IIRC, we discovered that making better forum software involved giving end-users more options and preferences to control their experience. Unfortunately, optionitis normally serves a quite small minority of users; witness how many people never change the default colours in Windows... I personally don't like the format of the Yahoo Groups - it is definitely put in the shade by zIWETHEY - but I can envisage many people happy with it because they have no idea that it could be so much better. Of course, I can also envisage Yahoo actually wanting it less than the absolute best, but that's a topic for another message.

Now actually experimenting with all the knobs and switches provided usually involves the Testing forum, as you already know. But I know that for me, it also involves getting over a certain level of preciousness to actually post to a public place some nonsense for the purposes of trying things out. Heck, I have to do it all the time at work! :-) But then, the very first posts I made to become apart of the community and not just a forum poster were similarly daunting. So.

Wade, who's hoping he's not seagulling as per Peter's definition.