Lists or Boards?

1. What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
   

Hmmm, where do I end. I looked mainly at Yahoo Groups, Topica, Google Groups and a great one I just found today was at www.meetup.com

Email Lists about various topics are covered quite well however it can be difficult and time consuming to find what you are looking for.

• Pros: Lists are focused and on topic, rarely would members be able to make small talk or 'go off topic', regular digests are sent containing the latest posts. Less immediate interaction is required from List owners, mods and members yet information can continue to flow back and forth.
• Cons: “List Directories” are not updated, contain spam and do not provide adequate search categories and methods. This makes it very hard for the average surfer to find an active List of interest.
  

My overall impression of Email Lists is that ‘they are too hard’ to find and therefore use. List categories were too broad in that a lot of junk appeared and I couldn’t filter it without resetting my current search - meaning I would start all over again. I got the sense List Directories were not used too much in this way, and that people joined Lists using other means. I could not find many quality lists to join, although I did pick one local Autism group for parents and joined that! Their digest was very good, listing recent (informative) post summaries.

Discussion Boards can be found using search engines and that alone means many topics are easier to find.

• Pros: Wide range of boards on just about every topic. You can see who is online in a board. Sometimes you can get a quick response to a question. Some boards use main categories and sub categories - good for digging deeper into a topic.
  
• Cons: Little or no immediate control over content- requires immediate or constant moderation. You’d need to trawl for relevant topics because thread subject lines are not always informative.
  

I use discussion boards quite a lot to ask questions or just ‘lurk’ and read without contributing. I prefer discussion boards or forums over using email lists because I can quickly check out sites for information or I leave a question and return later.

1. Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?
   

As I had no luck finding a group of interest on the major providers of Group Lists, I sat back and thought… why?

If I was looking for singles in Thailand or ADHD support for single mums I could easily pick up a group. From what I saw, Lists contain mostly topics for sexual and health related purposes - not what I was looking for. 

Since my sister-in-law works with Autistic children, I ‘took an interest’ in Autism and in the end picked a local Adelaide Autism group for parents. I was accepted into that group the next day and the messages come to me in an email digest.  What a relief to get something, anything, after hours of fruitless searching for my own interest in ‘internet business women’.

So in stark contrast to my own interests, I’d have to say that Lists are catering ideally to particular topics like sex, companionship, health and family. And by default, Discussion Boards or forums also cover that and the rest.

Although communication methods such as forums, lists, email and chat dictate when information can be shared (now or later), it makes sense to first find your topic and then attempt to choose how you want to view and receive it.