I concur with many of the sentiments expressed by others before me, and I think something along the lines of your suggestions, mav, is in order. It would allow the less-regular visitors, of whom I may soon be one, to find and follow discussions more efficiently.

In line with my policy of being "part of the precipitate", let me contribute a jumble of disorganized musings.

[rant]
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I came across this board a few short months ago, and have celebrated just two lunimensaversaries of my first post. Not coincidentally, this has occurred during a period in my professional life in which I am employed but not occupied or fulfilled. I have no Internet connection at home, but my excess spare time at my work desk has allowed me the luxury of spending an hour or more a day at AWADtalk. I would have to say that at the board's current growth rate of 85 posts/day, I'm hard pressed to do more than just read the posts. Responding (especially in an intelligent fashion, which I hope to do one day!) and research take longer again. Given this post, today's been more like a 2-hour session. After tomorrow I'll be away for four days, and I have to say, I am simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the mountain of posts that will await me on my return. The same would apply, but to a greater extent, if I only logged in once a week, or, heaven forbid, once a month.

Much of life is about balance, and compromise, and I can see the time fast approaching where I too may have to 'do a Bingley' (says he, noting that Bingley hasn't yet done it). It may be precipitated by a pick-up in my work here, a change of employment, or just an acceptance that there are other things to do.

I am a bit sad as I type this, and I realize that it's starting to sound like an obituary, which is not my intention. I'll still be here next week, and the board will be here for a long time yet. I can say that, even if it proves to be a passing phase in my life, it has been highly educational, entertaining (often to the point of hilarity) and inspirational. And it's certainly filled a void.

To take a different tack, here are a few stats. The analytical side of me can't resist reducing it all to numbers.

There are reputedly 1573 "Registered Users" on this board, yet only 30 people have posted in the last 7 days. Seven people have posted only once in that time, which means that 99% of the week's posts have come from just 23 regulars. What, I wonder, are the other 1540 users doing? Are they the silent majority, happy to read the postings of our small private-but-very-public club, or are they people who have come, taken the trouble to register, perhaps contributed briefly, then departed into the night? I suspect more of the latter, since the ratio of views to posts is usually roughly 10, rather than the (many, many, many, many?) orders of magnitude that would be generated by having 1500 regular viewers-only (far be it from me to call them voyeurs). In other words, most of the views are by the same regulars having a look but choosing not to post on that particular occasion. Mind you, I'm not saying that being a select group is bad - it's certainly very cosy and friendly. It does, though, point to a huge turnover of users in the eight months or so that the board has been going. Thoughts, anyone? [BIG invitation here for contributions from the "silent majority", if you're out there].
[/rant]

And I'm with tsuwm on this fred thing. Fish on bikes have proved to be an ongoing source of puns and other forms of humour. Fred, on the other hand, ran out of steam very quickly.