Thanks for your response, Trollheart. I just have a little time to respond atm.

I am well aware that the community at large don't mirror my ambitions for this place, which is why I wrote I'm fortunately not riddled with the headache of running things :laughing: It was that way when I was a mod and it seems probably even more so now.

If I'd had my way, we would've demanded some things from Advameg some ten-ish years ago and, had they not delivered, moved to a different place with the uncertainties and possibilities that that would bring. The alternate MB timeline I would've wanted is very different from the one we're currently in.

Perhaps you mistake my continuing requests or suggestions to mean I don't realize this distance between myself and the community at large, but I do. I'm just tenacious. Now that I post relatively rarely, suggestions getting shot down doesn't phase me much. But as a mod, it certainly did become a source of frustration.

There is if you're not logged in. I think.

Yeah, I believe non-member lurkers get ads on the header, or at least they used to.

You can check that out easily by logging out and then browsing as a guest.

Nope. No ads.

I see ads. I'd guess you have some adblocker running?

Nope. Vanilla Chrome with no extensions.

Regardless, this seems like more of a control thing than anything else. It's akin to heading down to the local library and rearranging the book shelves because it bothers my OCD.

Why not start your own forum? You can be the grand puba and control everything.

Like Key and rubbersoul, I most often start on MB by going to "New Posts", which is a comfortable enough entry point for me, because it directs me to those rivetting hot-button issues of the day. ;)

On the other hand, I enjoy the sprawling nature of having threads about everything: it reminds me of going to the British Museum as a kid and thinking, "This goes on forever and I will never see it all". If I couldn't explore some ancient thread and bump it, MB would've lost something of value, imo.

Someone mentioned too much scrolling to reach the shoutbox, but there is a way to scrunch up your first, homepage view of MB if you want:-

I post on mobile and I definitely don’t think it’s fine. It’s a massive headache but I have no other way of being active.

It is awful. A vbulletin update could fix that.

Sounds like you're projecting.

I could (and have before), but I've got enough work in my life and would generally like to do something else with the little free time I have