Module 2: Extra Email Question 2

Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to Email Lists or Discussion Boards?

I only have experience with one 'Email list' at the moment - for Adobe Photo Shop.

It struck me as very unorganised due to the random method of message posting used.
It seems that if you have a problem with how Adobe Photo Shop is running on your computer, you post a message with your problem and people message back with hints that might help you.

I'm not sure I really ike this kind of set-up.
If I personally had a particular problem with my Adobe Photo Shop, I would prefer to find messages from people who had similar problems and then read the responses they got - in case any hints were useful to me.

I guess I could also put rules onto my incoming emails to place future emails with a specific useful or related topic, to be set aside in a particular file, to save me from reading all of them.
In either case, I find these methods more time consuming (so far - with my extremely limited experience! If my view changes, I'll definitely post a follow-up).

At the moment, I am finding Discussion Boards more useful due to their more organised method of categorising messages (ie for educational courses that I have done - messages are separated by topic or into the Week of Study.

For other Discussion Boards I have viewed, there is a Topic Header, and all related messages about that particular topic are posted under it.

I find that it is much easier to search for a particular piece of information using this method.

Discussion Boards are therefore useful for categorising and instantly filing information into readily-viewable blocks.

Email Lists are useful if you want to receive information about any topic related to the Email List you have joined.

I forgot until now that I actually did join an email list yesterday, for people with my surname who are searching their family tree...as yet, no emails have hit my email box.
I may, however, post to this one in a couple of days.