Cap'n Refsmmat

You'd have to justify that analogy first.

You can do better than that: Sorry, but doctors already do that. Some tests on the placebo effect and such give some patients painkillers and other saline, knowingly, and use pain as a "very useful feedback mechanism" to learn more about physiology.

That's unlikely to happen. Imagine how discussions would look if someone went back and deleted half of their posts in it. People still look at old threads when they're in search engine results or they just want answers. I don't think there's much of a problem with server space currently. That might be nice, although some people seem to think this forum can be more off-topic than the others. I agree.

Perhaps they'd want to learn how advanced civilizations form.

For the front page, there's a lot. I've made threads in Suggestions about it before, but I'll try again here. First, the sidebar on the left looks bad. The link text is as large as the headings, and that doesn't look right - perhaps we should lower the link text size some. Second, perhaps we should shrink the active topics list or move the news posts up somehow. Active topics aren't all that interesting for a newcomer. Finally, we need to update the welcome message. I know it's better than the default, but it still could use a bit of love. @yourdadonapogos: Member Spotlight or Member of the Year Awards?

That's quite enough. Let's not let this thread degenerate into insults.

Just tested and the Java applet seems to work for me. Have you changed your Java installation recently? If you'd like, you can use a proper client such as X-Chat (Windows version).

I love your high confidence in us, matt

Might you wish to provide a discussion pointer for us?

Wildly off-topic discussion split.

I split this off, because it was wildly off-topic.

Quite. Also, read up a few good articles on PHP security and SQL injection - there are far too many PHP scripts that are vulnerable to attacks, and letting someone steal customer data could be disastrous.

You can probably use PHP, but first - what sort of SQL database? MySQL? Microsoft SQL Server? PostgreSQL? Oracle? Firebird? SQLite? Access? Check the PHP manual to see if it supports the particular server you use. Note that if you want to create a graphical program (not a web application), you'll want to use C or something similar and the API that goes with each database system.

Is this meant as an article or a thread?

Closed the poll, because you shouldn't vote if it's already over

You mean, "if they were allowed to feature naked people."

I thought it included a deal to increase the traffic to SFN?

Ours actually uses a sane bulletin board software (I've never heard of what they use) and isn't moderated to the point where you actually have to propose a thread before you can make it. Of course, they have the advantage of being older, but I suppose competition makes the sites better...

A great book... even has a chapter entitled "Why Smart People Believe Weird Things."

PhysicsForums advertising?

Esperanto, not Latin, would be the ideal "simplified" language, and it's already known by somewhere around 2 million people. We don't need to go on about simplified English or Latin or whatever; Esperanto is incredibly simple - about 900 root words, and allowing you to combine prefixes, roots, and suffixes to make new ones - and easy to learn. If someone started that initiative again, it would be one that most people could handle. There's really no use in trying to simplify English anyways - it'll just screw up the language even more. It's too complicated to start with.

I believe they had an advertising deal with another science website, as well as attracting quite a few good members from the start (good connections, you might say).

Tsolkas has never graced us with replies to any criticisms, so I suggest you don't waste your time.