The main problem I have with these web-based forums is that I am on several of them, and that means I have to do a lot of clicking and surfing to get around to them, whereas with mailing lists I could just get them all in my email client, filter them, and deal with everything at one time in one place. I could effortlessly jump between them or my other email and resume without any effort. Now I have to keep multiple browsers open if I want to do that, and try to remember that that was what I was doing.

But I'll live. Although I've been with Brian since he ran the list by hand and have always followed it, I haven't posted a huge amount so probably not much will change. I'm sure I won't read as much because it's simply not as convenient to do so.

You *could* get a copy of mailman or some other program and run your own mailing list, which would eliminate all the banner ads and stuff.