Hi all,

As the new owner of travelforum.org I have a load of ideas of how to make the site more informative and useful to you all, so I thought I'd run them by some of the small changes you'll hopefully see in the coming months. Feedback is most welcome!

• I've removed the barrier to registration; you can now register with a hotmail, yahoo or gmail account, which should hopefully result in fewer anonymous guests and more real life people with names!
• I've chosen a couple of moderators and will contact them in due course; if you're an established member of the site and like the idea of moderating one of the forums, let me know!
• I've already reorganised the forums slightly, bringing the tumbleweed General Chat forum to the top in the hope it might get a bit more love and attention, as well as adding this "Site Announcements" forum you're in now! I've merged the posts from the derelict forums such as Expat Business etc into their respective country forums and hidden those forums for the time being.
• I'll also make a few minor cosmetic/usability changes to the main forum page; nothing radical.
• The next step will be to email all of the users to tell them about the change in ownership, and tempt them back! I have a couple of carrots to dangle: one a free download for registered users I've been very kindly offered, and the other some kind of competition or prize draw I've yet to finalise.
• I want to claw back the costs of the forum and will do this by adding sponsored banners in the way that the Agoda banner is currently displayed.
• In the coming months I'll add a Malaysia (& Singapore) forum to the site, to cover questions and advice about these popular SE Asian destinations.
• I'm keen to build an index to the wealth of JBRs (Just Back Reports) that are buried in the forum, as well as FAQ stickies on each of the country forums and quick links to other useful posts.
• I might add a blog to the site - separate from the forums - it depends if I have anything worthwhile to say!
• All the while I'll be trying to drum up support for the forums elsewhere in an attempt to get this place buzzing again!

Phew - plenty to keep me out of trouble! Your thoughts/requests are much appreciated - I'm all ears