Hello All,

Well, first let me say that I am sorry for not spotting this sooner - my daughter just got married, and this all hit the proverbial fan at about the same time. Thus, my mind was on other things, like how to pay for the wedding...

That said, I would also like to personally apologize for any offenses that have been caused or taken - I know that was not anyone's intent, including AB.

As for the Off-Topic problem - I think the suggestion of having a specific "Off Topic - post your non-Altec related comments here" is a very wise idea. It would have headed this series of events off. If it is OK with everyone else, I'll get that going.

Regarding the moderation issue -

I have always felt that there has never been the real need for much moderation on our Board. With rare exception, and I've dealt with those rare exceptions (like RomyTheCat), we've never had any problems with our Board members. True, we've all gone off "chasing rabbits" here and there, but we're pretty good at self-correction, so I've usually let things take their course. Our Altec Family is pretty well behaved.

That said, when AB offered to help me, it was initially so that we could get my entire Altec library online and searchable. Since that library is monstrously large, I welcomed his offer to help. During the course of several discussions about that, he offered to help as an assistant moderator, so to speak, so as to help free me up from my already hectic schedule, and make it possible for me to start working on collating the Library.

AB is full of vim, vigor, and vitality, something that I rarely possess these days, probably because I'm getting old. As a result of his desire to do a good job, he's made a few mistakes, as have we all in life, but has always been willing to correct them. But, again like all of us, he has blind spots, and we all know how hard it is to see around our blind spots.

Therefore, I offer the following thoughts and ask for ALL of you to give me your ideas:

1. I think the idea of placing a discussion of "Off-Topic" items is a good one. What say ye?

2. I think that posting a "sticky" with a SIMPLE set of "Posting Guidelines" is a good one. What say ye?

3. I think that when someone posts something that appears to the Moderator(s) to be questionable - for any reason - that the person who made the post should be contacted privately first, before any changes or alterations in their post is made by the Moderator reviewing it. The only exception to this - and we've always had this as our guiding principle on this Board - is profanity and flaming (aka serious name calling). Other than that, I feel like we can probably govern ourselves.

In other words, aside from profanity, flaming, and perhaps some sort of brow-beating behavior, we can self-moderate, as we've always done, without intervention from a Moderator. The Moderator(s) would intervene ONLY after having discussed the issue politely with the person who made a possible questionable post in private. Otherwise, I think we can govern our behavior on our own just fine. What say ye?

Let me know what you all think - this Board really belongs to ALL of us, so I want it to continue to be a source of interesting, fun, and enjoyable sharing about our favorite subject - ALTEC! If you prefer to contact me privately, feel free to do so knowing I will keep our discussions in the strictest confidence.

Thank you all for being here, and thank you in advance for your cooperation and participation!