Two things I don't like about this club

• From: tfmichael1
• Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 22:10:35 -0800
• Message-ID: <000T7A2AR.00060GB4R.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

1) The topics aren't threaded. With most
newsgroup readers, they are; which makes it much easier to
follow a discussion. With the club being a primary means
of discourse, to respond to a vein of discussion may
require backing up to review or quote from a message 60
or 70 messages ago, though only posted a few days
ago. Threads promote discourse and debate, while
allowing those interested in specific topics to follow
them more easily. Of course, this is a club - not a
newsgroup. But in the transition of our primary medium of
discussion from newsgroup to mailing list to club on a
portal, I can't help but feel that we've devolved instead
of evolved.

2) In Yahoo!, anonymity rules. In
a newsgroup, it's harder to be anonymous. I have
campaigned against anonymous posting in all quiz bowl
discussion fora since 1993. In a Yahoo club, due to natural
privacy concerns, it's usually quite difficult to tell at
first glance who is affiliated where, whom you are
actually talking to, or whether the people you're
conversing with are several people or just one person
masquerading under several aliases. Anonymous posting is the
first resort of cowards; yet disclosing details may
leave one vulnerable to spam or identity theft. Mailing
lists and newsgroups have safety mechanisms against
these problems that Yahoo! does not.

This is not
to say that I don't appreciate this club - I am in
fact supportive of having as many media of
communications as possible. But, in most academic competition
discussion having moved from the newsgroup to the mailing
list, and then from the mailing list to the club, have
we given up more or gained more?

/venting
off

Tom