Birthday thread

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I'm trying to keep on top of sticky threads and I wonder if the birthday thread could be removed from this list.

If we posted our birthdays in our profile then we would all see when it was that persons birthday by looking at the bottom of the board.

What do you think?

Mod
YEH

stickywicket

The bottom of which board, please, Mod YEH? Do you mean at the bottom of a person's profile on the left of their posts? That would work for regular posters but, unless someone was posting just before their birthday, how would we know to put a thread up? Sometimes it's precisely the people who aren't posting owing to illness that we want to send a message to.

[Deleted User]

Hello

Good point: you only see the birthday announcements at the bottom of the screen when you start with the "Board index" at http://arthritiscareforum.org.uk/

This is the section which tells you who is online, birthdays and statistics. You have to scroll to the bottom to see the announcements: today, no-one has a birthday.

The birthday section is filled with a person's name when the software matches the current date with the birthday date placed in people's profiles. This happens automatically, whether a person is posting or not.

So, is it easier to check to see if its someone's birthday at the bottom of the start page for the forums or look through the sticky thread that has only been used 13 times this year?

Hope this makes sense

Mod B

stickywicket

I think it might be me being exceptionally dense :oops:

I thought that the sticky birthday thread was where people put their birthdays if they wanted them known and the bottom part of the page was where birthdays 'of the day' were posted.

If you're suggesting (Sorry :oops: , please bear with me) that the thread itself should go, that people would put their birthdays on their prøfile and the software would pick it up from there and do exactly what it currently does, I see no problem with that.

[Deleted User]

Current practice is we all send birthday greetings to people when their birthday is announced by the software. Recent examples are Joan and Wonkylegs.

Umm... No-one announces a "birthday of the day" - its all automatic

You can add your birthday to your profile via User Control Panel > Profile and then the software will announce the date automatically: it won't show up if someone goes and looks at your profile

If you don't put your birthday in your profile, no software announcement - its then down to whether you have told anyone or posted it somewhere on the 14 pages of the "birthday" sticky thread and someone has found it on the right day.

Question: do we keep the birthdays thread sticky or not, given that the software will do the job for us if we tell it our birthday?

Mod B

*********

Great cat video, by the way stickywicket

stickywicket

Ah, the penny's dropped! I had thought that the software picked up the info from the 'birthday sticky' possibly with some assistance from the Mods or webmanager.

It seems, from what you say, that the thread is really redundant so, yes, why not get rid of it. It will aid visual clarity. Thanks.

dreamdaisy

I must confess I rely on the announcements at the bottom of the board, I don't look through the birthday thread any more, it is rather 'messy' because they are scattered like confetti. I think scrap it, but again maybe a poll could be the way to go? Not many people have spotted this thread but that is understandable - the Christmas rush is beginning and I reckon some of us are already feeling the strain of the season of goodwill. :roll:

frogmorton

We started that thread before the board COULD pick up our birthdays so to me it is obsolete and may in fact cause upset if someone's birthday isn't 'noticed'.

I had to give up on this thread a year or so back due to the number of pages.

Shall we do a poll??

Love

Toni xxx

tkachev

I normally log straight into chit chat page from google search so always miss the opening page. Not that that is a reason to leave the birthday thread up though as it is a bit hit and miss.

Elizabeth

barbara12

I for one one dont look at the birthday thread, but we could do with it at the top of the ..instead of the bottom then its more prominent at the start of the day.. :rudolph:

ruby2

Just what I was thinking Barbara......
Top of page.... Todays Birthdays Are .....

stickywicket

I don't have strong feelings about where the birthday announcements should be but I do prefer the current position along with who's on-line and new members. I feel there's already a lot of stuff at the top and, as we saw on my LWA thread, people just skip it. Birthdays are important to the individual but the 'announcements' and 'stickies' are important for all of us so need to stand out as much as possible. I don't find it hard to scroll down.