[CQ-Contest] LOTW & Forums vs. "reflectors"

[bob at reconstructinghistory.com]

I might be painting myself as a total noob here, but...

For the life of me, I can't see what's so difficult about signing up with LOTW.  Follow the steps, blip, blam, wait for the postcard.  Maybe it's just me, having been involved with online communications since the days when BBSs reigned supreme, you thought 9600 was *way* fast, the Internet was still something for government and universities, and you weren't a real man unless you used undocumented DOS calls in your batch files. ;)  Those days are long gone, and most of that knowledge is no longer useful (that which was not forgotten, anyway), but the fact remains that it ain't rocket science.

Also, I find Forums-based discussion groups far, far superior to email reflectors like this.  In the first, if I want to save something, it's a matter of highlight, CTL+C, open favorite WP app, CTL+V.  Save as desired.  

But why clutter my machine?  With Forums, the thread and all posts are right there, accessible with a couple of mouse-clicks.  More to my liking, I can access them from anywhere I can get Internet access anytime I want, so I'm not dependent on items of interest I've archived as outlined in Paragraph 2, above, if I'm not at my home machine.  I don't have to A. remember where the email list archives are located, B. remember when the thread of interest took place, C. use a crappy search function (MailMan's is a right bitch unless you're very careful with the Search strings).  I can post images to explain concepts not easily elucidated by prose.  And - importantly - I don't have my email Inbox cluttered by 15 bajillion messages about which I couldn't care less. With Forums, I read the topics I want when I want.  All things considered, for me at least Forums win out.

Anyway, that's this noob contester's point of view; take with however many grains of salt you wish. =D

73 Bob NQ3X

--
No cute furry animals were harmed in preparing and sending this email.  Countless electrons, however, were terribly inconvenienced.