I made a few changes to the message board today.

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1. I closed the INTRODUCE YOURSELF forum and replaced it with an Introduce Yourself Thread in the Everything About Travel forum. (I stole this idea from the Web Masters World forums.) I think it will be easier to read posts in one long thread, than to open and close multiple threads in a forum. I like to read all these posts, but find that I don't take the time sometimes!

This thread is featured at the top of the EVERYTHING ABOUT TRAVEL forum.

I will delete the INTRODUCE YOURSELF forum in a month. If you just posted there, please post again in the new thread.

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2. In the EVERYTHING ABOUT TRAVEL forum, I created a For Sale Thread. Post here if you have travel things to sell. Make your email visible in your profile or ask people to contact you via Private Message (Premium members only) - do not conduct business on the board. This is for community members only - businesses cannot post in the thread.

We had a recent discussion about people posting to fill group tours and were hesitant about allowing this to take place on the board. We have thought about this for a few weeks and decided to allow it with the following conditions: post in the FOR SALE thread, do not name the tour company, do not talk about it on the board (all business is conducted in private).

This thread is featured at the top of the EVERYTHING ABOUT TRAVEL forum.

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3. Okay some of us talk about our pets a lot (me, for example). It was suggested to have a separate PET forum, but I think instead we will have a monthly Pets Blog in the EVERYTHING ELSE forum. Post photos, talk about pets, ask questions of each other - this is the place! I think our Group Blog had become a bit pet-centric!!

The Pet Blog and the Group Blog are featured at the top of the EVERYTHING ABOUT TRAVEL forum. We will start a new one each month.

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If you have any other suggestions for changes, please start a thread in the EVERYTHING ELSE forum. Thanks everyone!!

Today I made the message board sidebar a bit wider, made the font a bit bigger and updated our "Active Travel Blogs" list at the bottom of the sidebar.

A little more rearranging. I moved the now closed Introduce Yourself forum to the bottom section, moved Announcements into Slow Travel Talk and got rid of the Welcome category that used to be at the top.

This is a more direct entrance to the main stuff and I liked it a lot immediately upon landing.

Thanks,

- Andrys

I like it too, Pauline. Much better flow.

Terry

Pauline,
I love it--much easier to find my favorite places!
Sharon