Where are the gurus?

[Gail in Virginia]

Apparently it takes me about a month, but now I have noticed that Jainen hasn't posted in a while. Does anybody know if he is okay? First KC, and now Jainen has quit posting on this board. Did we do something to them?

[Pacun]

Apparently it takes me about a month, but now I have noticed that Jainen hasn't posted in a while. Does anybody know if he is okay? First KC, and now Jainen has quit posting on this board. Did we do something to them?

I think they get tired of our stupid, low level questions!!! :spaz:

[Margaret CPA in OH]

KC did make a brief appearance recently. Perhaps we can just hope that they both reappear when the tough questions begin rolling in and we all get a bit more serious and, dare I say? desperate! We can only hope although I note that there are many more very knowledgeable folks contributing recently. And ALL are appreciated.

[Catherine]

I "friended" KC on Facebook quite some time ago, and the last time (couple months ago) that folks were concerned I checked in with her there. She stated that she is taking some time away from taxes to rest and regroup, but will be back come the new season, and thanked folks for worrying about her. She's still active on Facebook, so I know she's doing OK.

Haven't a clue about jainen, however.

Catherine

KC did make a brief appearance recently. Perhaps we can just hope that they both reappear when the tough questions begin rolling in and we all get a bit more serious and, dare I say? desperate! We can only hope although I note that there are many more very knowledgeable folks contributing recently. And ALL are appreciated.

[TAXBILLY]

Guess no one noticed but I'm still here. :~)

taxbilly

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Hey, taxbilly, look a couple posts above and see

"many more very knowledgeable folks contributing recently. And ALL are appreciated"

That, Sir Guru, would be you I mean!

[Gail in Virginia]

I got worried about you earlier this week when Catherine was posting birthdays first, because we notice when you are missing a few days! However, you jumped back in before I became concerned enough to say anything. Everyone else takes about a month for me to realize I haven't seen them in a while! Believe me you are very important to this board (and not just for the birthday wishes!) :wub:

[TAXBILLY]

I got worried about you earlier this week when Catherine was posting birthdays first, because we notice when you are missing a few days! However, you jumped back in before I became concerned enough to say anything. Everyone else takes about a month for me to realize I haven't seen them in a while! Believe me you are very important to this board (and not just for the birthday wishes!)

I was criticized a year or two ago about posting birthday greetings to run up my post account so I decided to be selective. If you notice, there have been members that have not visited this board in years and those are the ones that I haven't posted. But I am turning over the mantle to you or Catherine as this guru is growing old and senile.

taxbilly

[mcb39]

Senile????? NO WAY!!!!!!! And, incidentally, thanks for all the help you have given me, along with the other contributors to this board. I don't think anybody here is too active or inactive not to be appreciated and/or missed. IMO

[Pacun]

Senile????? NO WAY!!!!!!! And, incidentally, thanks for all the help you have given me, along with the other contributors to this board. I don't think anybody here is too active or inactive not to be appreciated and/or missed. IMO

I agree, we appreciate all your help provided here. I hope every body gets on board after Jan 15th.

[Gail in Virginia]

I had noticed that you did not always post for those who don't actively participate, but no way are you getting senile!. Please continue doing what you do so well, as well as the answers you give to posters on this board. You are one of the few who actually provides a source for your answers (or a link to the information), and I really appreciate that.

[windmill]

I had noticed that you did not always post for those who don't actively participate, but no way are you getting senile!. Please continue doing what you do so well, as well as the answers you give to posters on this board. You are one of the few who actually provides a source for your answers (or a link to the information), and I really appreciate that.

I don't post very often as you can tell by the numbers, I read what is going on very day and keep up with the issues of the day. Thanks.

[OldJack]

I for one believe the birthday and NT posts hurt this forum. A tax forum should not be a chat room.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

While your sentiments are somewhat understandable, OldJack, the description of this particular forum is General Chat - Discuss taxes, software, anything you want. For many of us this substitutes for the company water cooler or breakroom where we share birthdays and life events as well as talk over knotty work problems, in our case, taxes and small business issues.

I don't think it was intended to be exclusively a tax forum despite its appearance of such during the heart of tax season. There are many other such forums that overtly discourage any mention of anything else, if that is your pleasure. I, for myself, greatly enjoy and value the professional expertise and tone here as well as the social aspects and caring shown among many posters. I need this and would like to see it continue. I do also check with 'tax exclusive' forums but this is number one for my daily work life. Sorry that you don't find the same value in it as I do.

