Forums are like tree's. They go through seasons. Rain, wind, ice and sunshine.  I think some forum improvements would be a nice change up, and make the forum more user friendly, but not 'absolutely' necessary. That said, what might be an idea is have the moderator put on what the changes would cost, and then ask for pledges for those specific changes or even make this a club with dues. Let people try the forum free for 30 days and if they want to continue, pay $20 a year to become members? I'd pay for the privilege. I don't know the in's and out's or legalities or tax implications for something of this nature but I'm sure someone out there does.    A membership fee would help to weed out those who have ulterior motives and help pay for improvements as well. 'A member only' area for trades and selling would bring more people to the table as well. I have a friend who is a top notch programer and though he is busy, I'm sure I could convince him to help out.  Even though many of us are on a tight budget, I think if we come together we could make the leap to the next level. I love this forum, it has become part of my life and reading up part of my daily routine. That is valuable.  Thanks to all the people who make it great. Smile. Spring is just around the corner.

I'm just barely thick skinned enough to take it.
:)
It ok.

Doug

Sad to see Herman go.

I don't believe any of his posts are deleted.  They are not easy to search for using the search tool but Google can help:

https://www.google.com/#q=site:https:%2F%2Ffigs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com+herman2 (add other terms you want to find to search)

Mr Harvey, I read your ischia black add.
Do you think the same happened to him
and wanted to separate his sales from
linking to f4f?
Just a idea.

Doug

I think Herman still has posts on Gardenweb/Houzz but the new format there makes it hard to find them.

I like the "What's your favorite 5 (10) figs for 20??" posts. People are getting an amazing influx of new figs from many different sources and favorites will change from year to year. Many of my favorites from 2015 didn't fruit in 2016, but new ones did fruit which were very good. But once or twice a year is enough. I just wish people were a little more specific about how figs tasted: sweet, honey/sugar/molasses, berry/acid, complexity, other unusual trace flavors like grapes, mulberries, peaches, watermelons, cantaloupe. There are a lot of great fig pictures on Google Images so it's easy to find out what a fig looks like but sometimes it's hard to know what it tastes like, especially when someone picks it too soon or too late. Just saying "sort of good", very good, or excellent leaves much to the imagination but is better than nothing.