Why should this forum look like another forum? What is wrong with variety? It allows everybody to find a comfortable place to hang out. There are forums with lots of text, and forums with lots of bells and whistles. If you want an unmoderated zone, you go find Ironbear in his lair. If you want cutesy avatars taking up more space than comments, you go to DAZ or PP. If you want chronological threads neatly ordered you stay here, if you want only the popular threads, you go someplace where the recent comments jump to the top. If you need a count by someone's name to determine whether they are an active member of the community, then there are sites which divide people into classes by the number of posts they have made... no matter how thoughtful. If you want to know how active a person has been then simply do a search on their name... or lurk for a week or two. Please note that the above statements are my own personal opinion and not part of my persona as a staff member. Carolly