Communities replacing the Listserv

Yes, I believe "Groups", "Communities" and "Forums" have started to replace ListServs in many places, and I don't think anyone is looking back.

Doug Devitre - Real Estate Technology Speaker said,

There are only a few listservs that I participate in only because people have not been educated properly how to use them and have abused them.  Do you think that these communities will replace the listservs?

I believe some web communities can expand/enhance listservs, and not necessarily replace them. For example, RealTown's Communities started off as listservs, but have been expanded to include a fully-functional web community. They still have complete outbound and inbound email support for those who prefer email-based discussions.

I agree with you completely on misused listservs. It's really sad when a good listserv, created with the purest of intentions, becomes polluted with spam and offers for "male enhancement". This is why RealTown chooses to fully moderate its communities, such as RealTalk, to maintain professional-quality discussions.

However, RealTown Groups is a little bit different. We give the group organizer full control over his/her group. While we may not moderate every single submitted post, we do still hold our groups up to high standards and will not tolerate discussions about things like illegal activity. We also allow the group organizer to assign moderators to the group to help track down and delete bad posts.

We hope you enjoy the discussions here at RealTown and look forward to your participation.