php bulletin boards automatically tell you when you log in, by looking at an icon, which messages are read and which ones arent....while you can't say mark all as read, when you go to that thread, it automatically marks it as read. some can even tell you on a search type format, which exact messages are new since your last visit.. I'd imagine tho, for a site this large to not use php already, there must be something major that would not work well here for it.... personally tho, I like that style and format much better..wink.. Jen