discussing the discussion board

**"* S* <a*@amystewart.com>**

Hi Sandie,

In response to your question about "why a discussion board," I think the
reason people at GWA were talking about a discussion board is that:

(a) it's a familiar technology--lots of people already participate in
discussion boards and know how to use them.

(b) it allows you to have fixed, pre-defined topic areas that you can post
to.  For instance, all discussion about, say, magazine writing, can go under
one section, so it's easy to browse everything that's been posted about
magazine writing.  Or whatever other topics we want to create.  Literary
agents.  Garden shows.  Whatever.

(c)  Most member organizations host discussion boards for their members, so
again, I think that people who belong to different kinds of associations are
used to communicating with members through a discussion board and don't
understand why GWA doesn't have one for them, too.  I hope GWA will set one
up someday, but until then, I thought, why not spend a few hours and set one
up myself?  It's not hard.

If you've never participated in a discussion board and don't understand how
it's different from a listserv, you are welcome to sign up and just poke
around.  Failing that, I posted a screen shot so you can see, in general,
what it looks like--just go here and click on the picture to see it larger:

http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2008/09/the-garden-writ.html

Of course, there are more topics than the ones you see in the
picture--that's just a shot of one screen's worth.

and you can also get it by email or RSS feed if you don't want to visit the
board.

But really, if it's not useful, that's fine!  I'm not trying to make life
harder for everyone.  I just figured I'd put it out there for those who said
they'd like to have it.

Cheers,

Amy
www.amystewart.com

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