I am wondering if anyone can advise on the suitability of using Moodle purely as collegial forum?
Although there is an educational purpose, this would not be associated with a course of study.
I currently host a small web based forum for Architects (600 users), that started out as an email based chatlist on Yahoo Groups before migrating to a self hosted MyBB installation.
Unfortunately the most active original users no longer participate, citing loss of the spontaneity and engagement throughout the day that rapid fire email based posting exchanges allowed (even as the constant flow of email chatter flooding inboxes was an irritant to other users, causing many to unsubscribe).
From what I can gather, Moodle has an online forum functionality, which allows for posting by email for those that want it, and posting online for those that prefer that - potentially offering the best of both worlds, and solving my dilemma?
Sadly, MyBB does not support posting / replying directly by email.
Can users initiate a new forum thread by email, or just respond to an existing thread notification?
I have a sense that Moodle might have features to support collaborative and review processes, where in my case multiple users could potentially comment on and even contribute solutions to architectural problems? (perhaps by posting PDF files of sketches and other drawings?) Do I have this right?
How sophisticated is the forum functionality and ease of administration available in Moodle compared with dedicated forum software?
Is it even possible to set up a website in which forum features are all that a user sees? (there would be no education/course related functionality or menus wanted or needed)
Can a Moodle forum even be created as a standalone feature, without
needing a tutor, or some sort of course related material as a starting
point ?
Are there otherwise any serious shortcomings in Moodle forum functionality that might make me look elsewhere, if forum functionality is all I would be using? For example with privacy, spam protection, user registration and management, content moderation, thread management (pruning and grafting, merging duplicate threads), onerous hosting demands etc?