I think it is time we had a chat about new members. The problem is that there are only 26 letters in the English alphabet and they have all been used a fair few times now (except zed/zee which has only just discovered us). In addition, inevitably, some of the same combinations of words have also found their way back on to the board, at least momentarily.

There are a few issues here:
(i) It is becoming quite difficult to find old threads. This has absolutely nothing to do with the way that some of us fail to stick to the subject and manage to run a conversation across two or more threads, simultaneously - I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing!

(ii) It is entirely possible that someone new to the board may have something new and different to say, so doesn't need to have the existence of an old thread raised in a way which negates their contribution. On the other hand, a bit of friendly banter ....

(ii) Although we are very young (about 7 months old) there is a heck of a lot of hot air out there. A new person would have to spend about two weeks reading through everything to be able to make their first post, let alone their second or third!

(iii) I suppose that one might have expected some of us old addicts to have moved on at some stage, so the collective memory would not be so good. One of the earliest postings by "Charlie" was http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=1&page=25&view=expanded&sb=5
on the 12th March, "It is said a year in Internet life is equivalent to six years in real life." I think he had a point so a period of just over seven months becomes a period of over three years - it certainly feels like that.

I'll fish out the list we once had called "rules of engagement" and re-post it here so that people don't have to wade through the whole thread.

I noticed that there is bit of discussion emerging in other threads about this, so I'll add those postings too, so we don't lose them.