As you have probably noticed by now, I have just finished some rather sweeping changes to the site. Some of them are cosmetic, but most of them are "inivisble", behind-the-scenes changes that will allow me to include new features here at 8052.com in the future.

However, at this time I'd like to announce the following changes at 8052.com:

1. NEW MODERATOR. I've asked Steve Taylor to assist me in moderating this message forum. Steve has been with us for quite some time and in my opinion is a reasonable and fair person that will help me monitor and moderate the forum--especially against spams. I would like to thank Steve for agreeing to help me with this.

2. HTML MESSAGES. Registered users may now post messages using HTML. I would like to ask, however, that we all use HTML *conservatively*. This is not a contest to see who can post the most colorful messages. HTML should be used to contribute to the value of the messages we post. This may be useful to include schematics, etc. I don't want to make any hard rules on HTML use, but please be tasteful and not-excessive. USERS WHO DEMONSTRATE THEY ARE NOT ABLE TO USE HTML IN GOOD TASTE, USE IT EXCESSIVELY, OR POST MESSAGES THAT ARE NOT READABLE DUE TO INCORRECT USE OF HTML WILL HAVE THEIR HTML PRIVLEDGES REVOKED.

3. USER REGISTRATION. I encourage everyone to register as an 8052.com user (free, of course), and to logon whenever you visit 8052.com--especially for posting. When you are logged on to 8052.com, all messages posted will be counted on your account. When reading messages you will see that after the user's name, additional information will appear. "(Unregistered User)" means the user has not signed-up as a member (or was not logged on when the message was posted). "Registered User" means the poster is a registered user who has posted a few messages. Alternatively, you may see from 1 to 5 stars; the more stars, the more messages that user has posted.

4. USER PROFILE. After logging on, you may check your profile by clicking on "Account Profile" on the left side-bar. Here you may change your email address, subscribe/unsubscribe to the mailing list, and also review how many messages you have posted to this forum.

5. 8052.COM CHAT. After quite some time (about a year?), the 8052.com Chat option is working again. Feel free to click on that page to chat with other 8052.com users that may be in the chat room at that time. Your browser must support Java to use the chat feature.

6. ANTI-SPAM EFFORTS. At this time, 8052.com will continue with its policy of not requiring user registration to post messages. However, with the changes made to the site we will be able to institute this policy if spam becomes a consistent problem. For the time being, we encourage you to register with 8052.com and logon before you post messages, but there is no requirement to do so.

I hope you like the changes I've made to the site. This was a rather serious project, and I would appreciate it if you would let me know of any bugs, errors, or suggestions you have to further improve it.

Thank you,
Craig Steiner
8052.com Webmaster