i oriented forums (was: [WEB400] IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café)

Mike wrote:

Again someone is trying to build what David has done here. This will fail
only because they aren't first.

Well, I like to think that midrange.com offers advantages over the forum offerings that IBM is providing.

First and foremost, it's unaffiliated. Although I have no proof, I suspect that dissenting voices are not heard very often in the RPG & EGL cafe's.

Also, email is the lowest common denominator ... many companies have restrictions on web access ... to the point that it's not even available ... but few companies restrict email access.

Twitter is prime example of this. They were pretty much the first service
and even though other better services have come along, Twitter remains the
king because of it's user base. I wish IBM would realize this and just point
everyone to this community (midrange.com) instead of trying to duplicate
efforts and wasting money.

That kind of thinking stifles innovation. If you build a better mouse trap, why not make it available? Just because the old spring & wire model works, doesn't mean it's the best one.

david