[Dxbase] Blog or reflector, its not a choice!

Thu Feb 11 13:31:04 EST 2010

Hi guys,
I was busy processing orders yesterday and didn't get a chance to fully
discuss the blog (or anti-blog) sentiment so now that things are calmer (and
I need a break from programming), here are my thoughts on the controversy!
The thing about the blog is its not a replacement for the reflector. If we
were going to replace the reflector, we would use forums (which I set up in
case people wanted to try it, but I myself don't care for them much
preferring the reflector). The only forum I have been satisfied with is
Realsoftware's because someone wrote a neat program that takes all the new
entries to the forum since the previous snapshot, creates an email out of
it, and sends it to the reflector. In other words, makes the forum part of
the reflector.
I think forums work when you have a very large community of users and a lot
of people like WA6AXE constantly looking at them to help. A mail reflector
for that type of community would get very tedious because you would get
scads of emails every day asking generally the same questions, etc.
Thats not our community (nor any ham radio software that I am aware of).
A blog is a publication, similar to an article in a magazine or an
announcement. It can be important, like the status updates and price
decreases, or it can be trivial like the little article I just did on using
a device on my network for storage, but its not the reflector. Blog entries
are better suited for finding with Google, etc. and often have more space to
explain stuff because if the reader looks and doesn't have time to digest it
all, he can go back and its still there. eHAM'S articles are blogs. It shows
the strength of a blog as well as the danger of it (I find most of those
articles devolve into what I call COMOC which is cranky old men on
computers)
The reflector is more like the water cooler/coffee maker at work, where you
find out what everyone;s doing, what problems they have, offer some sympathy
and suggestions and tell the neat things you learned over the weekend. You
learn more about the people themselves, actually get a virtual sense of
them even though you probably never will meet most of them. In a community
like ours, its the perfect mechanism for that activity.
So I am not trying to divert a single piece of email from the reflector. I
should copy the important stuff I post on my blog to the reflector and will
do that in the future, but I will continue to use my blog because I am
constantly amazed by neat things I discover, for instance, from my computer
business. I install WIndows and ham radio software 2-3 times a day and learn
a lot that I think you might be interested in. I will also post business
stuff because its a formal announcement of any changes.
Like all web sites, you can look if you want, don't if you think its a waste
of time.
But stay connected to the reflector!!
+
Neal Campbell
Abroham Neal Software
www.abrohamnealsoftware.com
(540) 645 5394 NEW PHONE NUMBER
Amateur Radio: K3NC
Blog: http://www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/blog/
DXBase bug reports: email to cases at dxbase.fogbugz.com
Abroham Neal forums: http:/www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/community/