Welcome to the new WaccoBB.net!

[Barry]

Welcome to the new WaccoBB.net!

The original WaccoBB.net website was sort of an extended proof-of-concept exercise. With almost 3,800 members I hereby declare it a success! Now here's the real website!

Let me start by affirming our mission: To facilitate and enhance the sense of community, both online and in person, for people in Sonoma and Marin counties who share our values of personal growth and healing, respect for others and the environment, and celebration!

Here are some of new features that I think you will appreciate:

Subscription controls
Now you can easily "roll your own" with these handy controls:

• Easily select which categories you want email for on the home page
• Easily select which threads you want email for on the category listing page and on thread display page. This overrides the category subscription.
• Easily remove a thread from your digest
  
• Change all your category subscriptions to the same level (here)
• Vacation Hold to temporarily stop all email (here)

Posting

• Better support for pasting in formatted text
• Attachments go out in the digest and individual emails
• Attachments are easily embedded in the body of your post (video demo coming)
  
• Automatic spell checking in Firefox (which would have caught my typo in my earlier posting!)
  
• Resizable posting window that remembers your setting
• Private replies go out as nicely formatted HTML

And there's lots more! I'll be posting to highlight other new features from time to time. See what cool features you discover!

Since its now easy to unsubscribe to categories, if you are subscribed for email updates of the General Community category, I've also subscribed you to the WaccoTalk (discussion) and WaccoReader (forwarded items) categories which were left out of your original default subscription.

There has been a very interesting discussion of the Law of Attraction raging in the WaccoTalk category that you might want to tune into (You can catch up by going to the website, or tune it out by using the thread subscription control).

Supporting Membership
WaccoBB.net has been a labor of love and service for me over the past few years. I've been working on maintaining and enhancing this system full time now for over a year. It's now time for it to become my vocation as well.

I need your support now! Please become a Supporting Member! Basic membership is just $2/month ($24/year) which is about what one organic avocado costs and less then one movie rental! If you are reading this, a month of WaccoBB.net is surely worth it!

Supporting Members will get some extra features such as:

• Signatures
• Avatars
• Custom user titles
• Profile picture
• More attachment space
• Posting to the calendar
• Create polls
• Buddy and Ignore list
  
• First crack at WaccoSpecials (more about this later)
  
• And most importantly, good karma!

As an introductory special, if you sign up by April 1st (no foolin'!) you'll get 2 months extra! You can also use the automatic monthly installment plan for just $2.50/month. Trades and other forms of help will also be considered. You can think of it as dana, gifting, or just doing your share to support this community resource. I am hoping that supporting member contributions will make up the majority of the support for this site.

Commercial memberships will be required for users who use WaccoBB.net to market their business, workshop, class or event. Commercial memberships start at just $6/month. There are a variety of other commercial membership options (here). I think it's only fair if you are using WaccoBB.net to make money, that you share just a bit with us. There will be a grace period until April 1st, but I do hope you'll sign up soon. Selling your own stuff (not purchased for resale) or offering rental housing does NOT require a commercial membership. Benefit events are also excluded. TRADES ARE WELCOME!

I realize that it is not always clear if a post is intended to financially benefit you (or a friend or family member) or if you are just passing on something you want to share with the community. This will be implemented on an honor system. I ask you to accept the principle that if there is a financial motivation or interest, that you acknowledge us as your business partner with your commercial membership.

Please see the various plans on the new Membership Page on your User Control Panel.

As part of our giving back to the community, we will continue to accept Public Service banners from the community as well.

Now that this part is done, I will be hosting more community events, including trainings and socials, as part of our mission to further develop community. The first training will be this Wednesday evening in Sebastopol. Click here for details.

This has been a big undertaking and I could not have done it alone. I want to thank several people who have volunteered a significant amount their time to make this possible. First, Bill Bannant has been helping out keeping on eye the day's posts and addressing many of the issues that arise. Analy High School student, Shelby Munsch, has helped out with some of the HTML programming. And Ron Rozewski and Leila Rand have helped with the graphics. And Lorrie is to thank for our incredible smilie collection! There have many others that have pitched in here and there. Thanks to all of you!

And a big thanks to all you members, both posters and lurkers. If it weren't for you there wouldn't be anything here! Just a few of the members that come to mind are Larry Robinson for selecting inspiring Poems, Mad Miles for his movie reviews and commentary, Dixon, our resident curmudgeon, and Suzanne for her writing tips. Thanks also to many others who have taken time to generously and eloquently share their thoughts with us.

My deepest appreciation goes to my sweetheart, Linda (aka Mrs. Wacco). All this would not have happened without her unceasing faith, inspiration and wisdom. Thanks, Darling!

There are many more features coming that will both make WaccoBB.net easier and enrich the community experience. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

In Gratitude,
Barry

[wildflower]

GRRRReat Post Barry! Good moderating...striking the balance beautifully in all areas.
xox
wildflower

Welcome to the new WaccoBB.net!

The original WaccoBB.net website was sort of an extended proof-of-concept exercise. With almost 3,800 members I hereby declare it a success! Now here's the real website!

Let me start by affirming our mission: To facilitate and enhance the sense of community, both online and in person, for people in Sonoma and Marin counties who share our values of personal growth and healing, respect for others and the environment, and celebration!

Here are some of new features that I think you will appreciate:...