Amy:
I forgot to mention that I'm glad you found the Nemo Icon cute and usable, I was hoping it had a bit smoother animation, but it looks pretty darned god.
You brought up a good pont, that being that the level of experience in the forum ranges from the "Barely" Interested, through the awaiting their first colony, to the new beekeeper, to the old timers and even a few commercial Beekeepers. IT is that diversity that rearlly makes this a fun place to learn new stuff at all levels.
I've never made any of my own hive bodies, but we have great images on making practically every pieve of equipment in the hive - that to me is awesome reference.
But the interaction that we share here is seemless across the skill levels of the members, that is what keeps our group apart I think. We've been talking about the other bee forums out there lately, and I have to agree with Al (TrailTwister) that what people want when they come into a forum is help, not a lecture on where to find material that has been covered.
Here, we do things differently, first - you get a friendly welcome, some personal attention and assistance when ever possible - not a reference point to research material: that is good for ADDED content, but not for initial interaction.
Thanks for making me think of how well our group is at helping - when new members make their way to the forums, I'm comforted to know that they will always get a friendly welcome and I hope that makes them feel at home as much as you and I here.
Please Note too: More avatars are coming and also more color schemes. I'll be adding a POLL later to see who likes/uses which theme and why.
I also see that we have about 10 new members this week - great way to start out the new year, and MAN are the posts adding up. I just backed up the forum, so we are safe for yet another day :)