I like your ideas so far, Admin.
Like I said in my previous post....
I'd like to be able to see people post pictures of where they live, etc. Spain, Australia, France, and yes, even Guam are far away places that others will never be able to visit in their wildest dreams and being able to post them in a forum such as Chit Chat would be great to have again.
That also goes for the pets too, such as Barnbum with her foals and her flowers. She has beautiful gardens and I know that I'm not the only one that appreciates it when she posts her "little slice of heaven" for all to see.
I do have an idea that might work when it comes to something major in someone's life, such as a death of a spouse/immediate family member, birth of a child/grand child......Have the person who is wanting to post, send a PM with the pertinant info to either you (Admin) or Mod and have them post it under a locked thread. That way, no other posts are made and others can see it, then PM the person their condolances or congrats. You just don't know HOW MANY PMs go out when something like that happens looking for addresses/ideas on something to do for that person. And pretty much everyone KNOWS who to PM for addresses, right people? :)
As to Mare Stare, I will admit that some of the posts did get a bit off topic, but we (as the group of starers) did try to bring it back around to some sort of normalcy, but when you survive on little or no sleep, you get a bit punchy. Mare Stare had ALOT of people coming in to see what was going on with the chatter about the mare and I think ....ok, I'm hoping that next year we can have it again back in Chit Chat. I would be willing to be a moderator for that thread and smack hands/mouths if someone got off tangent a little too far.
With regards to jokes.....some are ok, some are not. Some are borderline offensive, but even putting in "OFFENSIVE" in the topic, still is not a good thing, to me. I remember one day, I signed on and the first 10 threads were jokes. I think jokes should either have their own section or be limited (somehow) to so many per day/per person. And, NONE should in any way be offensive to anyone.
If I think of anything else, I'll post it.
Admin, you are trying to do what is best, I know it's hard for you.....
I think we should all send you some nice squishys :) :)