Why doesn't this message board employ a standard topic/thread format. It is unreadable this way. Visitors must read "answers" first and then scroll dawn and wade through other "discussions" to make any sense of the board at all. It is backwards and counterintuitive. As a long time resident of Norfolk, I trust some of these issues may be of interest; but how should I know? M. D. My e-mailed response: Ok, how do I answer... I could say "this page is my baby, my pride and joy, my labor of love! How can you call it unreadable! We even fix typos, spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar, all free, every day! Takes me anywhere from 4 to 20 hours a week to keep the page up-to-date, I've been doing it for close to 8 years on top of my regular job, and you visited what, once?" Well, I could, but I'm not going to. You see, I'm a fair-minded fellow, and I can see why you might ask... I guess this page is not in standard message board format because it's not a standard message board. It started out as a collection of useful info, with occasional commentary by me. In the beginning, very few readers mailed in comments. Each new comment was really a new and unrelated message, having little to do with the prior ones. As the readership has grown, I've deliberately kept the old format. Although initially I separated some major topics into their own threads, lately I've chosen to keep them all mingled on the page. I purposefully want to expose readers to everyone else's concerns and opinions. I know there are topics that I myself wouldn't go out of my way to read, but I feel it's important to know our neighbors' concerns to be able understand them better, and understanding what's on their mind is necessary to build a community. Most days there are no more than a dozen new posts, maybe 5 minutes to catch up. This is a small town, we can extend our neighbors the courtesy of listening to them. Don't think of the page as a forum, but as a participatory newsletter. Each post is a new article, and new articles displace the old ones from the top of the page. Yes, some articles reference topics that have been written about before, but fresh content is always the lead story. The page is laid out not for linear reading, but to capture the daily ebb-and-flow of concerns on people's minds. There are other, logistical issues related to how intermixed topics can be presented, but each way has its own drawbacks. There is no "perfect" format, else every page would be using it. Well, there goes another 45 minutes of "page maintenance." An hour here, an hour there, and pretty soon you're talking real time! (I believe the original of that was about government spending, with a few billion here and a few billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money :-) Welcome to the page! If you wish to catch up on older posts, they're all easily accessible all the way back to June of 1999. Yes, you'll have to read posts in an upward sequence, but it's not that difficult. To which the reply: I am not trying to insult your "baby" but while you are operating a private forum, it is very much a public venue. I further recognize the fact that running a board must be a lot of work. But your "baby" has grown and he needs some new clothes. Actually I have tried to read your message board on a number of occasions over the years but have quickly given up each time in frustration. As I have school age children, I attempted to read it last year when they canned the 3rd grade teacher but could not make any sense of it because of the format. The responses are posted before the questions and are mixed in with some lady talking about her obscure breed of cat or some rare bird that flew into her window. Meanwhile you have some poor bastard who is looking for a roofing contractor but can't get a response because, due to a (high) volume of postings, he is pushed down off the page. It is counterintuitive to read a response first and then have to go and sift through to find the question. "...wait was that TG or TP that was wondering about the street lights, no TG was asking about a stop sign, or was that a babysitter..?" What is the difference between a forum and a "participatory newsletter? In the case of your website, there is no difference. Call it what you want, but it is a message board pure and simple and there are more appealing and more organized ways to present the communities' musings. Since you mentioned it, why do you feel the need to edit for grammar and spelling? If I go on your site, posting my need for a plumber, am I more or less likely to take advice from someone who can spell and form a sentence? Preciseness in language conveys much about the author. You indicated to me that the readership has grown, however you have intentionally kept the same format. Why? If you were running a restaurant, wouldn't you pick up the pace if it got busy? Sure you would, or people would not come in. Please switch to a topic/thread format. What can one say to that? A newsletter contains articles scattered on the page, and one is exposed to all the articles, not just a select few. A threaded message board only shows the topics, and each topic must be visited separately to see what the question was. Getting your question read on a forum like that becomes an exercise in picking catchy titles, not asking the question. Editing for grammar and spelling is something we do because bad spelling and typos not only make the page harder to read, but speak poorly of us who maintain the site. Every time the Globe has a typo in a banner headline, I cringe and blame not the reporter, but the paper. Also, eloquence does not equate to wisdom. I've posted many a message over the years that was hard to decipher in its original form but contained reasonable, cogent, thought-provoking comments that deserved to be heard. If I were running a restaurant that developed a reputation for ambiance, quality and service, I would not deal with an increase in popularity by changing to self-serve fast food to move more customers. Norfolknet.com your community, on-line