Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Coho Tech Convener

[Katie Henry (katie-henry]

If we are discussing platforms (I'm not actually sure what this thread is 
about) ...
I'd like to see cohousing discussions move towards a message board/forum format 
where you can have categories and long-term threads. The problem with the 
current platforms (coho-l and Facebook) is that neither is very good for 
finding past discussions or following threads. Search is inconsistent, people 
change thread titles, and (especially in FB) good information sinks out of 
sight before anyone sees it, to be lost forever.
If we had a message board setup, we could have long-term categories and threads 
like this:
CH kitchen     Design     Dishwashers     FlooringLaundry room     Rent or buy  
   Regular size or commercialPet policiesSales strategiesEtc.
This would capture information and make it easily accessible indefinitely. 
People could start new threads if their question isn't covered. 
Instead, we get the same questions posted every few weeks because nobody can 
find previous info in the archives, and people with expertise stop 
participating because they're tired of answering the same questions over and 
over. (I see this in my neighborhood group, which moved from a message board to 
FB because of convenience, but the quality, usefulness, and tone have really 
deteriorated.)
Concerning communication -- I use Slack at work for certain things. It's fine 
for quick exchanges but not so great for saving and retrieving information. I 
steer discussions towards email if they get into an exchange of substantial 
information that I might need to reference again in the future. 
Katie Henry