Re: Discourse

[Wols Lists]

On 22/02/2023 12:39, Andrew Bernard wrote:
> My offer is open. For the main Discourse server I run, amusingly the 
> majority of people use the email interface, no matter how much I 
> encourage them to use the nice web interface. [It's a forum devoted to 
> harpsichord.] The point is that it runs the web interface and email list 
> including digests in parallel, and you can initiate topics by email as 
> well.

Your "nice web interface" is my "pain in the arse". I much prefer to 
work in an off-line manner, using text. I can't work off-line with a web 
server.

Most web sites (can't speak for Discourse, I've never touched it) are 
stuffed full of adverts that often obscure the text I'm interested in. 
Many of the websites I interact with on a regular basis (shopping, of 
course) have completely broken print interfaces, so bad that one page of 
interesting web text will give 20 pages of print with all of the 
interesting text missing ...

Pretty much EVERY web site I CHOOSE to interact with has its design 
ethos stuck in the last century. Discourse might be similar, but I have 
absolutely no desire to find out. And the last I heard of discourse (it 
sounds like your setup is better) email appeared to be a second class 
citizen.

And of course, the other massive difference between web and email is 
that I have to actively visit the website - I've got better things to do 
with my time. Email just ends up in my (in this case) lilypond-box for 
me to scan as and when I have nothing better to do :-)

This is only my opinion - other people are free to disagree. There's no 
right or wrong, only a whole bunch of lost people who for one reason or 
another are unwilling/unable to make the transition. I've had a list 
move underneath me - I didn't move with it ...

Cheers,
Wol