Greg

We may have to agree to disagree, as I do not think the three categories are overly repetitive. Charles and I will review the three categories - in a month or two - and we'll consider making changes if needed. Let me think about this for awhile, Thanks

Be advised, we making some changes to how the forum sub-forums are categorized. We are implementing some of the suggestions give to us by forum members, and hopefully this adds value to the forums as a whole. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to add them in this thread,

I'm sick and tired of reading this off-topic (and stupid) banter from everyone in this thread. Lets all agree to disagree and learn to live with each other. Seriously, if you don't agree with someone, and or that someone is breaking the rules (or giving you a hard time), report the member and then ignore him or her. This forum is no different than real life, you can't go around calling each other names and repeatedly reporting each other to a higher authority.

Look at the browser screen shots on this page: http://browsershots.org/http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums/ if you are seeing anything different, then it is probably an issue with your particular browser or OS, not the actual forums. There is a very small and insignificant horizontal white bar between each of the forums, topics, and replies. This is an issue with the forum CSS and will be fixed shortly. However, this bar is so small I can't really see it being an issue with anyone using the forum.

I have no idea what you're talking about. The recent changes to the forum templates were addressing the width of the forums. No other cosmetic issues were addressed. No one has registered a complaint about the appearance of the forums, so I assume this is an issue with your computer/browser, not the forum templates. I've also done extensive testing in different browsers and operating systems, and see none of the issues you've described above. For a live example, see here: http://browsershots.org/http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums/

I'm not sure what you mean? Are you having to side-scroll to see the forum?

Ok, here is what I've done. I've removed the old template that didn't have the new MLW header/masthead and I've created two different forum skins. The first - and default skin - is the skin that is set to 90% of the browser window. The second skin is set to 98% of the window and to see this skin, you must select it via the drop down box in the lower left hand corner of the forums (in the forum footer). This skin setup should please everyone. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post them here, Thanks,

Ok, I want everyone to give the Design Integration skin another whirl. I've modified the skin so that it is 100% flexible. It'll stretch to fit any sized screen. Perhaps two version of the skin would work - one flexible, one static...

I can look at modifying the templates so that one of them is a flexible width format. Fit? Meaning, that the forum skin is too wide? Thanks, keep the comments coming,

I've recently made a few changes to the forum templates, and widened the forum a bit. For those of you who are still using the old forum skin, please take a look at the new forum width and share your comments. And for those of you who are using the Design Integration skin (which is the default forum skin), please share your comments too. Do you like the width of the forums? Are they too wide? Too narrow? Etc, Thanks, Greg F Forum Admin

Nope. Maple Leaf Web has never paid a member to post in the forums.

There has been some incorrect information being spread around the forums about Maple Leaf Web's funding - this posting will hopefully set the record straight: The Arthur Child Foundation, the Max Bell Foundation and the Elton Endowment Fund have funded the bulk of this project's budget. The University of Lethbridge has provided funding through a gift-in-kind donation. That gift-in-kind includes office space and certain administrative assistance. No partisan organizations or political parties have ever contributed funds or assistance to Maple Leaf Web or Policy.ca. Maple Leaf Web and Policy.ca are non-partisan resources and we will never accept a donation and/or a gift-in-kind from a partisan/political organization. To date, neither the Canadian federal government nor any of the provincial governments have contributed funds, or any type of assistance, to our budget.

The interview with Mr Layton went very well, and we're about to release the full details. I'll post a msg here when it's ready to go, Thanks!

As Charles mentioned, that was a character encoding error on my part. That has since been fixed. If you continue to encounter errors, please notify me. That was done on purpose. I wanted to give long time members the choice of using the older templates when I updated the look of the forums. Old habits die hard, particularly when dealing with the look of the forums, and I wanted to keep everyone happy. I do plan on removing the old template, and replacing it with a full screen version that contains the proper website header (navigation, MLW logo, etc), however, that will take some time to complete, so please be patient. In the mean time, you have the choice - full screen mode in the old forum templates or the narrower mode in the updated version.

You might notice a few things changing with regards to the forum design. I'm putting the final touches on the new templates that will finally integrate the forum design with the main Mapleleafweb design. In the spirit of keeping everyone happy, I am allowing members to select between the new design templates and the old standard Invisionboard templates. If you want to keep the forum design the same way is has been for the past few years, log into your account, and scroll to the bottom of the forum website. You'll see a small drop down box, select, IPB 2.2.0 Default, which will allow you to see the forum in the old style templates. If you have any problems with the new design please feel free to contact me directly or respond in this thread, Thanks!

Ya, I think a sticky in each forums describing some of these specific issues would be a good idea. ie. Signatures, how to edit, posts, etc. I'll write something up and post it as soon as I can, Thanks

Signatures are meant to be simple and non discrete, which is why no HTML or forum markup is allowed.

Mapleleafweb is planning to do an interview with Hon. Jack Layton, leader of the Federal New Democratic Party, and I would like to invite the forum members to propose some possible questions. The questions can be emailed directly to me, or you can post them below in this thread. Your questions can be submitted until Wed, October 17th, after which I will select three interesting questions and include them in the batch asked to Mr Layton. The interview will appear in the Interviews section of Mapleleafweb Any off-topic or disrespectful postings or questions in this thread will be deleted.

What's your point?

I want to clarify the rules on insults. Lately a few forum members have resorted to calling other forum members "racists" and or "bigots" in response to certain opinions. Use of either of these terms in relation to another forum member will be considered an insult and a warning will be issued. If someone posts a comment that you feel is ignorant and or racist/bigoted, we ask that you simply ignore the post altogether or reply with a comment that refutes the original posters opinions/facts. If you feel a members comments do not encourage "intelligent, honest and responsible discussion" then please use the report the post button to report the offender. Thanks,

Yes, feel free to register and post a comment on the main site. Unfortunately, were are unable to sync the forum memberships with the main site system. We hope to have this remedied soon. Also note, we're unsure if we are going to continue to allow comments to be posted under the features, cartoons, etc, on the main site. We want feedback on this new system, and if we find the the comments are better placed in the forums, rather than under the features, cartoons, etc, then the commenting will be removed. Consider this an experiment! Thanks, Greg F

Also note: All moderation tasks (merging and deleting threads, post reports, etc) are logged and reviewed by me. I have reviewed the logs pertaining to the above incident and I agree with everything Charles has done. Also, if a thread is deleted, or merged, or a thread title is changed and you disagree with the change, please feel free to contact me and I will take a closer look. Also note, Charles consults with me before making any major changes to threads and or the forums in general. And finally, the changing of thread titles to increase clarity and readability is rare - and I bet after this incident we all will think twice about posting titles that are ambiguous and or inflammatory. thanks

The justification for the change has been made - just because you disagree with those justifications, does not make it an injustice. I agree with Charles actions - the post titles were inflammatory. This whole issue is over. You've waste enough of my time over this issue, now drop it.

I've read through this thread and I'm surprised and disappointed at some of the responses. Charles is doing a great job moderating and I think the forums are better because of his moderation. His attention to detail is one of the reasons he's such a good moderator. His application of the rules and guidelines in this forum is not tainted by bias and anyone who suggests otherwise is clearly wrong. Furthermore, if anyone has a problem with the forum and or the moderation of the forum, please take these issues up with me personally. The News and Announcements section of the forums is here for news and announcements relating to the forum and Maple Leaf Web, not questioning moderation style.

What the problem here? I don't think it is unreasonable to ask you to write clear and concise thread titles - is it? Charles has changed the title of a few threads to increase the visibility and readability of the threads. Ambiguous thread titles - particularly in a forum with thousands of threads - means less people read and participate in the thread.