Since we’re working on improvements to the blog, we are adding two functions that will highlight substantive blog postings that are intended to solicit reader response and discussion (the current post excluded). One is the Featured Post — which you will see at the top of the side menu; the other is a “sticky” post function that allows such substantive posts to remain stuck to the top of the scroll until discussions slow to a halt. Both functions are being demo-ed with this post. What took us so long? Seriously.

We hope this facilitates discussion of substantive posts, or at least prevents them from being lost in the scroll of announcements and calls — valuable as the latter are. As an aside, the Discussion forum seems appropriate for what we had intended the Question Board to be, so we will be retiring the QB in the next couple of weeks. Please use the Discussion tab to submit your questions or thoughts that are briefer than a full blog posting might require.