How about adding a off-topic general discussion forum so members can chat in a less formal way?

I have been checking in a lot more than usual and find it extremely sad that this forum becomes a ghost town after 4pm most days and today there’s not been a post since 1pm.

add your view so the admin can see if this idea as any strength and should take the idea into consideration.

Don't bet on it. I asked about that ages ago and was summarily quashed. Gods forbid someone comes up with an opinion on their own. But then since you're male and the suggestion came from you... perhaps Paps would allow it.
Tuppence

Thanks for adding your agreement Tuppence, I don’t believe being male would have any thing to do with this being accepted or rejected.

I do believe how ever it will come down to the support the suggestion receives so lets hope a majority of the members back this suggestion and if accepted use the off-topic section.

One of the things I still have in my dotage is a good memory and I honestly cannot remember you, Tuppence, suggesting any such thing !

I would be extremely happy if the board-users might show support for such an idea and if they did the suggested sub-forum would be easily created forthwith.

Thanks for the idea Merlinz !

Now folks, it's up to you !

Up to the top of the forum !

Doesn’t seem to be much support for the idea currently paps…

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Yes !

One of the things about internet forums that I found out very early on is that most people only come back to subjects that either concern them specifically or that were started by themselves. It is rare to see people connecting to a topic that has been started by others.

That is one of the reasons why I allow a certain amount of - within reason - invective as that is what a lot of people like. Hell, I even encourage or trigger it myself at times. The great problem with that kind of social intercourse is that once - like the genie - it is out of the bottle it is often hard to control afterwards.

Consumerism, which is at the heart of this forum, can be rather dry and subjective at times and that is why I try so hard to keep the users interested and the rhetoric fresh.

As the Ex-Pat forum is not getting any traffic at all I will close it today and instead insert an off-topic "Chat-room" forum for the people to use at their leasure. I will even leave it alone a for a while just to see if the people can get comfortable with chatting without my help. I will still have to watch it closely as invective can crop up just about anywhere on any open forum.