Re: Free Ads for Free Stuff
From: Craig Ragland (craigraglandgmail.com)
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 12:22:51 -0700 (PDT)
Re: Email vs. Web

What I prefer is a hybrid (and I drive one too).

One form of web/email hybrid is when a website "knows" what I care about -
because I told it. These websites can send me emails when those topics
change or something I care about happens - even if it is weeks or months
later. For this to work well, I need to have some control over what the
website knows and sends (i.e., some type of user console). This type of
functionality also requires that I be authenticated (i.e. registered),
rather than just remaining anonymous.

The Coho-L archive is another type of hybrid, where all of our emails all
posted to that web-based space.

As a part of the Cohousing Website team, I am one of a handful of folks that
use the Cohousing Website as Authenticated Users - except when we test it as
Anonymous Users. Today, almost everybody sees it as Anonymous Users. I have
configured my own profile to automatically send me emails when changes
happen on some pages - those to which I have "subscribed." And whenever I
personally edit a page, I am automatically subscribed to that page.

Later this year, we hope to extend this type of email subscription to others
as we open up the Cohousing Website to better support the broad community of
cohousers.

At this point, there value to subscribing to many parts of the website, is
of questionable value - but this will increase as the site becomes more
interactive with frequent postings by many, including some experts.

In way of example, you might be able to subscribe to a particular Classified
Ad Category you care about - or an Online Forum you find interesting - or
somebody's Cohousing Blog. For the Classified Ad example, you might be able
to "say" - send me an email alert when a new Cohousing Unit for Sale is
posted. These examples are forward-looking and are not a promise about
specific features (yet).

The vast majority of the Cohousing Website users will continue to use it
anonymously - and this must always be possible as it serves our mission to
introduce Cohousing to newcomers - and we now get many thousands of
first-time visitors every month, some of which may become our future
neighbors!

Craig

On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 10:11 AM, Rob Sandelin <floriferous [at] msn.com> wrote:

>
> In my own world, I find email to
> be a much more effective mechanism for changing information than a
> website.
> I personally rarely look at the Cohousing website but read at least half
> the
> emails on this list.
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Sharingwood, Snohomish County, WA
>
> --
Craig Ragland

Coho/US executive director
http://www.cohousing.org
craig [at] cohousing.org

New Earth Song project manager
http://www.NewEarthSong.com
craig [at] newearthsong.com

Songaia Cohousing member
http://www.Songaia.com
craig [at] songaia.com

Please try email first, include your phone number (w/time zone) - or give me
a call: 425-487-3550 (Pacific)... communicate!

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