While re reading the thread I find my first post here is not how I truly feel.
I have complained about posts, not sure if I asked for them to be removed.
While I stand by my comments in that first post I have been reminded by some good posts we gain nothing by being a crows council.
Informing on posters or even trying to control them, that is a moderators job.
And gender? only Gibo spoke of it if people do not want to let us know who they are its ok with me, I have been called female and assure you I am not.
Some will be combative others seemingly a long way from our thoughts but we are unlikely to change that.
The miss understandings are often intentional, a tactic to upset, we can never change that.

Quite simply have two sides to the forum-

One for posters who prefer only to exchange with people who are prepaired to identify themselves and own their words- One for people who want to muck about.

I also feel people should pay something towards olos upkeep.

If OLO didnt have the advertsing you couldnt use it.
So its not really fair to complain about it.

How else does GY make a living.

Wendy (PALEIF): "
One for posters who prefer only to exchange with people who are prepaired to identify themselves and own their words- One for people who want to muck about."

Given the litigious nature of some, the vindictiveness of others, I will continue to post under a pseudonym - your judgement of people who do so is arrogant and unnecessary, as many wonderful informative posts are made by anonymous contributors.

As for a fee, I and no doubt many others have made a donation however, if Graham started charging fees, I would go elsewhere. OLO is not that edifying that I would pay to be abused as I have been on some discussion threads.

Davidf, Spikey, Bronwyn and Anansi have summed up my views on this topic, without getting personal or judgemental.

I gave my name to OLO to pass on to a poster so we could communicate directly. They did so, and we exchanged views. If the other person does not choose to respond that is their right. With that as an option I feel it is unnecessary for any further identification of a poster to be made.

Although most posters are polite some attack other posters personally. Any views, even those deeply held are fair game for those who disagree. However, direct attacks on the person or derogatory remarks against them for holding those views should be out. Sometimes it is difficult to draw the line. However, there is a line. We can ask whether a reasonable person would be hurt by our post. We still have to make a subjective judgement on what is reasonable.

Suggestions others have made:

A coloured background to intra-Forum quotes:
Fantastic idea, go for it.

Gender box
No need. I wouldn’t use the option if available. Bronwyn and Pynchme are correct about the level playing field. In cyberspace we should all be cybersex.

'Hard numbering' of posts
Good idea.

To be returned to the last page rather than the first one
Agree, it’s a nuisance to be returned to the first page.

Profile,
RObert suggested “Some might want to make a bit more info about themselves known,”
Altthough I’d like to remain as private as possible myself, I’d love to be able to sus out others and their pictures, too :)
Not that I’m curious…

Deletion of comments
I’d like to leave everything that has been said.
In the past I made some angry remarks that I later regretted, but I have to live with that. It teaches people to think before they post. I learned to stop shouting because I didn’t like my own posts after re-reading them. They sounded more angry than I meant it to sound. I’d like to take responsibility for how I express myself and learn from mistakes, rather than having a daddy figure who makes it right again and deletes what you don’t like.
Perhaps an exception could be when people accidentally have posted something on the wrong thread and they could ask for it to be moved to the correct one.

Identify yourself?
If I had to post using my real name I wouldn’t post at all. I want to keep my privacy. The world is full of idiots and given some women are being stalked by their ex partners it would put them and their children in danger.
Some people, like myself, also want to protect their business or company by being unrelated to it.
GY could have our identities, I have no problem with him knowing private details as long as they remain confident.

A few of my own suggestions:

I’d like to suggest an edit button
To enable posters to have access to their own posts for editing purposes, just for the first 5-10 minutes after posting.
It has happened to me a few times that I realized I made a mistake or forgot to add a link the very moment I clicked the Submit button, and I’ve also accidentally submitted a post when I meant to preview it.
Once, I posted on the wrong thread.
I know that this feature is possible because I’ve seen it elsewhere.

I’d also like to suggest short url links
Another thing I’d like and have suggested to GYoung is that I’d like something done about the really long URL links that people are posting and that run completely off the page, sometimes the screen.
In the past I’ve been using tinyurl but can’t be bothered anymore- a adsl thingiemebob that would make it possible to automatically shorten the links e.g. “Click here” instead of showing the whole link would be appreciated.

I’d like to suggest a “Hot topic” or “Recently commented on” kind of feature.
Every time someone posts on a thread, this thread automatically moves to the top of this list.
Therefore, posters can keep a better eye on the posts that are most discussed, and even threads from say, a year or more ago could move to the top. This would reduce the need for many different threads on the same topic.

Thanks for this thread, Forrest Gumpp.