Del wrote:

>I would love a way that I might easily tune into, follow and contribute to conversation threads of substance among us.

I have given the question of the limitations of the email listservs a lot of thought over the years. Some of those limitations are obvious, such as that there is no clear distinction between OE and DIALOGUE, and that whether or not the conversations appear threaded (keeping topics together) is the accident of how people's email clients work. Over the years various ones of us have tried alternative software platforms. This experimentation included (among others) wiki.wedgeblade.net and is continuing today using WordPress for the ICA archives.

I can (and will if asked) install other platforms at wedgeblade.net (or elsewhere) quite easily. And while I am willing to do that, I have reached some (never entirely final) conclusions that may not be too satisfying for the inquiring and restless:

1. Email lists work amazingly well for our aging community. Yes there are limitations, but folks seem to have come to terms with them. My guess is that these lists will continue while enough of us have not yet lost the ability to get to a computer and type. There is an enormous amount of useful discussion and news on these lists. But they are not the "true and beautiful", and sin abounds.

2. These cats cannot be herded, OE and DIALOGUE will be what the evolve to be, some prefer one to the other for unfathomable reasons. Perhaps someone can articulate a useful distinction. Or not!

3. When we try new platforms, success depends much more on willing organizers and facilitators more than on the technical aspects of the platforms. Experimentation will continue, and folks deciding to commit effort will be the key to success.

We will continue experimenting with new ways of being community online, but my guess is the email lists will exist for some time, then slowly fade away as the tide comes in and our footprints, one by one, are washed away from the beach of this world.

Tim