Lets stay focussed here people. (Yes, I am editing this thread. I think the last thing that we want is for me to get pissed off at off-topic stupid crap in the thread where I am trying to make this a better place. I find it absolutely amazing that folks would do this here of all places.)

Peg & Peter: I'm redoing almost the whole PM concept, the ability to delete will be greatly eased.

Bernard et al: I'll try to make an option setting so one can make their own decision where they want to go after submitting.

Jim Dixon:

1) I use the names at the top all the time. I like how it presents a concise view of the personalities in the thread, as well as the time frame from beginning to end. That said, I like it so it stays.

2) I have been debating that concept (previous 25 - next 25) for years. My theory is that having everything in one place makes things real simple and straight forward. Which 25 to show? The first? So if all you want is the last 10, you have to click 6 times to get there. OK, so have a choice on the main threads page to link to the first 10 AND last 10 messages? Is there room for that on the threads page? How cluttered to we make it? Will it get confusing? I know some folks have slow connections or old computers, and I do sympathize (not really but it sounds nice). Even with fast connections large threads are cumbersome. But I think that works for us by keeping threads concise. Anything over 100 messages on any particular topic may be pointless anyway, and certainly the cumbersomeness prevents for to much rambling.

3) Yes, I can do that. I am doing that to personal messages as well.

4) Date ranges is a little tricky, but I'll do my best. Its definitely a good idea, I'm just whining.

5) The AskSam search (Digitrad) is going away. The main search is going to be the SuperSearch, and its search conventions are in the help file and cannot be changed.

6) I'm pretty sure Spaw can't be fixed. But it shouldn't matter, I don't think he wants more kids.

7) As long as I have anything to do with the Mudcat, it will never be subdivided. My efforts will go to devising filters so that individuals will be able to drill down to anything they want. The data will stay whole and pure though.

hesperis: You will be correct about your formatting tips until the upgrade. I have solved the problem and no BR's will be needed anymore. It will take some time to get used to, but me and Joe will try to come up with some tips to deal with the new way of doing things.

Peter T: I have the best Mom.

JAB: dick and I have discussed this for some time. I guess I could make it an optional feature, but there are so many odd words and dialects in a lot of the songs and conversations that the spell checker just might go crazy. Cletus would crash it every time. Also, more generally, I am always afraid to have too many features. Just the business of all the options may confuse people. (Hell, the on/off switch confuses some) Our volunteers are already spending several hours a day (no exaggeration) helping people. I will fool with this as well though. I for one always write my long posts (like this one) in Word first, then paste it into the forum.