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When you have all those different categories of posts, this board would become like the "other" ATX board. So many good and important posts get lost in some of those lesser categories because most of the newbies (and others) don't know enough to read anything other than the main category, which soon ends up being a complaint category; which ends up not being read at all. (Hope this makes sense to someone) I've been a little out of sorts since the time change on Sunday.

Well, the way I see it, this is the 'General Chat', and should continue to be. The 'Private' forum is for things like pictures, bragging on kids, etc, but an occasional joke here is not going to hurt anyone, as long as the Topic name indicates it's not tax. Anyone can skip it if they don't want to take any time out for a smile. And I think experience clearly shows few use the specialized forums we already have, so I don't think we need more of them. So often, software and even hardware questions are actually tied into tax questions. I'd just ask that we all try to make our Topic Headings as clear and informative as possible. And most all of you do that. I've been on boards where headings are cluttered with headings like 'Just a Question..". Thank goodness, that's really rare here. So if the post is headed "Anyone going to the Rangers game?", I won't care, because it should be easy for anyone to skip.

You can please some of the people all the time and you can please all the people some of the time but you can't please all the people all the time. (Or something like that).

Marilyn, all you say is completely true which is why I am here virtually every day. I have two tabs on my browser which appear on opening: this and IRS. My intention was to stress that the company employees/support that we had back then will likely not be experienced again. I, too, am a sole proprietor and rely on this esteemed collection of experienced professionals in many ways. You are correct about the 'family' feel here, too. I kind of miss the birthday greetings but it was getting a bit unwieldy. I really like during the off season and other times the sharing of our lives that takes place with pictures yet! I'm not sure I can leave this place even if/when I retire - too many friends to lose at once. We have to find out how certain 'kids' fare in college, for example, don't we?

I would prefer if the ATX specific software issues stay in the General Chat section of the board. I can't tell you how many times I have avoided a problem because someone else found out about it and I was aware of the problem. I do like that the political stuff got moved out of General Chat - that was a nice move. But I read the General Section almost exclusively and would like to see the ATX software issues stay in this area. Just my humble 2 cents.

But, Margaret, look at the resulting great family that we have here; and we have service providers in the form of tax, software and hardware experts all in one spot. As a sole proprietor, this is the only place I have to go for answers that I can't figure out for myself. This board often has an answer to a problem before it even occurs to some of the rest of us. This is the place where you can get the "warm fuzzies" if you need them; and/or you can vent and nobody thinks you are a bad person. These are the good new days and I know that you feel the same way.

Maybe also the desire to "help" even when a return is past your level of expertise. I had a kid working for me a couple of years ago who had worked for VITA. He had an MS in accounting. I wouldn't let him work on returns after one look at the work he did; kept him on document prep only. He was real good at printing returns out in the right order.

And even worse "with Intuit issuing payments for completed clients on a monthly basis" ? Wow, how could anyone resist an offer like that?

Yes, don't forget, it was that feeling between 'us' and 'them' that led to the creation of THIS BOARD, when Eric, at that time an ATX employee, understood how bad the decision of CCH to close the 'official' board in early April! Might be a good time to use that 'Donation' button again........

Yes, VITA serves SOME people OK, the very simplest returns, but so often they don't know enough to know when they should not try one. They mean well, but screw up lots of times out of ignorance. Which says more about our complex and convoluted tax code than about the volunteers.