"shall we use it as an opportunity to write some new forum intros, how tos etc?" Yes, good idea! Will you help? Anybody else??
no, as i think simply that most of what is here should now be deleted as it no longer applies. as to writing guides the new forum software should have help enough or be self-explanatory, and if it isn't then people can ask new questions in this section.
Hello Bill and all - thank you for the things you do. Can anyone tell me if Mandala Town has been wiped off the map for good? I expected to see tumbleweeds rolling down the curves streets and the door off its hinges in the pub but to be unable to even find the signpost was cruel.
Hi Mark! Unfortunately the v-Bulletin feature that allowed Mandala Town does not exist in Xenforo. What about starting a new thread entitled Mandala Town, say in "Designing" or "Planting"? Your work with Mandala gardens is fascinating and a central place to display and discuss Mandalas would be a big asset to the forums. Other thoughts about this?
"Yes, good idea! Will you help?" I really had to think about this. I really value the forum and see it as a fairly unique place in the permaculture online world, so naturally I want to support it. As you know I'm not impressed with the behind the scenes running of the forum in recent months. The news that Mandala Town and all the other groups have been lost permanently just cements this (and the fact that there was no formal announcement as a courtesy). Many people have created content here including in those groups and it's hard to commit to helping the place get back on its feet when it is treated so disrespectfully by the new people in charge (I'm not talking about your admin role!!). What is to say that new content we put time and effort into won't also be discarded? The Lawtons are of course completely entitled to run the site the way they want, I just think it's really a shame that this is done in a such an anti-community way. Sad to see this happening with permaculture. So, short answer is not at the moment but I remain open to that changing at some point.
Hi Pebble, The old forum still exists. We never deleted it, for this very reason. I'll have a word to the techy to see if that can be migrated over, but I don't think it can be, however, the information is still there. PRI spent hundreds of dollars upgrading this forum alone, not to mention the countless hours of time dedicated to its improvement. Any website management team would have encountered the exact same issues we did (the 'Google Mobilegeddon'), but instead of leaving it to depreciate, we fixed it and the new software, which is finally up to industry standard, is actually much better than it ever was. It's a real shame you continue to disrespect us with comments like this, particularly when it is evident that we did everything we could to improve this forum. So in closing, if you have something constructive to contribute, then please do. But if you want to continue to complain, then please move on. Thanks Bonnie.
Oh Dear Pebble - I see what you mean about this new mob showing no respect for people such as you who have contributed so much to making the forum what it was. Moving on seems a reasonable.response.