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I have a salad list too....MST, EA, BS, CFO....I can make up more if you want. Why would you doubt yourself Rita when a MAN with a Salad list of letters says something. When have you ever listened to what a man says. You got it right. Tom Hollister, CA

I never go anywhere but the general chat. Most of the posters like to post links and I don't click on them, regardless of how neat they sound. I think I went to the political forum 2 times total. I like most of the people on this board, and I have met a couple of them. I think the "NT" in front of the post has worked well and keeping the political attacks off this board has worked well. I am for whatever you want to do Eric. It is all good to me. But I will pretty much stay right here in General Chat. But whatever you do, keep this board. It is my lifesaver at times. And let us know if we are not contributing enough. I hit the donate button once a year, but if that is not enough, let me know. I will be happy to contribute more. I Love You Man! I have a bromance for you. Just don't tell my wife. Tom Hollister, CA

I've been away on vacation for a while, in a place with no cell phone service or internet connection.  Just a lake, kayaks, hammocks, and books. It's been a nice break. KC and Judy and I had discussed closing down the politics forum some time ago.  Now it's gone (I'll delete the forum itself soon) but I'd like to replace it with something else eventually. I thought it'd be more beneficial for this community to have a place to discuss more no-tax topics.  Right now, I think General Chat has a comfortable balance of Tax and Non-Tax related posts... but that balance is what keeps me from posting much, since I don't have anything tax related to contribute.  My feeling is that I would share more NT stuff if there were a dedicated forum for it and I think other people might too. I'd like to shoot for an Off Topic forum that focuses on more personal/friendly threads.  Talk about your kids/grandkids.  Post photos.  Post articles / videos about subjects that you find interesting.  A recent example I really enjoyed was Catherine's post about Fibonacci numbers / the golden ratio.  There are plenty of places to argue about politics.  We have a good community here and I would personally prefer to grow this community in a more positive way.  I'm really hoping that our members have more varied interests than just politics, and I'm hoping that people will share those interests here so that everyone can get to know each other beyond their political views. I don't have a timeline for these changes.  There is a very big forum upgrade on the way--I've been doing beta testing on and off for the past few months, reporting bugs, and testing fixes.  The changes will be significant, and so I'd like to lump that upgrade with the forum changes and do it all at once.  There is no timeline for the release of the new version, but it's looking pretty polished at this point and I can't imagine that it'd be more than a few months away. Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Nobody wants a club full of flatulating mathematicians. 

Today is Monkeyman's birthday! Kerry, for those who have forgotten, was a Sales rep and Customer Service Manager for ATX back in the days of Caribou Maine , and often helped us out. He's 37 today!

Very little in the way of political beliefs would make me dislike a person, even if I totally disagreed with them. I am conservative on most issues, but I don't dislike a person just because he is a liberal (unless he is an elected official).

Two Ritas also agree on that. (And, I have letters after my name, such as EA, MBA, and OLD LADY.)

Actually, he is. I'm not saying I'm a better tax professional than he is, but I'm a better tax professional than he is.

Mr Curly makes me wish I knew how to play a clarinet.

I like the idea - while I love the NT topics, it does make it harder sometimes to find that tax topic you ignored yesterday but is suddenly pertinent after today's phone call. I just got back from a one-week bike trip with Gwen in the NY finger lakes region. Haven't even off-loaded the pics from my camera (just a digital point-n-shoot; no fancy lenses at all) and will share a couple of good photos with people here. That's exactly the sort of thing a non-tax, hidden forum would be perfect for. Also *really* like the private part and post count requirement. And I was glad to hear that folks liked the Fibonacci number videos. There are SO many totally cool things out there to share - that have nothing to do with taxes.

Eric, that sounds nice. Truthfully, some of the political posts were getting so mean-spirited, IMO, that I was about ready to quit visiting this site altogether. (It was kind of like a train wreck - I could not NOT look, LOL.) I too enjoyed the post about Fibonacci numbers - I love any post where I learn something completely new. And I like the pictures of people's kids, dogs, cats etc. The idea of keeping it "private" is very appropriate! And I am glad that you took a vacation where you got away from it all. Maybe you can start the new forum off with a peaceful picture of your idyllic vacation spot!

Also, I plan on having a post count requirement to view the new forum.  It will be invisible to the public, and even new members won't see it until they have created a few posts.   The Off Topic forum will therefore not be crawlable by search engines or spam bots or anything/anyone else that isn't a contributing member of the community.

Yes, what KC said. KC, Eric and I had been discussing its ending off and on since last fall, and in April we all agreed again that it was best for the group as a whole to put it to rest. So that the forum wasn't disrupted by any changes during the busy season, Eric thought it best to end it during the slower months of summer, around the time that he does some overhaul work to the forum.

Thanks, I'm glad you saw it that way, that was how I saw it when we started it. But several people saw it as very divisive, and more importantly, it had tapered off a lot, but did seem to bring out the worst in a few members. We just decided that with few participating, and yet a couple of members still getting 'warnings' there due to the nastiness of their posts, closing it was for the best. I liked the idea of discussing ideas with the members here, as I respect most here for their knowledge and intelligence. But I don't want the anger that political debate stirs in some to poison the tone of the whole board. I was surprised how vicious a few got there. So better to end it, I think. It was actually my suggestion, in fact, but Eric and Judy both agreed.