ms_hoffman,

Hi!  I've been editing your posts to separate your message from the quote info that comes after it, but I haven't modified the one above so you could see how your words and the quote have been running together... and I'm guessing you're probably not even aware of it.  But if you could hit the Enter key after you finish typing your message, it would be much appreciated.

Or, to get rid of the quotes completely, there's a Reply button at the bottom of each page you could use instead of clicking Quote that will open a blank response window.  This way, you wouldn't have to bother with separating your message from the quote.  You may already know that, so sorry if it was unnecessary.  Thanks, dear!

And if you or any other cousin has questions about navigating the board, please don't hesitate to ask.  I know that some users are new to computers or maybe have vision problems and I'm willing to assist anyone that needs help using the boards.

Karlen's 1982 appearances on Hill Street Blues will air this coming Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1) at noon ET / 9 a.m. Pacific on the Bravo channel.  Monday's viewing will require some patience, but he WILL show up.

Enjoy!

Seriously though - why don't you and Midnite boot these people you describe? There is no reason in the world for something to continue if you have privately made requests about how you want things on your board.

Well, truthfully, persistent troublemakers do teeter on the edge, but as MB pointed out, these are persons that hear from us a lot already.  Yet kicking somebody off is an extreme measure (particularly since right now there's no way to get back on) and reserved for the most disruptive visitors, i.e. the trolls, whom we will not hesitate to deal with swiftly.  I don't know if this is surprising to anybody or not, but our ban list is very short.

We've found that other methods can be just as effective.  For example, most people don't like to be singled out publicly despite the fact that they may have continually ignored the same requests when asked anonymously or even privately, and members can and have been muted (prevented from posting) for a period of time.  Also, nobody likes to have their posts removed.  And while there's no guideline yet on fluffing, I suspect that once it's in place it might impact the persons the most that continue the practice if they lost their posting status, don't you think?  The total they worked so hard to inflate can be easily deflated with the click of a mouse.

There are apparently many other people who would like to be on this board and can't get in now because of registration limitations.  Booting people who "deliberate" in the ways you and Midnite have described would not be at all unreasonable.

It's true that there are a lot of people anxious to join, but the ones causing problems are a tiny minority of our membership, so we're not able to think in terms of replacing one cousin with another.

The only way we're going to get the registration process open again is to reduce bandwidth, so this is why we're being sticklers about it.  Reducing bandwidth will allow us to open the forum to new members and more importantly to stop the server from shutting us down periodically, which denies access to the members we already have.

Just a thought.  I know I would.

I understand, Nancy, and I appreciate your feedback.  I've looked at other message boards and at the different moderating styles and it's been eye opening, to say the least.  Anyone that thinks we're pushy should meet "Iron Bastard" on another forum (or maybe not.... brrrr!).  But anyway, though my patience is hardly limitless, I do believe in second chances.

Kathy said at the Fest that printer problems had delayed it til October.  {fingers crossed}

today i went on and everything was back like before
that i had collapsed !i just hit collapse again and all is collapsed Is this right?

Yes.  Because the forum reverted to an earlier version from yesterday (see: "Where did everything go?....." on this board), everything became as it was then.  So if you found the boards uncollapsed, it's because the point at which the boards went back to was a time when they weren't collapsed.  All messages that were on the board at that time that had not yet been read by you will also have a blue tag in front of them.  And all IMs sent and received during that window, or posts added, will not show up.

If the problem hadn't occurred, you would have found the boards just as you left them.  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Now I know how the Collinses felt every time someone mucked up the present by changing the past.

No, you're sure not imagining it.  We're seeing a slightly older version of the board, so posts and IMs added since yesterday afternoon aren't showing up.

Will get back to you about it soon.

Actually, I really don't know what bandwidth is -- I just know I'm trying to save it.  I collapsed the categories the day I read the bandwidth savings post but don't know if I'm able to collapse them further.  I left the 3 things in the profile checked, and try to keep my posts under 5 a day, but don't know if that makes any difference or not.  

Your efforts and the efforts of other cousins to save bandwidth have been much appreciated.  The ultimate goal in doing so is to keep the message board online for everyone to enjoy, but I gasped when I read that you try to keep your posts to under 5 a day.  Connie, if you or anyone else has something to add to any discussion, please feel free to post it instead of denying the rest of us that valuable opportunity.  I really mean it!

Okay, yes, there's a 10-post limit set into the system, which I feel is reasonable, but its intent has always been to prevent any one person from dominating the forum or a particular discussion and never to stifle anyone's creativity.  What you see on your screen if you reach your limit is just a gentle and private reminder, and when the forum clock resets at midnite, er, midnight GMT you're immediately back in business!

I talked about fluffing a while back, and MB and I will eventually be coming up with a guideline that will address it (TIME???  We don't need no stinkin' time! ), but that's only because we feel we've been backed into a corner, and this is a separate issue from the posting limit and one that you as well as most posters shouldn't have to worry about.  Fluffing is easy to spot, and any cousin guilty of the practice knows that they're doing it.

I guess I should define it again, especially since it's a term with multiple meanings outside of internet posting boards.  Fluffing occurs when members attempt to inflate their post totals in order to gain a more prestigious title on the forums.  We're not attempting to judge the content of messages; if a poster wants to merely post "LOL" or a smiley because that's how they want to express themselves at that time, then by all means they should do it.  What makes a message problematic is its intent-- if the poster is clicking submit with the purpose of upping their own total, they're fluffing.  This doesn't enhance the board, it does waste bandwidth as well as the time of everyone that reads these posts, and it ticks off the moderator.

I hope I didn't confuse anyone!  And I didn't mean to come across like I'm lecturing, or that I'm only addressing one person.  

The only problem NOW is......

When the page changes,
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I keep slipping off my chair...

<-------- THIS WAY!

(No...sorry...sorry)  SHUT MY MOUTH!      
With fondest joy,
Connie  

LMAO!  Connie, you slay me!!

Thanks, Cris!

Thousand Oaks is quite a commute for me, but Selby could coax the blues right out of my heart anytime!  Hmmm...

(Bette?  ProfStokes?  mordecaigrimes?)