I hear ya, Paulcy, though I don’t know that money is the reason we don’t have cooler widgets around here.
The subject came up on a thread once, and if I recall correctly, it was stated that the layout and tools of FR are of the owner’s choice and preference.
The case was made that adding whiz-bang widgets to the site would only promote a cartoonish atmosphere, and would likely take away from the concentration on intellectual discourse.
I can think with that reasoning. But, I can dream...
I don’t know all the technical reasons why we don’t do X but we do Y in terms of how the forum works, however, I know one of the biggest things that has come up is simply efficiency. A lot of extra features bog things down. Also, a lot of those ‘out of the box’ forums don’t have the features that our members like, such as ping lists.
I know Jim, John and those working behind the scenes more on a technical end, are always looking for ways to improve things, however, it usually involves speed, efficiency, and security first. It never hurts to suggest though.
Yeah. I don't know what's in the minds of the powers that be and I wouldn't mind a upgraded interface but I do everything I need to on FR with three basic HTML commands, , and
.
The rest is intellectual work. And this bare-bones interface encourages mind over keystrokes.