Please Read! Suggestions on Widening the Present Forum

[Michael Clark]

8 minutes ago, Sandy Larsen said:

I just checked Michael, and there are a grand total of 5 threads on the home page due to your bumping them there! Are you aware that you have been flooding the home page, and thereby burying other threads?

LOL!  Too funny!

(BTW I'm not saying there is anything wrong with your bumping those threads. I just thinks it is exceedingly ironic in light of your charge against me!)

Please don't see it as a charge, or attack. As I said above, the front page is kind of squashed for space. You can see my point in my initial bump of this thread. Also, perhaps you have noticed similar comments from another member recently.

My intent in mentioning you and Tommy was to point out, again, that the home page is busy. You and Tommy are doing good work. I was pointing out that space was getting tight. You can see that in my comments regarding stickies and past remedies to the search function problem. It was not an attack at you.

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Michael Clark

[Thomas Graves]

17 minutes ago, Michael Clark said:

Please don't see it as a charge, or attack. As I said above, the front page is kind of squashed for space. You can see my point in my initial bump of this thread. Also, perhaps you have noticed similar comments from another member recently.

My intent in mentioning you and Tommy was to point out, again, that the home page is busy. You and Tommy are doing good work. I was pointing out that space was getting tight. You can see that in my comments regarding stickies and past remedies to the search function problem. It was not an attack at you.

 

I don't want to get into trouble with James Gordon, but if he could create a special section for most of the official announcements, it would free up some space on the home page.

More room for Harvey and Lee - based stuff!  (lol)

--  Tommy

Edited March 24, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Michael Clark]

Just now, Thomas Graves said:

I don't want to get into trouble with James Gordon, but if he could create a special section for most of the official announcements, it would free up a lot of space on the home page.

--  Tommy

Yeah, it seems that some of the stickies could be condensed. And, like I mentioned, removing stickies was the solution to a reduced traffic problem a few years ago. IiRC there were 8 stickies, and deleting 3 or 4 of them made a difference. Not that anyone is indicating a search problem, as before. Jus sayin.

[Thomas Graves]

1 minute ago, Michael Clark said:

Yeah, it seems that some of the stickies could be condensed. And, like I mentioned, removing stickies was the solution to a reduced traffic problem a few years ago. IiRC there were 8 stickies, and deleting 3 or 4 of them made a difference. Not that anyone is indicating a search problem, as before. Jus sayin.

Also, when a "pinned" thread stops getting new posts, maybe it, too, can be moved to a special place.

The reason it think the Harvey and Lee - related threads should be moved somewhere else is because it's a controversial theory that's been around for a long time now that most students and "researchers" are pretty familiar with by now, and have already made up their minds on.

Maybe a "Newbie Section" should be created, and it could be put there.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Sandy Larsen]

7 minutes ago, Michael Clark said:

Thanks Sandy, the word is "attack" is unfortunately used too often, perhaps it's just for lack of a better word.

Are you saying that I used the word "attack?" I ask because I didn't. (Except to say that Tommy and I attacked a big task.) Or are you saying I attacked you? (Just rhetorical really... no answer needed.)

I definitely appreciate what you do.

I have noticed that you have started some threads in the "research" area and I think that it seems like they are out on "the back 40". my suggestions were meant to look for a way around that.

Admin moved the three threads there because they thought three were excessive. They didn't consider that it was just 1.5 threads per person. And they didn't bother to ask how long we expected the threads to remain on the home page. (They wouldn't have been there long.) But that's okay because by the time they moved the threads, we had what we needed and were pretty much done with them.

Anyway I appreciate your concern. But really, it was a big to do about nothing. It did teach me, though, how to avoid the situation in the future.

As cheesy as it seems, I am usually focused on the front page., kind of forgetting what is beyond. I am guessing, and I think  I have heard others say the same thing. So, yeah, if something interests you, go find it, the front page is only notional. But, actually, it isn't. It's like the front page of a newspaper; it's a big deal.

Thank for your thoughts on the "exclusive" section. Personally, after looking over the history of the forum, I would really like to see some of the most esteemed members return. I can see why they may have gone. This was at one time an exclusive forum. Now it is not exclusive and a lot of great minds and writers are gone because of that, IMO. It would be nice to have them back, even if they are huddled in their own corner.

I just assumed they had gotten older and quit because of that. But of course it would be great to have them back.

Thanks for being generous, I have obviously not been sensitive enough in what I meant to say. I didn't mean to call you out as much as I wanted to say that the front page is getting squashed for space. To be sure, I have a bias against photo-analysis threads since I pretty-much refuse to enter that fray. It has its own life, and takes on a different, contentious character that I think unnecessarily spreads to other threads.

I think the big problem is that folks who don't believe in the premises of certain threads post there just to bitch and moan that the thread even exists. Those folks should just go away. On the other hand there are some critics of those threads who will actually research and look for errors or counter arguments. Those folks do a service to the threads and should be welcomed. FWIW.

 

[Michael Clark]

Just now, Thomas Graves said:

Also, when a "pinned" thread stops getting new posts, maybe it, too, can be moved to a special place.

Well, the two pinned stickies happen to be photo-analysis threads. And I already suggested that such threads could have a separate-but-equal home.

[Sandy Larsen]

24 minutes ago, Michael Clark said:

Please don't see it as a charge, or attack.

Okay, I won't look at it that way. But it did come as a surprise. I mean... I am not the person doing it.

[Thomas Graves]

46 minutes ago, Thomas Graves said:

[...]

The reason it think the Harvey and Lee - related threads should be moved somewhere else is because it's a basic but grandiose theory that's been around for a long time which most serious students and "researchers" are pretty familiar with by now, and about which they have already made up their mind.

Maybe a "Newbie Section" with a "Harvey and Lee" sub-section could be created, and it could be put there.  Along with some of the arguments against it. 

edited and bumped

Edited March 24, 2017 by Thomas Graves

[Sandy Larsen]

10 minutes ago, Michael Clark said:

Yeah, it seems that some of the stickies could be condensed. And, like I mentioned, removing stickies was the solution to a reduced traffic problem a few years ago. IiRC there were 8 stickies, and deleting 3 or 4 of them made a difference. Not that anyone is indicating a search problem, as before. Jus sayin.

I just got used to looking through both page 1 and 2 myself. But if other members don't do that as well, it is a problem.

[Michael Clark]

15 minutes ago, Sandy Larsen said:

 

I didn't realize that the admins had moved those threads. I thought you guys had put them there. I though it was a good idea and started going there tho look at things. It seemed unfortunate that they no longer seemed adjacent to the JFKA forum.

 

Regarding past members... I don't know, but I've looked into it and it seems to me that this forum is a shell of its past life in terms of authors and researchers who have left.

There seems to be many reasons but I suggested the "exclusive" forum in hopes of getting some of them back. Again, I am thinking of peer reviewed and published authors and researchers. This forum has an illustrious history, IMHO. 

If I were in charge here, I would sacrifice ten of me for every one of those folks I could get to come back. More importantly, a place for those folks to do their thing without having to set the plebes straight would be beneficial.

To be sure, I am a plebe.

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Michael Clark

[Thomas Graves]

37 minutes ago, Sandy Larsen said:

I just got used to looking through both page 1 and 2 myself. But if other members don't do that as well, it is a problem.

good point