I will be doing some work on this website this weekend and this will involve completing a number of tasks. A few members have, in the last few months, asked for the front page weblog to be integrated into the post reporting facility for the main forums. This basically means that once this feature is rolled out you will be able to see at a glance on your 'recent posts' page links to any new posts on the front page along with the links to the main forums that already exist.

This morning I have also done a bit of a cleanup on the database. I have taken the liberty of removing entries in the Avatar column of the member database that link to the Gravatar website. This is because these links will not work. If you have a Gravatar account and you use the same e-mail address to open an account here as you did for your Gravatar account then your hosted avatar will appear here automatically. If you enter any URL in the avatar field then these links will override the automated support for Gravatar accounts.

I've also removed any dead links as these harm search engine optimisation efforts. Where humanly possible, members need to ensure their details are up to date and things like passwords are easy for an account holder to remember but hard for others to guess.

There may be short interruptions to the site throughout the weekend, typically no longer than a couple of seconds as I update files and upload them to the server. This will not happen very often and you are most likely not to notice though the updates are unlikely to disrupt your ability to post comments.

For details on what will be happening over the next few weeks please read this thread and, of course, constructive feedback on this website is always welcome. Many, if not most, of the improvements to this website over the years can be attributed to members' suggestions.

Here is a list of a few things that have been done today:-

1. All member functions have now been shifted up to the new toolbar at the top of the page. This includes the log out button.

2. A new site masthead has been introduced. It may stay or be replaced, depending on feedback from members.

3. Links to your most recent posts on the front page forum have now been included on your recent posts page. I hope this makes going back to front page discussions a little easier. Of course, as posts in all the recent posts lists are replaced by newer links, you can still use the search feature to go back to older threads.