Why are Web forums so popular?

• Web forums can be indexed by Google and hence show up in search results
• Web forum sysops can easily decorate a forum as they please, creating a little more personality than an average mailing list
• Forums often have fine controls in how posts as seen to the outside world
• Forums are easier to moderate - UI in place for banning IPs etc.
• Forums generally have a better community feel
• Generally have DB backend, making it easier to do queries to see how many posts a certain user has made etc.
• Instant gratification - you can confirm your post is live

Mailing list problems:

• Hard to subscribe
• Sometimes difficult to confirm your post actually was posted
• Cliquey atmosphere
• Often no public archives or poor Web archives

If you're a fan like myself of email, please consider taking up a project to write a decent mailing list Web archive system.