[Annette]

The new forums will take some getting used to for us all. Personally, I preferred the old style. That may be because it's what I'm used to and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks...

I'd like to stress, though, that the main problem we had with the old software was the inability to offer you all uploading and downloading files. We saw that as a very real problem, and this is our solution. It's been a long time coming, and we apologize for the delay. We were concerned we would lose the wealth of information you all have shared here and that there would be a great deal of downtime in the conVersion. Hats off to Mindi and Richard for not allowing those things to happen!

We've taken a great deal of criticism over the years for the sorting order of the old style. I know you all have seen the debates. If it were a matter of sorting only, we probably would have left things alone. We preferred to read the new Posts first. We're aware that the only way we may please everyone is to be able to offer the option to sort whichever way the individual reader prefers, and we're working to be able to bring that to you.

Meanwhile, we truly appreciate your patience and your willingness to hang in there with us while we finish up the project. Be sure to go into your user preferences - you'll find many more options than were there previously. I found that my ability to recieve email notifications for private Messages had been turned off. Others may want to check that in their preferences.

Soon we hope you will all find the benefits of the new options a big improvement overall.