Muscatine

Hi tlou - re the promise, I can't make that without qualification; we've been making changes every few days since our original launch in mid-February!  Some were obvious to all (smileys, as requested here!), some only to specific sites (we have small towns, homeowner associations, neighborhood police officers, etc all using NL in different ways).

I would like to be able to promise to not make any huge changes like the discussion format without letting people know first, which I hope is what you're really looking for.  In order to do so, we'll need to set up a mailing list to which interested folks can subscribe... when we have that ready I think the signup will probably be on the "edit your profile" page where you can change your photo and such.  I expect this might be something that's emailed out every few days to a couple of times a month and would announce new features under development.

I can promise that there are no further huge changes planned for the forum, which means you guys are safe for the foreseeable future.  It took months of hard work to get from the planning stage to launch and it'd take more months to do it again... and right now all our discussion work is going into making the existing thing work better, not planning another total overhaul.

Regarding getting the old posters back... no easy answer.  Some folks can't stand change of any kind; some will maybe come back when they get used to the new format.  Some may be like Kurious, for whom the new board is ridiculously slow for some reason - we need to work out why and fix it.  As for the rest... these are your friends and neighbors; if any of you know these folks personally, ask 'em why they left and let us know!  More importantly, if you have community-minded friends, relatives, coworkers (in Muscatine or elsewhere) who don't know about us, tell them!  More users means we can become a better resource for everyone; I've already seen a Muscatine user helping some folks in California out with great information on water treatment - how cool is that?  We'd love to see more of that information exchange, neighbors helping neighbors and people across the US.

Finally, thanks to all again for both the positive and the negative feedback.  Yes, it's tough to read heated complaints about something that we invested so much time & effort on - but it's also really cool that there are so many people out there who care enough about Neighborhood Link to complain.  If we weren't important to people - if we made changes and nobody cared - that would be a lot worse, I think.

Thanks Tarrall for the compliment on trying to help some folks with their water treatment problems in California.  I've worked in that Industry for 30 years, and hoped that I could give them some food for thought.  I never did get a reply from them?  Oh well, the thought was there.  Again thankx....Tom.

Thought that was you, Tom, but couldn't remember for sure!  All you can do is try.  Even if the original posters didn't reply, there are bound to be other folks reading the boards; hopefully some of them will take your advice and call the guys who know what's up. 

  Tarall, thank you so much for your reply.    Your response was clear & I understand...been in a few "brainstorming meetings myself".  It IS hard when all your hard work isn't  met with applause & adoration!  OK...GOING a LITTLE overboard, here! 

  I appreciate everything all of you are doing to meet our needs.  Thank you.  :-)!  It's nice to have a connection, I hope that doesn't change?  Obviously, your goal will be for this board to govern itself & only need a mediator on occassion.  That makes sense.  It would still be nice to know that there is someone that we can share with that will communicate in the way you have.  I choose you! 

  FRAZZLED...  NOOOOO!!!!  to your answer about smiley central!  YOURS WAS SO COOL, BREAKING THE COMPUTER!  (There have been a few times I was afraid I'd be on the front page of the Journal cause I "helped" my puter @ work go to the fiery eternity HE deserves!  KENN...  my puter could live there, cause HE hasn't been Wet & HE would burn!"    I actually have smiley central on my toolbar, but when I click on it, nothing happens!  It's SO FRUSTRATING!  "Maybe my computer needs to "help" me "find eternity"!  ROTFL!