The Enid Blyton Society

Those of you who come onto the website through the Home Page will have noticed that we now have a Message Board. The reason for this is that we have many visitors to the site who are not interested in registering on the forums. If any of these visitors wish to leave a comment or suggestion, or even ask a question, they can do so quickly and easily without having to become a registered member of the forums.

Many people register on the forums just to ask one question and that is the last we ever see of them. Now they have an alternative place to post their question without having to register here, posting their one and only post and then disappearing into a black hole!

Brilliant idea Tony!

I have some reservations about this, although the concept is a good one. Here we have a message board on the EBS home page that can be accessed quickly and easily by those who are inclined to make mischief.

It seems to work pretty well on keith's site. We may as well give it a try, if people make mischief it is easily closed down. It may add a new and interesting dimension to the site. I doubt I'll use it myself, its the forums or nothing for me. Time will tell.

Petermax wrote:I have some reservations about this, although the concept is a good one. Here we have a message board on the EBS home page that can be accessed quickly and easily by those who are inclined to make mischief.

It doesn't quite work like that. It isn't possible to make mischief as the messages come into admin and don't go straight onto the board, which I agree could be asking for trouble. The messages will only appear on the Home Page after either Anita or I have approved them and corrected any bad grammar and spelling - we want to keep the Home Page tidy! Any stupid messages or spam will get deleted without anyone seeing them.

I like the new message board. Excellent idea.

Yes, I echo what Tony said, in that the message board will always be clean and tidy because nobody but Tony and Anita will ever see any of the junk that gets posted from time to time! In that sense it's even "safer" than the forums, which are retrospectively moderated. (Or is that retroactively?) I've basically built the same message board as on my own site, which has worked well for me over the years and now comes bundled with various small anti-spamming tweaks (just to make life easier).

I think it will be a useful addition, once it builds momentum. As a bonus, I find that it often boosts the site's position in search engines, because search engines like fresh content. I've had many examples on my own site where someone has posted a note about a specific topic, and a week or two later, my site comes up high in the listings for that particular topic.

Hi Matt! Great to hear from you!

Tony Summerfield wrote: Now they have an alternative place to post their question without having to register here, posting their one and only post and then disappearing into a black hole!

Or resting, as I believe it can be known as....

Cheers, Keith -- and Nigel. Just as wry as ever.

Great idea, the new message board. And welcome back, Matt.

By the way, who is Barney supposed to be? I'm sure it's not Tony's dog -- is it Anita?

Barney is the editor of the Message Board and has very kindly offered to help out if any messages require replies. Perhaps he is a relative of 'Moonrakah' - which reminds me that I must move Jeni's post out of Questions, Comments and Suggestions into General Natter, where I am sure it will feel more at home!

Ming wrote:I'm sure it's not Tony's dog -- is it Anita?

Well, I have heard it all now. Calling Anita a dog - remember, Ming, the lovely lady is an administrator and I would hate to see you banned from this forum as you were once before on another Blyton one!

Tony wrote:. Perhaps he is a relative of 'Moonrakah' - which reminds me that I must move Jeni's post out of Questions, Comments and Suggestions into General Natter, where I am sure it will feel more at home!

Maybe it is time for a new subject heading to be included, Tony. Heroes & Villains? I have noticed however, that there have been no replies. I would have expected a few along the lines of, "You are so right, Jeni. We are indeed so fortunate to have Nigel.........." On the other hand, no-one has suggested that dear Jeni may be deluded.......On a third hand, maybe Moonrakah is someone else.........?

Moonraker wrote:Well, I have heard it all now. Calling Anita a dog - remember, Ming, the lovely lady is an administrator and I would hate to see you banned from this forum as you were once before on another Blyton one!

Shut up, Nige, Anita (and you!) knows quite well what I meant!! And don't forget that you were banned too.

Ming wrote:By the way, who is Barney supposed to be?

I'm Barney. I have been a member of the forums for quite a while now, but I have never got round to posting, I suppose that makes me a lurker.

I was pleased to be asked to add my comments to the message board as I would like to be able to contribute something to the website. Although I like to call myself editor of the message board, I have to be honest and say that I am only allowed to add comments to the messages that have already been approved by the 'big cheeses'!

It is great to be able to share a name with an Enid Blyton series, but sadly I don't have a pet monkey called Miranda!