Feeling Listless?

What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
Email lists seem to be a great way for a people who are new to the internet to get into online discussions, you only have to know how to send and retrieve email to use them. This strength also causes it greatest weakness, the amount of email that is generated by being part of a list. It is more in your face than a discussion board, you are reminded of the list nearly every time you open your email.

Email lists are to online communication as my wife is to me when I am trying to avoid mowing the lawn, a constant reminder that I am neglecting my duties (she is not very user friendly). And just as it is gets to a point where it is just easier to get out the victa, it is also gets to a point where it is easier to read the email and relieve yourself of the guilt...or put it straight in the bin and remove yourself from the list...either way you earn a beer.

On the negative side I think discussion boards require better internet skills. That said, in my experience, reading posts on discussion boards is far more pleasurable than dealing with email lists, better layout and more bells and whistles. I think as discussion boards continue to develop they will offer the same advantages that email lists offer, they will become easier for the beginner to use and the emailing of new posts will become a standard option. As I see it, the email list has joined the Black Rhino and the Beluga Sturgeon on the endangered species list.

Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?
As far as I'm concerned email lists are for the things that I should do but don't really want to, the email forces me to stay up to date. With a little www.knowledge discussion boards are a far more user friendly, you can visit them when you want and in the meantime live on in ignorant guilt free bliss. I use these for topics that I enjoy as I don't need any external motivation to go to the page.