Welcome All

[Oola]

Just to say welcome everyone to the Rural Muse Chat Forum, hope you enjoy your stay! :)

[Pippa]

Many thanks for making this all possible. Look forward to making new friends and catching up with longstanding ones.

[Oola]

glad to have you here :)

[Redstart]

Delighted to be here and didn't expect to be so quite so soon! You've done a super job Oola!

[Ivy]

Thanks for inviting me in. Didn't think it would come so soon .

[Oola]

Hello there! Yes I was working late last night and throughout today. I was quite excited at the prospect of setting something up so couldn't help myself!

Mandy has posted elsewhere about avatars...so if you would like to add one you can go to:

My Control Panel (menu just below the 'Rural Muse' logo at the top) > Left hand menu "Settings & Options" > Edit Avatar.

[Oola]

Also, if you want to enable a quick reply, there is a small icon in the right hand corner of each post (looks like a feather and a piece of paper with writing on it). You click on that and I think it enables you to quickly reply to a thread without clicking on the 'post reply' icon (bottom left of last thread post) each time.

[Pippa]

Hello Mandy and Ivy. I love the idea of being a 'junior member' feel quite youthfull! I have loads of jobs to do over week-end but have feeling will be on here waiting to see who turns up.

[jazzactivist]

Hi to all, thanks for setting up this new forum, Oola, and so speedy too. I am delighted to be invited. Look forward to all the informative chats to come.

[eleanor2]

well its me eleanor 2 how do you do.i am sorry i might not get the hang of this for a while.doesn't it feel strange.we have all been like a family on c.l..its nice to come somewhere a bit more positive and see some of the same names.

[Redstart]

Did that but still can't see how to upload a photo

[Oola]

Hi Mandy.... sorry I hadn't enabled the custom avatar setting.

You should be able to sort out your avatar now.

[sunflower]

I posted a reply somewhere but ca'nt find it, my fault! Anyway, just wanted to say thanks Oola for this lovely forum, and it's great to be hear/ lots of love. How are your lovely hens? I hope the one that was poorly is better now. You are giving them such a lovely new life. xxx

[Oola]

Hi sunflower!

Although they got a bit soggy in the wind and rain today, they are good. The one that was ill is doing much better now, but we're still keeping a very close eye on her. She seems to be getting perkier and back to her bossy self with every day though. They're all tucked up in their henhouse now with extra straw tonight.

I'm really glad that everyone seems to like the forum so far. I know it's probably a bit strange getting to grips with all the different functions and ways of posting, but hopefully with some time it will become a lot more familiar and easy to use. As I've said in some other posts, please don't hesitate to email, private message (you can do this through My Control Panel) or post your query and I'll try and help you as best I can.

The website is still under development but I'll keep everyone up to date with the goings on.

Glad to have you all here xxxx

[dinger]

For inviting me to join your forum .It is a great idea and is so nice to see so many old friends are coming on also .

[Crocus]

Hi Oola, thanks for this site! It's nice to see some of the "old" friends here as well! Crocus.

Congratulations as well Oola! Job well done! :)

[CountryLady]

Hello all and especially to you Oola. What a brilliant idea, I'm so glad to "see" you all!
Glad the hen is picking up and hope it continues.

[Pippa]

Good morning Country Lady - nice to meet up again.

[CountryLady]

Hi Pippa, yes this is great isn't it?

[Katelb]

Just to add my thanks as well Oola,what an enterprising soul you are and it's great to see so many friends again in a happy environment,long may it reign.Kate

[Katelb]

Oola,do you have 'police 'this site 24/7? you are such a busy lady with one thing and another I do admire your enterprise. Kate

[sheddie]

I do too katelb, it is quite an undertaking and such a good site it must have taken some working out. Well done Oola!!

[Oola]

Hello ladies

Well at the moment I'm having to check pretty much each thread to try and spot if there's been any problems with using the website. Basically moderation isn't a problem because everyone here are fair and I sort of 'know' and 'trust' that things won't get out of hand with discussions. I think the problems start being encountered when people who don't necessarily have the level of familiarity start to join and the population begins to grow. The key with 'problem' threads is to nip them in the bud - something that I was fully aware wasn't happening on CL.

The site wasn't too difficult to start up as it's a basic template that I bought, and Rich being a web developer was able to show me the ropes on how to modify it and get all the parameters set to what I wanted. As small teething problems arise I'm still having to address them, but that's all part and parcel of setting something up. I also had to quickly come up with a name for the website - funnily enough this is usually when I have a lot of trouble, but somehow I managed to pluck 'Rural Muse' from somewhere, and then registered and paid for the domain the night I decided to do it all (last Thurs or Fri I think!). I researched the name and found out that it was also a poem about rural folk, written in the 1800s!

I'm hoping that as the little problems iron out, I'll be able to start adding little features in the coming weeks. I'm still searching for some decent Gallery software, so people can post their pictures, maybe we can have a competition each month or something. Jazzactivist, Mandy and a few others have had some great ideas too. Eventually I will have to introduce a couple of advertisements to the website to help me cover the cost of owning the domain and renewing my software license, but I'll make sure that they're not too big, flashy, noisy and are actually pertinent. One I had in mind was the Costwold Company. I would really appreciate if people would let me know if they'd be happy with this.

As mentioned elsewhere, eventually I'd like to get a business directory listed. I want to make it so that people apply, pay a small but fair fee (again to help cover costs etc), and then I approve their business entry and post it on the site. Then members can search and go direct to the product websites through this website.

I'll also be working on getting a proper front page up and running, with links to all the different parts...things like business listing, gallery, forum, blogs etc. Maybe if I manage to get enough revenue and members I could even start up some competitions with prizes, although this might be quite a way off!

In the meantime, it's just really nice to see the forum so busy with new members each day. I hope you'll stick with it as it grows :)

[Crocus]

Hi Oola, you're doing an amazing job! It's got to be so time consuming! I also love the name, it has a kind of feminine and medieval sound to it. I would love to stick with this site as it grows! Don't worry about a teething problem or two - you'll get it sorted in no time! To me, the site works very well. Crocus.

[bonnie]

:) This is the day rural muse started. what a long way we have come. i joined the following may ( i think ) many people have come and gone. now we have all new members joining all the time.
i thought i wouls bring this thread back for new member to have a look and for old member to reminice(sp)

:)so looking back how do you think rm has changed?
Do you think it has progressed, i do.

we each one by one put a piece up about ourselves, i have changed a lot since the early days especially health wise.

What do you think when you look back and have you changed ?

[Crocus]

Hi Bonnie, I had a bit of a look and I think the site started the 28th of September 2007, according to Oola's first posting on this thread? I only joined at the beginning of October.

The site has come a long way, definitely. I don't think I changed as such than rather a fact of having learned quite a lot, still listening and learning a lot, and will continue to do so for as long it's necessary. X

[dragonfly]

Chatting on line to people I have never seen has been a new experience for me. I can't believe how fond I can become of people I haven't actually spoke to. Bonnie I don't think RM has changed, just grown. I'm still listening and learning too Crocus. xx