CVRS Forum revisions complete

Well, more or less complete. As complete as any work in progress ever is. No doubt more tweaking will happen in the days to come as we hear back from people who have looked at the new structure and/or posted. But for now we thought a bit of an overview was in order to familiarize you with the changes that we've made to date.

First, we created a new forum "category", About Our Forum, which contains the Forum FAQs and Forum Help. Forum FAQs will grow as we encounter more useful information to post for forum users. At this time, it contains answers to some of the most common questions we've been asked in the past. If you experience any difficulty or wonder how to do something, Forum FAQs should be the first place to check for information. If you don't find the answer there, post it as a topic in Forum Help and we'll respond as quickly as we can. Your topic may well become the next tip that gets posted into Forum FAQs.

Second, we streamlined the forum structure overall by eliminating sub-forums and moving their posts into other appropriate discussions. Now when you go to the Forum List (available in the drop-down window by clicking on Forums in the menu bar at the top of the page), you will find: Electronic Restoration, Cabinet Restoration, Show & Tell, For Sale/Wanted, Upcoming Events & News, Member's Hangout, The Chat Room, and The Suggestion Box. Based on past usage and feedback, we believe most, if not all, topics should fit into one of these categories. (The bulk of the topics we moved went into Electronic Restoration, for example.) You can easily search for any topic, radio, etc., by entering keywords in the search window available adjacent to the upper right margin on the Forum List and All Topics pages. If you can't find a topic you posted in the past, go to your account page and click on the topic in your list.

Electronic Restoration, Cabinet Restoration, Show & Tell, For Sale/Wanted, Upcoming Events & News, and The Suggestion Box remain the same (but without sub-forums), although their order in the Forum List may have changed. The content of all should be self-evident, and all are visible to the general public. Posting, as always, is restricted to Forum Participants and CVRS members. (We have placed links to joining either group in the description of About Our Forums, easily accessible from the Forum List.)

The Members's Hangout is a place for any topic not covered by the other forums. It is restricted to CVRS Members. The Chat Room is an equivalent forum available to Forum Participants. CVRS Members are free to use either; Forum Participants are restricted to the latter. A new member might wish to introduce him/herself to other members in The Members' Hangout; a new participant might wish to do the same in The Chat Room. The same goes for posting any other (acceptable, of course) topic.

That is pretty well it, at least for now. We hope the changes we have made address most of the issues raised in the feedback we received. If you do run into problems, find something we missed, or have a suggestion for further improvement, check the Forum FAQs, see if it is already under discussion in Forum Help, or send an email to . And by all means let us know what you think of the new structure! We are always interested in hearing ways to keep the site improving, and your input is key to have that happen.

Lastly, we want to thank you for your patience in waiting, not only for the changes to be made, but for us to get around to making them. Finding time is always a challenge in organizations run by volunteers. But it was your feedback that made the changes happen, so stay in touch! And enjoy the Forum!

The CVRS Website Team