I think Update Groups are probably the way to go. They are very popular and a person can choose to join or not.
I am not sure this forum is a good cross section of residents to use for such a decision. It seems the majority of lay residents use update groups and most of these people do not use the forums.
Kind of like Bling. The majority of
SL residents love that, especially new residents - but people the
SL forums and 3rd party forums always speak poorly of it.
Go with an Open Enrollment Update Group.