Hi Tia - Yes I have given thought to this and it seems like a good idea. We may try it this way and see how it goes for a bit. I got nothing against lurkers and if someone wants to check the place out before they sign up so far that's been okay - I don't know if it will help or hurt general 'attendance' we shall see.. It will probably encourage more participation and we may even add a child board to the science forum where a password is needed to gain access - or only certain members will be eligible to post there. This is not for reasons of 'elitist' exclusivity, rather the opposite: I think some members will be more comfortable here if some of the theoretical discussions regarding chemistry (etc) were not so public... I will be getting together with pkeffect very soon and putting some changes in - we are likely going to upgrade to the latest version of SMF (the template software) so if you sign in and things look strange or different it's because we are 'tweaking' (the board that is)
I love to see the growth too! I hope this year will prove to be a blossoming of this community and I think we are off to a great start. Thanks to all of you who are making this happen!

PS> any suggestions, advice, complaints or ideas - anything - I want you all to please speak up! Do so in this thread or PM myself, Eon or pkeffect, he doesn't post much but is ever vigilant and keeps the board running smoothly (thanks dude!) Peas ~Cal