HV is taken over by 
space aliens...  it is "just gone"...  Chip and I could get wiped out 
by a meteor hit....  But I bet many of you could replace the Tesla 
list in a day or so...  list servers is just another "stupid trick" 
on my Sun server...  You set it up and enable it, in minutes...

So bottom line is, we run a pretty tough to beat show ;o))  And you 
all seem to get along with it fine even if it is real "low 
tech"...  Ideally, it would be a set and forget list serve like my 
local family one were I forget it is even there...  But all things 
considered, maintenance is pretty low...

So I hope you all like it, "I" do :-)))

Cheers,

        Terry



At 05:44 PM 7/18/2005, you wrote:
> Alright, I'm sure this idea has been beaten into the ground, but has 
> anyone considered switching over to web-based forum / bulliten 
> board, as opposed to the mailing list? I love being a part of this 
> group, but of the 50+ emails that come in a day, it seems that I am 
> interested in only 1 or maybe 2 subjects... I would think that it 
> would be easier for everyone, really, considering following a 
> topic's history, the much lighter load on the servers, and the 
> lighter load on Terry, even though the moderator would still likely 
> have to read nearly every post. I'm not positive, but there's 
> probably some free / open source BB software out there.  Plus, 
> there's all the other neat things, like profiles, and tracking of 
> number of posts, etc.
>
> What does everyone else think?
>
> Jonathon Reinhart