Admin Corner

This morning, our Forum was upgraded to the latest version of Lithium's software platform. Most of the changes are big improvements behind the scenes - they make it work better but aren't visible.  But, you'll also notice lots of new things in the look and feel of the Forum as you browse and post! The new design elements give it a much cleaner, more modern look and, in my experience, improve the navigation and discussion experience.

Some of the familiar icons have changed, so here's a quick guide to the new signposts. The "Stack of Folders" indicating boards and messages has been replaced with a set of "Talk Bubble" icons - more appropriate for "discussions."  They are modified by an arrow, a padlock, color, or other symbols to tell you more about the topic before you dive in.

In the upper right corner, the "Private Messages" link has been reduced to an envelope icon.  The number in parenthesis at its right tells you how many new messages you have.

One of the  most noticeable changes is the new Kudos! icon. It's a star just beneath the poster's name. The number to the left of the star tells you how many Kudos! have been given to that post.  Click the number to see who gave the Kudos.  Click the star to add your own.

The accepted solution button and the reply button are now in the lower right, and posts marked as accepted solutions are indicated by a check mark.

Have you ever gone into "My Profile" and made changes?  It used to be a cumbersome and confusing experience.  That has changed.  It's now called "My Settings" (see the link in the upper left of the page), and it is now organized into intuitive tabs and groups.

I hope you all like the new look and feel as much as I do - at least once you get used to the changes. Please post comments below to let me know what you think!

The  Forum is a collaborative effort - the more people are involved, the better it gets.

The most obvious way to contribute is by posting messages - ask and answer questions. Users put more faith in answers from other users than from any other source.   So, if you've already solved another user's problem, let them know how you did it!  Chances are the person who asked will find your answer to be better than ours because you have "walked in theirs shoes."

But there's are other ways to make the forum work better for everyone as well -- use Kudos and Accepted Solutions!  Answers marked as Solutions appear first in the results of a search query. If you get an answer to a question that works for you, mark it "approved"  - other users will thank you for it.

Kudos also help the best stuff rise to the top. A Kudo is a way of giving someone a pat on the back for a great post.  It doesn't have to be an answer - good questions and interesting observations also deserve Kudos. In fact, the only criterion for giving a Kudo is that you think it's interesting!  The user who posted the message also gets credit when you give Kudos. Take a look at the Kudos leader boards on the Home Page to see who our current leaders are.

What's your favorite post? Which solutions work best for you?  Let us know!

Please welcome our 3,000th registered user -- "TaxLady"!!

I've been watching our population of registered users grow steadily since we launched the Forum in April, 2008, but I don't usually get to find out much about who each person really is. So, when "TaxLady" became number 3,000, I decided to take a big step... just ask! 

TaxLady (winner of the handsome personalized "3,000th-user" coffee mug at the right!) actually is what her nickname suggests. Bonnie Lewis is a tax professional operating (for now!) out of her home in Johnstown, PA. Soon she hopes to expand to an external office "...somewhere in town."  Bonnie's an "enrolled agent," which means that she can practice in front of the Internal Revenue Service. She says, "I use a K700 small postage machine which has saved me time and money over the past two years. I joined the forum to ensure that I am getting the most out of my machine." So far, she has found our forum to be, "a wealth of answers."

Welcome to the community, TaxLady!