The Calendar

[Mike1]

Is there a way to be able to HIDE the birthdays?

Could we have 2 separate calendars... a "Birthday calendar" and an "Event Calendar"?

I heartly agree with Rocky on this one.

Sheesh, are you NEVER content?

OK, everybody go click on the Calendar link and oohh and aahh to your heart's content. There are now two calendars. The Default calendar is for events only.

And to keep the House Chairmen happy, there is still a Birthday calendar. Sorry guys, but you will have to scroll to the bottom of the Default calendar page, click the down arrow at Calendar Jump and select the Birthday Calendar from the drop-down menu. I know, I know, it is going to require a bit of extra effort to get to the birthdays, but there are only three of you. If I had made the birthdays appear on the Default calendar, there would have been a minimum of fourteen people griping, so youse guys lose. (And if you think I am haiverin' on the fourteen, I am as serious as a heart attack.)

As our membership has grown over the last year it seems we have more birthday and advancement announcements than anything else. As we get even larger, as I feel we are going to, I see the day when announcements like this fill the threads and hide the really juicy stuff. Birthday announcements are already on the home page each day. Advancements to the next level of accumulated posts are only important to the person advancing. (And again perhaps it's just me, 'cause I don't post often and therefore don't advance quite as fast as some.) I read every new post, every day, and it seems that wading thru all the announcements is taking more and more space each day.
Within the software limits of the forum, let's see if we can find a creative way to celebrate without filling the forum with gratuitious, post-padding, individual threads for each event.

Well a certain code warrior (who shall remain unnamed ) is likely licking his chops on this one, because I'm going to step right in here and agree with you Steve.

All joking aside, I purposely stayed out of a similar discussion. Panache had offered a very PC explanation about post counts and I was aware that I would not have been nearly so kind and gentle.

Some of you may have noticed that I've made comment in the past about shutting the post counts off, entirely. Frankly, there are some days when it seems post counts and rank advancements are more noteworthy than anything else taking place on this forum. The ranks were set up at a time when members would be advanced by submitting informative posts about kilts and topics related to kilts. As is typical with forums that use member ranks, that somehow evolved into some sort of competition of who could get to a higher rank first. And that is well outside the spirit of the ranking system.

For those that can remember the dozens of posts about how the total membership number was approaching the 1,000 mark, have you noticed how close we're getting to 2,000? Deja vu, all over again.

Yes, if the decision were mine to make, the post counts would disappear completely. No ranks, no counts and no bragging rights. Just a discussion forum where like-minded people gather together to share their common interests. I have absolutely no idea of what the various levels of advancement are, nor do I know how many posts I have accumulated and how close I might be to the next level of rank. I don't know because I don't care. <shrug> At the end of the day, what difference does it really make?

Just to clarify, posts submitted to the Celebration Zone and to Off Topic are not added to a member's totals for rank advancement. Steve's suggestion (and I'm not singling you out Steve, as I've received PM's and e-mails from dozens of other members about it) of post-padding is not happening in those two forum sections. On the other hand, how many replies will there be to my initial question?

I recognize there are often threads in Off Topic that are educational, but the ability to name a dozen song titles in a single afternoon shouldn't be considered for rank advancement on a kilt-related forum, either.

I don't want anyone to think I have a problem with members having a bit of fun on this forum, because I certainly don't. I think the game-type threads have a place on a well-rounded forum, even though you'll never see me posting there. There's no future in trying to run a dry, stuffy and academic forum, so I support the idea of having a place to lighten up. Vacation pictures and vehicle pictures help provide that, so keep them coming. And if you want to play word games or song games, have at it. Just try to remember the fun and games forum sections are but small parts of a much larger kilt forum.

We do listen when members make suggestions about the forum. Some of the suggestions are really good ones. Some of them are stinkers. But we try to weigh each one on its own merits and if we see one will improve the overall forum experience for our members, we try to implement it. The calendar suggestion is one such example.

I'm stepping off the soap box now. Next!

And you'll likely never make the mistake of letting me near it again!