personal opinion

I reckon the home page is working for me. Most of the information is the same as on the old website, but you need to scroll down a bit more on the same page to get everything. I like the fact that the initial post of a topic doesn't get bumped off the front page by every comment that comes after. I like the fact that you can still read a list of all the recent comments...if there was some way of identifying which ones I'd read and which I'd not read, that'd be useful. I like the idea that the top four or five read posts are spotlighted at the top of the page...although the problem with this is that they are automatically going to attract more readers and therefore potentially never get bumped off the list. It might be more useful if they were highlighted on the basis of merit scores...the most popular topics as far as reader's ratings? It was interesting in the old site to click on 'who's online' and actually see which posts were being read...so you could follow the most popular topics. That information is now under the menu 'About/Statistics'. The more this website is used again, the more accurate and useful that section will be. (Although again, making the list will artificially keep you on the list). Once we're off the home page, I'm still getting a handle on how to navigate around information. I liked seeing conversations in threaded view; it's a little different how that's laid out now. Getting a handle on rating (moderating) posts...good that you can only do this once per log-in...but you can also edit your opinion of a post up or down. In the drop down menu for 'polls' there is no option to 'admin polls'. So currently I have no way of acting as poll-meister, if anyone's wondering. Still exploring; also, going on tour for two weeks. More comments later. Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------