News from Dave - January 10, 2006 I am here to announce first an upgrade of our forum system, as well as a new addition to Dave's Garden - an area set aside for everything related to the home. The words "home" and "garden" go together like peas and carrots, and I've wanted to cater to those interested in home stuff for a long time. With some changes occuring in other home and gardening websites, we realized that the time was ripe for us to move into this area. We want to become the destination site of the "home" world just as Dave's Garden is to the gardening world. Dave's Garden is on the brink of becoming the largest gardening website in the world. Our largest competitor is losing members fast, and we are gaining new members at an even faster pace. Because of this, I am confident that by May 2006, we will be the largest gardening site online. We want to do the same things for the home-minded community. :) We think today is the first step that will begin a flurry of new energy and growth at Dave's Garden. So, first the changes: the forums have been slightly reworked to (hopefully) make them much more user-friendly. There are two main changes: 1) The main "Forums" tab has been updated. Previously, it was just a big long list of all the forums on the site, shown in the order of the most recent post. This setup is downright confusing to most new people who are looking for a specific forum. So, now we are categorizing all the forums, and displaying them in alphabetical order. 2) The Forum Watcher has been significantly updated. In the past, you had to go to "My Info", then "Preferences", then "Forums" and then pick and choose from around 100 forums. Starting today, however, you can add and remove them as easily as adding or removing a thread from your thread watcher. (The old method will continue to work as before, and has actually also been updated to make it more user-friendly, also). When you are in a forum, just look at the top-right hand side of the screen and you will see a link to add it to your list, or remove it from your list. Watched forums then show up on your homepage and display, of course, in the order of the most recent post. Now, moving on to the home area... As many of you probably know, GardenWeb's ThatHomeSite hosted a large and active community of people who like to discuss things pertaining to the home. As a result of several changes iVillage has made since acquiring GardenWeb, many of their members are seeking out other sites. We're creating a place within Dave's Garden that we think these folks will like, and we hope they will come and participate. Just as important, we hope that our own DG members here will find these new forums interesting and exciting to participate in. The new forums that are created, will (for now) be open to non-subscribers and subscribers alike. Let me make it clear, however, that all forums that existed before today will continue to remain subscriber-only and that will not change. We hope many who come for the Home Talk section of the site will decide to become paying subscribers and join the rest of the community here. We're very excited at this potential influx of new people interested in home and gardening topics, and we know you'll help make them feel welcome with the friendly and helpful atmosphere you each help create here at Dave's Garden. Another big note that I want to make is that this is still a work-in-progress. The forums areas might have some opportunities for improvements, and things may have been left out. If anybody has any feedback, please do let us know by posting in this forum! Well, back to gardening. :-) Dave Daily news: Today's Dave's Garden Newsletter Today's PlantFiles Newsletter Today's BugFiles Newsletter Past DG Newsletters Anniversaries Past news: May 15, 2008 November 03, 2006 January 21, 2006 January 10, 2006 January 07, 2006 November 16, 2005 November 04, 2005 October 12, 2005 September 13, 2005 August 18, 2005 July 17, 2005 June 30, 2005 June 25, 2005