You may have already noticed a cosmetic change to the INBA home page. Our webmaster, Alan Heymann, has created a system that will make it easier for him - and other site administrators - to update the home page, JobFile, etc.

One of the features of this new operating system is a Forum function.

Perhaps the single most common complaint I get as INBA president is about the pesky banner ads and pop-up ads on the INBA Forum page. Quite frankly, those ads have been a tradeoff for getting the Forum for FREE (a big deal to INBA!).

I'm please to tell you that Alan Heymann is creating a Forum page that will have NO MORE BANNER OR POP-UP ADS!

There will be a few changes. The biggest change is that Forum users will be asked to register. Alan assures me that your email addresses will go no further than him...and he will not be selling them or using them for spam. Those who choose not to register - and that is your choice - will be allowed to use the Forum, but under the name "guest". If you want to use your real name - or, an alias such as JAKMAN or Lazy Brown Fox - you will need to register.

And, I'm afraid the new system will not allow the Smileys that many of us like to use.

That's okay...you'll get over it.

Also...we will not be able to carry over old messages to the new system. We will likely have to start anew.

I believe these improvements will make for a better INBA Forum. For one thing, that banner ad with the lady who talks to you...will be gone! I swear that thing scares the heck out of me sometimes!

Barring unexpected problems, we hope to roll out the new-look INBA Forum on March 1st.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Steve Scott
INBA President

Thanks to those who are making the improvements to the Forum.

Now, if there is anyone who can make an improvement to CNN Headline News by getting Nancy Grace off the air at 7 PM, I'd appreciate it. She is everything that is wrong about the delivery of "news." No smiley face here!

H

In all honesty, I have no problem with this forum. That's why I have a pop-up blocker. But I'll adapt.

H, as for Nancy Grace, I'm with you. But then again, at that hour, I'm watching Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Go ahead, everyone. Have at me. :)

Greetings:

I wanted to say I'm SO happy to see an end to the pop-ups but I had to wade through about six or seven pop-ups and my computer began to lock up. So I had to log off, restart my computer and log back on. But now that I won't have to worry about that anymore, I'll probably get another year out of my rapidly-aging computer and visit the Forum more often!
But no smiley faces? How will we ever let people know what we REALLY think?
Oh yeah...we're writers! And in that rare medium that's well done, the words are everything.
Thank you, Alan.

bob