Mobeen Iqbal via Blind-sysadmins <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> wrote:
I would argue that email is still the most convenient,. Yes we could switch to platforms like PHPBB or facebook, or even WhatsApp. But not everyone knows how to use those platforms.
As I recall, GNU Mailman 3 lets users interact entirely by email, or via a Web interface. Discourse has an email option, but when last I investigated, you had to subscribe to the entire forum - there was no means of subscribing just to a single subgroup. I think supporting email interaction is important. Some people have customized their email configuration to work efficiently with mailing lists, and requiring them to use Web-based forum software would simply slow them down. These tend to be among the more advanced users whom you would want in the community, and I don't think age is the issue here - it's more a question of technical knowledge. If there were a better protocol, I would recommend it. NNTP isn't widely used nowadays. ActivityPub could be an option, as there is forum software which supports it, but I don't know how accessible it is either on the administrative or the user's side. A Matrix room could be an option as well, but I've had mixed experiences with the accessibility of the Matrix Elements client, and I haven't devoted time to investigating alternative clients. I do agree that it's useful to have a Web interface among the access options; I'm simply making the case that it shouldn't be the only option.