Forum vs Mailing List; Why some developers have a strong preference | Spiral of Hope

There is a certain kind of user, and over time I’m more strongly becoming a member of that group, who have a sort of focus. When highly interested in a task, the rest of the world falls away for a time. They become agitated at the slightest distraction from their current task. Ergonomics becomes extremely important: The right keyboard, hotkeys, chair, screen settings, background sound level, temperature. A responsive computer becomes important. Very. Important.

The computer itself becomes an extension of the mind. Typing is so intuitive that there’s no thought involved in it. Fingers fly across the keyboard at speeds unheard of in everyday people. If there were a faster way to input, it would be used and it would still be too slow. So when the computer “hiccups” for any reason at all, it’s an amazing distraction to the train of thought.

It’s that delicate train of thought which gives such a strong preference to email.

A highly-demanding user will use email and will download it locally. They will have all their native preferences including their favourite email client. Anything they can tweak to their preference will be. They can access emails swiftly with hotkeys. Replying becomes as fast as their computer. Control-R, typety-type-type, control-enter, n, n, delete, and so on. They can interact with the email like anything else on their computer. Controlling their environment and tools they can sharpen their attention span.

Beautifully expressed.