I mentioned in an earlier postscript that I have a plan in mind to improve PTSC Agora for the newbies seeking good DD.  Another goal of the plan is to remove, to a large degree, thoughts/accusations of someone/people "controlling" the board discussion.  Finally, with some minor exercise of poster/reader discipline, discussion would be focused almost purely on PTSC - and only relevant information, speculation, and criticism of PTSC.

Why am I choosing to reveal this plan now, of all times?  Because now is the time to prepare for what we all hope will be coming very soon - that being a great deal more interest in PTSC.  We can be a much more effective voice for PTSC.  It's in all of our best interest to do so.  We should perform as advocates, promoting PTSC.  No hyping or bashing - just honest information and honest opinions to help the newbies along our path.  We KNOW most of the complexities, they don't.

There is one potential drawback.  Most of the OT stuff will simply have to be limited.  But think about it....  Things have been pretty hoo-hum here, for the most part, for a very long time, so OT stuff didn't really hurt anything.  But when the feces comes in forced contact with the circular oscillator, and the big news comes, there won't be any time/space for OT stuff anyway.  I suspect, and hope, that we'll be hit with a whole lot of new folks looking for info, and asking a lot of questions (that need responses).  The way things are, I strongly suspect that newbies will spend five minutes here, and leave - and perhaps lose interest in PTSC as an investment to consider.  We need to assure we have something fairly obvious to offer in that newbie's five minutes of exploration.

So I put this forth for everyone's consideration over the weekend.  I'm alerting Agora to this proposed plan.  Interestingly, it may relieve their workload considerably (if they do a little one-time programming).

The magic number is THREE (3) - but could be changed to any number.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Readers to ONLY click the thumbs-up if the post has some value toward contributing to the understanding of PTSC. 

If a poster is found to have less than three thumbs-up on three of their posts in a 24-hour period, the poster is banned from posting for the follow-on 24-hour period (there will have to be some time allotted after a poster's third/last post to permit time for thumbs up voting; maybe a one-two hour delay before acting or causing an action).

If the above occurs three times in a row (banned three times in succession), the poster gets the boot for good (after all, they've had a total of at least nine chances to contribute something considered of value by all the readers of their posts).

What this does: 

It makes all of us the judge of the value of a poster - equal "power" for all.

It should encourage posters to do what I've already suggested - think before you post!  Think "does this input contribute anything?".

It should make this forum such that people seeking information or discussion can do so more efficiently, without clutter.

It will give US the opportunity to actually contribute to the cause - the success of our investment.

What it requires: A little discipline!

Each of us, when we read each and every post, will have to weigh in our minds whether the post contributes (even if it's a criticism of the company, as such should introduce discussion toward greater understanding). 

If the post passes this simple test, the reader should click the thumbs-up; if not, refrain. 

THINK before you post.  You can still post OT or less relevant stuff, or offer a "well done" message, but do so at your own peril.

If you fail in posting decent info/speculation/criticism consistently, it's not the end of the world forever, just for a 24-hour "time out".

Well, that's basically it, subject to adjustment (e.g., some may think the magic number should be one, others five - it just has to be greater than zero! LOL). 

Feedback is solicited from everyone.

BTW, I don't really want to go into too much debate on this.  Minor tweaks - okay, but if you see a need for major tweaks (no longer just tweaks), just say NO!

And my feelings certainly won't be hurt by "NO" votes.  If more than a few "NO" votes, the idea is dead IMO.

And if it does die a miserable death, all should remain mindful of the need it was intended to fulfill - the need remains - THINK before you post!

FWIW,

SGE