[gjbingham]

I'm wondering whether the location of the poll for BOTM might be part of the reason for so few votes. I was on the forum for several months before I noticed the "new posts" link. I think a lot of the members just never see that the thread has been started and so never get the opportunity to post.

My guess is that active builders spend most of their time in the Pompeii Oven Construction, Introductions, and Brick Oven Photos sections of this forum. Once a newbie read the rules of the forum, they never go back to that section. Those newest members acutally reading that information would probably feel less than qualified to vote on BOTM because they are new and did not see any of the posts.

How can you improve the participation? Let's make a list:

- In the forum guidlines section, post a sticky that details the most efficient way to search threads for information and how to find all the new posts.

- Move the BOTM poll to a more conspicuous location for those that skip the guidelines.

Any other ideas?? Perhaps you disagree completely? You won't hurt my feelings by saying so.

Anyway, that's my two cents!