I'm with you in that....tried to find forum over Tapatalk, so I could send messages over my phone...

Nope, can't do...forum is not listed in Tapatalk... :/

Scroll to the bottom of this page and you will see that it does......after a fashion!

CJSL: That would make a lot of sense if a new forum were even on the to do list, but we've been explicitly told that it's not. And while we could make a list for improving this software, if WCG can invest the time in doing that, that time would be much, much, much better spent migrating to a commercial package that we at least know will be supported with security patches, bug fixes and feature enhancements so we don't have to continually BEG for these things.

Also, I would point out that I never said that the forum software was a cause for people leaving. My concern is for any new people we might recruit in the future as the result of new initiatives like the one for climate change that was mentioned in another thread.

Those of us that are still here are used to this PoS and have adapted to it. It sucks, but we deal with it. Plus many of us have our team web sites which have real communities with real forums where we can congregate and share.

The point however is that we need and should have both, especially for people who aren't especially team oriented.

That just shows you which topics have new posts, which I could already tell from the icons. However, once you're in a topic there is no way of jumping to the first unread post, only the "newest" one--and in a hot topic where the most recent posts may be a page or two away from the one last read, it can be a rather annoying hunt re-reading posts to find where you left off.

Regarding the question of the forums, I have only recently come to be a regular visitor even though I have been crunching for many years--so it's not the make or break feature for me. One of the reasons I keep coming back to WCG, is that you can actually see some progress with the research, especially when you get a good team of researchers who keep in touch with the users. I also like the fact that they are assisting smaller research teams that might not have the resources or technical experience to get their project out on a grid computing platform. It is nice to have WCG as a "clearing house" for the sub-projects, it is much easier to choose who to crunch for here and get info about what the project data will be used for. There are many fly-by-night projects out there that have little information about what it is they are doing, and who will benefit from the results. I feel like I can trust that WCG is choosing researchers that have their stuff together, and will actually be doing something productive with our crunching time.

Admin responsiveness is always an issue; even though people are not always satisfied with the responsiveness here, it is still much better than a lot of the BOINC projects I have tried over the years.

First, congratulations on your 34 years of crunch time.

Second, I spent the last 10 years of my career in a management position after many years as a worker bee. I know there are people who function better when they get a pat on the back or some acknowledgement for their accomplishments. Sometimes they even need some show of your appreciation for the job they are already doing and you are paying them to do. There are others who do not need this external affirmation because they already know they are doing a good job. Their job satisfaction comes not from glad handing or rah-rah-rah from the boss but from the confidence which is accorded them from fellow workers and their own self-confidence in their abilities.
Personally, I was content to let my work speak for itself. However, I do acknowledge that public recognition is an important aspect for some. Your crunching is appreciated even if there is no WCG notice of it.
Cheers