September 01, 2003

Is email really dead?

In the aftermath of the Sobig worm, Ross and many others are forecasting the death of email. This is an over-reaction.

From an IM conversation with Peter Merholz

Peterme: Some of my most valuable (and yes, most frustrating) e-interactions are in discussion groups.

Adina: Discussion groups are complementary with blogs & wikis and such but mailing lists don't go away. The limitations of discussion groups are:


  • you never reach a conclusion
  • it really helps to use a wiki to get on the same page, literally
  • email is not a good medium to really explore an idea. Blogs are good for that. In a discussion group essays are kinda rude
  • email is not a good medum to sent people links, overload happens fast
  • mailing lists are vulnerable to flaming

Still, for real, live, interactive conversation, email discussion is still great.

Posted by alevin at September 1, 2003 01:42 PM | TrackBack
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