COE Web Forum Change

By Rich Perlman

Normally in my monthly column I list the "Top 5" message threads from our web based Forum. Usually I pick them because they have outstanding technical content. Occasionally I pick one that captured my eye with a funny title like "Lost Tree", and once in a while I'll select one for its "internation-ality", an author's name or email address that is likely to originate many time-zones away. In any case, our Forum continues to grow in popularity because of its user-helping-user camaraderie. This month I am taking a break from the "Top 5" to talk about the Forum system.

We have outgrown its capacity...performance has slowed due to the frequency of posting and the volume of retained messages. We give it a shot in the arm occasionally with some message pruning, but we are looking for a longer term solution...one that will give us snappy performance and some nice new features without disruption to our faithful contributors who may have grown very comfortable with the current system's look and feel.

Besides performance, several factors will be evaluated in new software candidates...ease of use, difficulty in migrating our existing message base, and ability for users to hide their email address while maintaining email subscriptions to threads and discussion areas.

If you are a user of our Forum, your input is invited. Within the "How's COE Doing?" discussion area, you will find a thread entitled "Replace Forum Software?" Please let us know what you like and dislike about our Forum system. If you can point out a URL of a different forum that has a better interface, let us know. As always, TIA! (thanks in advance!)