on teh topic of admin.. thank you for enabling the date of first post on the forum front page. now we will know zombie status before reading 23 posts into the thread.

You look at it wrong. It's about community formation, not information. It makes no sense at all for me to ask an arbitrary mechanical question in a forum where I don't know anyone. I can more quickly get the information from someone in a forum where I post regularly that I actually know. Likewise, we have a music thread in road racing. Yes, you can argue it should be in foo. But I don't care what a group of people I've never conversed with are listening to, I'm interested in what guys I know are listening to.

Hey Cuda!

Is the search function going to improve with the software update? I hope so. Search has been so weak on this version.

It makes even less sense to ask an arbitrary mechanical question in a forum you know is a community of idiots. Just sayin'

+1, Grazie, moderatore

You guys do a great job. There are so many people in cyberland that hide behind being anonymous to be rude and disrespectful to others. They say things that they would never get away with face-to-face. There are so many places on the net that you can go and spew ugliness that this should be a safe place to talk bikes. Keep up the good work.

Just noticed that myself. Though I'm wondering if just having the date and not the time stamp also would be less visual cluttered. (My software dev geek side poking through a little. I dwell on such things for a living...)

Uhhh... I would tend to disagree. Within reason we let threads stay where they were started, but if a thread would be better answered somewhere else, then it should be moved. "What are you listening to" threads are one thing, "What size bearings does my hub need" threads are a different sort of thing. If you disagree with a thread of yours being moved, PM a mod and request it be put back. No harm in asking, but don't get in a twist if it isn't moved back.

I sure hope so too. I've had my complaints about this new vB4 software we're on now. I understand why they moved us to it, but darn if it wasn't ready for prime time when they did it. Tom hasn't posted a list of fixes anywhere that I know of, and search functionality is a tricky beast to do right and make reasonably responsive.

That is a legit point. It is predicated on the sense of community you referred to though. When new posters ask mechanical questions they frequently are told that there's a Mechanics subforum. Even with posters who know each other it still might be better to use other resources from time to time.

Idle conversation seldom draw my attention as a moderator and I enjoy participating in beer threads. So long as I'm not being asked to delete inappropriate images and or intervene in hissy fits my tolerance for on and off topic is pretty high.

Things with the new software do seem to be improving, except the damned double posts.

I don't think I'm contradicting Cuda here. Conversation threads are fine by me.

Thats a nice watch.

Really? How many people do we actually "know" here? 5? 10 tops? We are all just avatars and handles for the most part. You might care if you hung out in FOO more often. And the guys that post in Mechanics are pretty knowledgeable.

You guys are part of a bigger place. Coming to 41 for everything is like going to the mall but only shopping at The Gap. Venture out a little. You never know, you may make friends in other places, too.

I know that the hard part is keeping up in a forum. There is always this urge to keep up with the living topics. But remember, BF is big with lots of members with lots to say. Keeping up with one sub-forum is a lot. Keeping up with more than one can be a challenge. It's cool to stay in one community...just don't take your bike to The Gap and expect them to remove your bottom bracket. It's OK to visit other sub-forums every now and then, take care of some business, then come back to where you are comfortable. Just bear in mind that other people do that, too. So when they stop by and ask a question to which "the regulars" already know the answer, be nice to them. Everybody can't be a regular at the 41.

Mods are the front line of decision making on what flies and what doesn't. They just keep me around because I am a tech dude who knows his way around web development - and from time to time let me ban someone.

True, but aren't those of us that pay for premium accounts almost like shareholders (I understand that I'm paying for the use of posting in the for sale section, ad-free screen .etc) ? I used to belong to a photography forum where if you bought a premium account you would have some say in what happened on the forum.

Nobody cares what you think, noob.

Telling your current forum what your old forum let you do is like telling your current girlfriend what your old girlfriend let you do. I'm just sayin'

Let the good ideas stand on their own merits.

Ok, I have to admit, I laughed.

Haha sorry...

Edit:

At least forums are less expensive....

is "carleton" a new username, or are you a sockpuppet mod?

and the damned image verification.
sometimes I gotta refresh the thing like 5 times to get something I can make out.
frack, I hate getting old and having a favorite internet playground that either doesn't care or is clueless about about basic web accessibility.

Been here longer than you. But, if you had searched you'd know that.

never saw a post of yours in road until today.

granted, after reading your posts in this thread, i can see why you're so forgettable.

Different people seem to have different issues. I guess I'm lucky in that double posts are the worst that I've dealt with.

Of course, telling me about it is futile. My knowledge of web design begins and ends with Google sites I set up for my students.

Of course they do work.

double (again)

speak for yourself, hermit. I have met probably close to 50 members...and I ain't exactly Mr. Social Butterfly.