What Questions to you constantly see on the forums?

Ok thanks...

I think you should add a section to address weight loss. I see questions about this on the forums all the time. I am still looking for the answer to my own weight loss success. I will be looking for the answer in your FAQ! :clap:

Uh huh...I'll get right on that :)

Here are my suggestions (I know the answers, but I've found people wonder about these):the following: 1. what's the difference between "Quick Reply" and "Post Reply", and which one should I, Joe User, use? 2. What are "sticky" threads, and can I, Joe User, create one? and here's one I do not know the answer to: 3. Can my Private Messages be routed automatically to my regular email address? If so, how may I do this? Thanks for your hard work! Maggie

Thanks Maggie! I will add those to my list. The answer to number three is, no, currently we do not have the option to reroute or even copy your email address on PM. This is, however, an option in the upgrade that we are considering using. It will still save your PM in your PM Inbox, but you will be sent a copy of the text that is in the PM to your Email Inbox, as part of the PM Notification Emails, if you have those turned on. Again, this is a possible option in the future with the upgrade!

How about a glossy of terms and abbreviations? When I was a new user, it took me forever to figure out what DH, FM, GCBC, Pink, and other things meant. Maybe it's general online lingo, but people adopting aren't necessarily up to speed on all of that. Maybe this already exists and I just don't know about it. So just an idea. Thanks for asking. Laurie

Laurie, We do have a posting on this forum actually...but you're right, I think it'd be awesome to have it posted somewhere more visbile. I talked to our programmer about adding a page with a link in the purple navigational bar at the top...but I don't remember what he said...I'll ask again.

How about defining all the different abbreviations we use? ** BF AM AF FD FS BS BD plus the ones used by prospective and adoptive parents regarding some of the forms they have to complete and "milestone" dates they list in their signatures?(Or are those listed somewhere I haven't found? LOL)I'd also suggest putting some of the policies listed in stickies - about commenting on agencies, etc. or posting personal information, that sort of thing. I know I tripped up by posting a name/address from an online phone book, but I hadn't realized I was violating a rule.Also something about the reputation feature. I'm still a pretty new member so all of this is new to me. I'm trying to think of all the things that have confused me in my first few weeks here. I administer a global forum for a non-profit (we use SMF software). One of the things I have readily available tied to our FAQ is a copy of the original user agreement members "sign" when they join. It's handy for them to reference if they don't remember some of the rules spelled out in it. People forget quickly, if they even read it to begin with.Oh, and please, somewhere make a really hard to miss suggestion that bparents and adoptees should include the date/date range and location (if known) in the topic title when they're making a search post. It would make matching much easier. There is nothing more frustrating than pouring through thousands of pages of posts and having to click on hundreds of links because they say "Looking for daughter" and no additional information until you look at the post itself. Many don't put that information in the first few words of the post which shows up in the preview capture.Last thing, which doesn't really relate to the FAQ but I've been wondering about - would you be adverse to me making a post asking for volunteers who would be willing to go back through "searching" posts and start entering data from them into spreadsheets? I realize this will be a huge, time consuming undertaking - and maybe no one but me is interested in working on something like this, but after having literally gone page by page through the Illinois, 1971 and a few other "searching" forums looking at every single post to see if there's a match, I'd really like to work with others to compile that information in a very easily searched spreadsheet that could be made available on the site.I'm very interested in doing this, but it isn't something I could do by myself.The other advantage to compiling this information in this manner - you could delete the archived posts when we're done, thus freeing up dbase space. :)Thanks for keeping this site running. You guys do an awesome job.

Thanks! Um...the archives are here to stay...and I don't know if you've checked our our registry or not...but many of the members who've posted to the forums have also posted there... We did have the Terms of Service linked at the bottom of the forum for a long time - but we lost a LOT in a server crash in June and are slowly putting it back together. The Terms of Service, Forum Rules and Chat Rules are #1 on one of my lists...LOL A reputation entry was made last night to the FAQ - you should check it out :)

As far as your question about the spreadsheet - if you wanted to do that on your own, I guess you could...I mean, I don't want to say "Yes, you can go for it" without talking to our legal department folks...if that's something you're wanting to do - write me an email, out line what you plan to do and how you plan to use it and I'll see what I can find out for you.

Now how pathetic is this? I looked at the FAQ right before I posted and didn't even notice the addition for "reputation!" LOL Thanks for pointing that out!I'll drop you an email as you requested - as for what I intend to do with it - nothing but give it to you for use on this site. The information is legally owned by Adoption Media L.L.C. I can't legally "do" anything with it, nor would I. :) IT/Web developing and coordination is what I do for the non-profit I mentioned. That's why I would never undertake such a task without permission.Thanks for listening to our suggestions. It's always nice to be heard!

How about informing members that they can download their PM messages. That way folks realize that they don't have to delete PMs they want to save in order to make space in their inbox. That was a HUGE ah hah moment for me as there were many PMs I would like to have saved over the past three years. :)

So how do you do that?

Yup, I'll second the request to have a glossary (and BrnadyHagz, thanks for the link... although there are still some that aren't listed, like PINK and 171 and so on, which are, I imagine, Guatemala-specific.)

Thanks Pete (You're Texan, no matter where you live) I'll work on that - along with some of the other suggestions here :)