I can only speak for myself, but I stayed away from mailing lists when I
was a 'newb' because they seemed strange and technical. This is also back
at a time when I did not use email very often.
I think that how much you use email is closely related to how much you like
mailing lists. As someone who checks email every day, I am very partial to
mailing lists, it allows me to monitor everything that comes through the
list. Forums hurt my eyes a bit more, and often I can't figure out which
threads have valuable information.
But there was a time when I used forums a lot more than email. I read
everything that would go through my favorite forums, and keeping track of
threads was much easier.
Ultimately, I think that having an email list and a stack-overflow is just
fine. If we had forums we would need knowledgeable people to read every
thread that got created (or at least every thread that got created in their
particular sub-forum). Right now I'm not sure there are enough people ready
to read the forum. I wouldn't read a forum, I'm only on this list because
it's convenient through email for me.
And I don't see why there can't be an unofficial tor forum. If you want one
so badly make it yourself, and see if people populate it. If the forum you
make gains enough traction on its own, I'm sure it would gain official
support.
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