> > > > > gives me a thought...
> > > > > instead of 'post a message', or this automatic reply form at the bottom of each message, you could add a series of hyperlinks instead:

> > > > > 'offer solution'
> > > > > 'comment generally'
> > > > > 'flame it'
> > > also, 'go off topic'

> > maybe we could have a 'refer it', so refer to a previous post, such as what the mysterious XCC error codes mean :-0

> surely that would be referring to an available document then :o

i know that, and you know that, but that doesnt stop people asking

> > > > > and instead of 'post a new message' to start a new thread, you could have:

> > > > > 'ask for help'
> > > > > 'comment generally'
> > > > > 'technical topic'
> > > > > 'off topic'

> > > > > That way no-one can avoid categorising their posts. It seems nicer than a checkbox or some other mechanism. All these hyperlinks would still get you to the normal post screen, except that a flag in the message would have been set..

> > > > that seems a rather elegant solution :-)
> > > > not sure about the 'flame it' one though, do we really want to officially sanction flaming?

> > > of course we do! It will happen anyway, lets have a delightful animated gif flame icon...

> > no, please no, not more graphics!

> oh, I have an image of a girl on a bloke's shoulders at a concert slowly waving a lighter.. :offtopic:

i have a dancing stickman...can we use that for anything?

> > > you could go further, and have a different colour-scheme, so flames are orangish and helps have a question-mark watermark on the background etc

> > > All ideas for Olaf in XCC Forum v2?
> > > I have ideas for different layouts too.

> > the layout does seem a little.. clumsy.

> > > trouble is, with mysql, you can't have a recursive query, so message threads cause a lot of SELECTs (sorry, should I have marked this as 'Off topic' or 'tecnical' ?)

> > this is obviously a 'flame' :-)