[Strawbale]Re: Mailing list and more

[Faas, W.]

Dear balers,

I'm on the digest and sometimes more than half the text are
quote's or 'poster-details'. By using selective quoting we
can keep this list readable for all. 

Pro's of a mailinglist
* Direct 'in-your-mailbox' information
* Contact details from SB'ers included in messages

Con's of a mailinglist
* No comprehensive archive thus a certain loss of
information
* Hard to read without the use of selective quoting

Pro's of a forum
* Possibility of a comprehensive archive so information
doesn't get lost
* Possibility to sort information quickly and keep
differtent discussions from getting mixed up

Con's of a forum
* No 'in-your-mailbox' information. You have to actively
look it up
* More public than a mailinglist.

The public nature of a forum shouldn't be a problem. I
agree with Dirk's concern that some information shouldn't
become public knowlegde too fast. It's possible to have a
'public' domain and a 'professional' domain. The latter
could be used to discuss 'classified' topics.

About the large number of mailinglists and forums:

I still consider myself to be 'new' to SB-building
(unfortunately I'm also not active at the moment :() and I
really miss a comprehensable, centralized source of
information. There are loads of small initiatives floating
around all over the place but for outsiders that's
impossible to look through. I think that it's vital for the
acceptance of strawbalebuilding as a mainstream building
method to be more organized and professional. The ISBBC was
a perfect example of how our small but wide-spread
community can get together and share information. And I
know it's not viable for most people to be professionally
involved in SB-building. But where most other
buildingmethods/-materials are supported by offical
associations (of manufacturers for example), I haven't
heard of anything like that in de strawbale community.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to get more 'professional' in
contact with other professionals involved in construction
engineering? Like something of a International
Strawbale-building Association? 

Cheers,


Walter Faas