I have said in the past Im having a lot of trouble poking about the new place and wasnt enjoying it , ending up in placeses I didnt intend to go to and not being able to get to one I wanted to
lots of error notices I feel in some ways we dont need all the flash stuff but Im a dinosour and dont use all the mod cons anyway Im of the KISS school and thats not nescarsaraly goo on my part
this sort of stuff as i the teathing popblems we are having is bound to happen during a refit as big as this has been
Our Steve has put in a mamath effort so far and it would seem not prepared to give up
I believe he'll get er done Im prepared to wait n give him a fair go
Im not goin anywere

Seth Parker wrote:
Mark got me thinking about this too, when I saw him and others at Summit. So we are going to have prizes for participation (I posted this on the wall last night but still thinking through what exactly) and also I think automatic Co-Op memberships and Farriers.com listings at a certain level as an additional thank you to the members who have contributed so much for so long.

While attracting farrier talent is critical, so too should be a goal of attracting horse owners to register and share cases in the Farriers Helping Horse Owners section of the forums. I've found case discussions to be some of the most interesting and educational aspects of the forum.

The difficulty in achieving that goal isn't so much offering rewards as controlling content in such threads. While we expect a certain amount of thick skin armor in the farriers helping farriers section, one cannot presume the same level of tolerance on the part of horse owners. The bar for moderation has to be higher. Frankly, that's why so many horse owners take their forum business elsewhere, opting for softer websites where the barefoot trimmers attend their sometimes delicate sensibilities.

Advertise give-away offerings on other horse related forums to encourage owners to share their cases. An inexpensive, worthwhile and appropriate prize that comes to mind might be a copy of Dr. Miller's book, "Mirage of the Natural Foot". Make it a monthly give-away based on most interesting cases. At the end of the month, offer a poll allowing farrier's to vote on which case was most interesting.

Want to attract top-hand farrier talent? Create a thread asking for nominations. Build a monthly poll with the list of nominees. Winner of the monthly poll is offered a one year free co-op membership and show-cased on the home page.

Do it again at the end of the year, with a poll listing the winners for each month. The annual winner gets a Top-Hand award. A lifetime, free co-op membership and a copy of some notable textbook.

Lot's of possibilities. Perhaps others will have additional ideas.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark-

That sounds like a great concept. I like it. Especially about the horse owners, generally they "think" they're doing the best for their horses, then get shredded. There's gotta be a way to get them here... I know many people I have sent here to find info are afraid to post, haha!

cyber steve wrote:
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
I take it all back Tapatalk is awesome on my tablet. Game on, lets party.

stuff deleted...Mark_Gough wrote:
A certain amount of thick skin is sometimes not enough...one must come in here at times wearing chainmail and a full suit of armor. I know I for one lurked for a long time before ever posting anything, and I have not posted much of my work at all for the fact that sometimes, lets face it we mess up or get in over our heads. In those times when I have have been in too deep, yet it was too late to turn back now, to be able to ask questions and post pictures and get advise would be welcome. To post and get chewed up and told you have no business trying to do that kind of work, that will drive new blood out of here. We can follow a guy around forever but till we actually do it ourselves we will never truly learn.

I know that part of the whole Karma thing, to support the good and try to minimize the bad.

Yes a guy should try to learn first hand from a more experienced farrier, but that isn't always possible. There isn't always a "qualified" mentor close, available, or willing. This forum tries to provides a place for a guy to get some help when maybe we are the only help a guy can get. But sadly many times the new guy or the inexperienced guy gets ripped up one side and down the other and left feeling more lost than when he logged in.

I think it would go along way to encouraging new guys to participate if they felt is was "safe" to give their two cents. Yeah they will sometimes be way out in left field, but it's how we show them how little they know that will determine if they stay and grow or if they bow their neck and move on.

The same holds true for the horse owner I think.

Just my take on the situation.

BTW I like the new site and I hope the kinks get worked out and Steve gets more return on his investment than he ever expected. Thanks Steve for running this site for all of us.

cyber steve wrote:
Hi Steve, I'm late on this reply, but I've been out straight catching up from the Summit week off. When I click the "new posts" I takes me to the first post in then thread, even though it may be 4 pages long, and I've already read the first three pages. Is there a way I can start at the first post I haven't read ( "go to first unread" )?

Steve, don't waste any time looking for this - I think It's workint for me now.

Thanks,