Jonathan,

I have a couple of suggestions below, but before I begin to sound all nitpicky, let me say I love your site.

You have indicated you have an issue occasionally with a single subject dominating the visible threads. Here's a little solution that (unfortunately) will probably take a significant programming effort, but would show the full variety of forums.

It involves the forum threads display on your home page. Instead of just allowing the most recent threads to bubble up as new entries are made, program each line to show the latest thread from each of your major categories (excluding the feedback and support, which people can find on their own). So, you would have:
Forum Topic Msgs
Dance Discussion Classes for Men 1
Announcements & Events America's Ballroom Challenge 14

...and so on.

Unfortunatly, I'm a UNIX C++ programmer, not a web guy, or I'd offer some actual assistance, if you were interested.

There's one other little bug I've come across. When you select to go to, say, "Social Issues", if you then select the general topic "Message Boards", you seem stuck in the smaller category. You can select a different category, but the only way to get back to the general latest threads list is to use the browser back button until you get back past where you made the specific selection (or leaving the website completely and returning).

I agree: this is a great ballroom site. The message board is one of the best I've seen. I've made similar suggestions to make it more accessible and less intimidating (please see Recent threads started by paulw).

Although appreciating the interests of casual viewers, I should also express that for myself and doubtless many others, the opportunity to engage in meaningful (technical, if you like) discussions on this forum is invaluable.

Successful interface design is no trivial matter, and I congratulate Jonathan and his team on an ongoing job well done.

Hi Eric, thanks for the suggestion. I quite like that one. When I first conceived the message board, I didn't realize I'd be experiencing this kind of problem, so the idea never occurred to me. Sounds like a nice way to mix up the content a bit. However, you're right: It will require quite a bit of programming. I'll need to create a whole new page as the front page.

The message board is long overdue for an overhaul, so when I get around to it, I'll be sure to include this. There are lots of bugs to fix (although I wasn't able to reproduce the one you mentioned), and I'd like to add a lot of web 2.0 capabilities. Some of the navigation and view options feel pretty clunky by today's standards. And of course, the most glaring omission: A search tool.

I also want to rewire the code in such a way as to incorporate the messages all throughout Ballroomdancers.com, as well as many of the other websites I manage. It's high time I made it possible to comment on the variation of the week right from the variation of the week page, and to display all these dance music discussions in our music section. To maximize traffic and diversity of topics, I want to share the message board with other websites, and give each webmaster the ability to determine his own forum structure and hierarchy. It's going to require some serious rewiring of the code and the database.

All of this is going to require a huge chunk of time, and unfortunately, it's not even at the top of my "to-do" list. So I apologize, but I'll be leaving you with this version of the message board for a while longer. I do have every intention of getting it done as soon as I can.

Regards,
Jonathan