[mcb39]

I pretty much concede to Margaret. This is a "Community" board with the sub category of "General Chat". The Official ATX Board is now split into six separate forums where you can discuss anything from the mundane to the very tough tax issues. Generally, though, I find it to be more of a place to give answers than to get them. I have wondered, on occasion, if the Birthdays could somehow be separated into their own category on this board. However, it is not a big issue for me other than on days when there are several and some of the serious posts sort of get lost. I rarely miss a day of visiting here even though there isn't really any serious tax talk going on yet. I do find that I am disappointed when there are NO new posts. IMO

[GeneInAlabama]

I agree with Marilyn, the water cooler type discussions are good, but since there are a lot of birthday messages, it might be good if we had a separate category for those. I appreciate having a separate category for TRX.

[OldJack]

>> While your sentiments are somewhat understandable, OldJack, the description of this particular forum is General Chat -- This is a "Community" board with the sub category of "General Chat". <<

Recognize it or not the other forums are not where professional tax preparers visit regularly. They come to this forum because there is little or no activity on the other forums and so they read your water cooler junk rather than answer tax questions. Thats fine with me as I seldom ask questions and usually don't get answers when I do ask a question. Merry Christmas and good luck with getting answers in the new tax season.

[Pacun]

I agree with Old Jack. We need to separate tax and business matters on this forum. Normally I only check the first page. I have missed important information because my first page is filled with Happy Birthday and other "important" stuff. I have not listed by date of birth because of that.

I do not have a face book account and this is the ONLY forum I visit. I visit this one because it is a learning experience and there are many knowledgable people on this forum. If the forum is filled with "important", non-tax stuff, our gurus will simply stop coming.

I am pretty sure that during this tax season all of us will donate to the forum. I am sure if donations are better, this forum can be better.

One suggestion is that you should be able to select, I want to see "Happy Birthday" or "NT" postings. That way, if you uncheck those two categories, you will not see anything that includes "happy birthday" or "NT" on the title.

[bstaxes]

As a 1 gal shop, I appreciate the water cooler break as well as the tax info. It is nice to share both happiness and sadness of fellow tax preparers. I am greatful for all the tax advice and the ability to increase my tax knowledge learning from other members of this board.

Thank you all and Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

[ed_accountant]

I for one believe the birthday and NT posts hurt this forum. A tax forum should not be a chat room.

I agree and think the Birthday posts are too many and should be separated in separate folder. I visit the forums regularly to learn tax topics not see birthday posts.

[michaelmars]

since this is a "free" service by eric, he has the only say on what is posted. i personally don't enjoy the bday posts but i also have absolutely no problem just skipping them. N/T is extremely helpfull in the titles too. if the birthday posts and other personal posts bring more more readers here then they serve a usefull purpose, who knows when that person has just the answer you are looking for. I say keep this what it became, a tax forum for people who also share their personal lives and have fun "chatting" here.

Happy Holidays Everyone.

[taxxcpa]

I don't mind off-topic comments, jokes, political rants, etc., but I see NO reason to post "happy birthday" messages.

However, if anyone gets some sort of pleasure by reading that it is their birthday, maybe there is some point in such postings.

Since everyone has a birthday, it seems pointless to post it in a message. If I want people to know when I was born, I could add it to my profile. I deleted it on my facebook profile when someone I hardly knew wished me a happy birthday.

[Eric]

It's not trivial to make a setting that would allow someone to automatically ignore birthday posts and other non-tax related discussions, because the forum software doesn't know the difference. A custom addon could be written to watch for certain phrases in topic titles, but it seems like it would be kind of a kludge to maintain through each forum software update.

From my end, the easiest way to handle this would be to separate General Chat into two different forums, such as "Tax Talk" and The Water Cooler" or something along those lines.

This is a change that I could easily make in just a few minutes.. so what's the next step? Should I just go ahead and do it? Should I make a poll first?

[TAXBILLY]

I vote for the separation and hopefully that will keep everyone happy but I would suggest a poll as the most democratic way to determine what everyone wants.

taxbilly

[Eric]

I vote for the separation and hopefully that will keep everyone happy but I would suggest a poll as the most democratic way to determine what everyone wants.

taxbilly

Done, the Poll is here: