Suggestions

(1) Cut down on announcement size. It is OTT now - far far too big. Instead of:

Entmoot is a J.R.R. Tolkien discussion board, part of TolkienTrail.com

Please read the Official Rules of Entmoot before posting. I'd like to greet Entmoot's newest members: Isengard, Gold Katana, Eivind U, quester463, and Gilthalion. At this board, please remember that ezCode (very similar to UBB Code) has replaced HTML. To make an advertisement, please use the appropriate thread in General Messages and do not start topics for the purpose of advertising.
Entmoot is now in the ezboard Community Showcase at ezboard.com, making it among the top ten ezboards for July! In addition, we're listed in their Hot Topics literary showcase.

Congratulations to Fat Middle, the new moderator!

The Tolkien Trail is open!!!!! Read about it here!! Read Michael Martinez's review of the site!

why not have:

Entmoot - The Bulletin Board of TolkienTrail.com

Welcome to Entmoot, one of the top ten EzBoards out of every single one, and listed in the literary showcase! Please read the Official Rules of Entmoot and Important Announcements before posting and only use the appropriate thread for advertising.

Congratulations to Fat Middle, the new moderator, and xxxxx, who are Entmoot's newest members.

(2) Make the board more connected to TolkienTrail by making it within a frame of the site, instead of being a standalone page.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Interesting. On normal occasions, only the first paragraph of the announcements is there. When we are no longer in the showcase, Fat Middle is no longer the new moderator, and TolkienTrail.com has been open longer, those parts will be taken down. However, I have noticed that when I squeezed an announcement into the regular first paragraph, no one noticed it because they're probably so used to ignoring it. Giving it its own paragraph was a good way to draw attention to it.

I hate frames and I think Entmoot is good the way it is now. I've seen SoaH's Sith Council (while it was still on ezboard) and he introduced the sidebar from his website into it, and it made the text area too narrow. I think it's fine. Besides, the Fangorn area isn't even officially open at the site.

Fair enough. I just think that the announcement is now gigantic, and that it needs downsizing in some way quickly.

Well you're right. I've gotten rid of the announcement about the rules, as that's been there since December. Also I've lowered the font size on the announcement about the page.

cool!

Wouldn't it be better to keep the rules and leave out the advertising thing? The advertising ruling could go at the top of the rules.

Anyway it's considerably better now, well done.

Well the rules are 8 months old and I'll write up new ones soon. Most people generally behave well, but the problem is advertising. There will be a lot of Entmoot-related stuff on the site when the Fangorn Forest section gets up.

bmilder: When it comes to advertising, think about what I suggested, it might reduce advertising here, if thats what you want, and it makes it easier for new users to find their way to boards with plenty of lively discussion. To make it easier for new user the different links (Everey user has to post a message containing a link an a short description) could be rated by visitors. e-mail me if you are interested.