On Jun 1, 2007, at 5:17 AM, Elwin Estle wrote:

To me, this mailing list isn't as good as a forum would be...you can't post in-line

images, and there doesn't seem to be as much discussion about "how-to" type stuff, except

as it relates to the more technical aspects of the program from a development standpoint,

and I think that is why there is so much talk of people wanting to start a forum, there

is a lack of, for want of a better term..."artistic fellowship".

In essence, a forum is nothing but an alternate interface for threadded messages. It can easily be using a mailing list as the main back-end data store. Or a newsgroup could be used. Technically there is very little difference, and the format of the contents is identical. Only the access methods differ for mail vs. newsgroup.

What problems you are calling out here are just what people are sending to the list, rather than limitations of the list itself. I've seen in-line images, and "how-to" stuff is really up to those on the list to post.

If users want to discuss "how-to" stuff and such, the inkscape-user list is a very good place to do so. The group over on DeviantArt seems to be a little more of a showcase place/gallery that people display work on. And, of course, the hard-core tech style discussions are welcome on the inkscape-devel list.

(And for real-word example of a functional and robust artistic community "forum" based on standard messaging, take a peek at http://news.povray.org/groups/ )