Max built Mudcat and a number of other Websites in the late 1990s using a Website database package called Cold Fusion, which he used extensively every day - and he knows Cold Fusion very well. A major redesign in the layout of Mudcat would most probably require purchasing and learning the workings of a new package, which probably would take a lot of a lot of time that Max doesn't have.

Cold Fusion does have a nasty tendency to corrupt databases. The entire Forum had a crash in 2005, and every database we had was corrupted. Some databases, like member photos, were not repaired for years; and the search index has been corrupted and repaired over and over again over the years since 2005. The auction is another database that got corrupted, so it was taken out of service several months ago.

So, we're on a bit of a thin thread. Somehow, though, we keep on keepin' on. And we ARE able do develop workarounds for most problems when Max doesn't have time to fix something. If there's something that you'd like or something broken that you need help with, just ask. We're glad to help when people ask.

But the reality is that it will take a lot of money and a lot of time to do a major redesign. Max Spiegel is the owner and operator of Mudcat, and it's up to him to decide if and when to do a redesign. He's younger than most of us here (and young enough to be my kid), so he knows the priorities of young people. But    I    wouldn't ask him to do a redesign - that decision is up to him.

But if you need help with something, give a holler. If you want to edit a message, post a corrected copy under the bad one, and we more-or-less automatically will delete the earlier copy.

-Joe-
joe@mudcat.org