I agree with you, we need a general forum where things like this would be able to be posted.  As for the topic under fire here, I again reiterate I would not have even been aware of it had I not seen it posted.  Now ,if I was not aware of it, then I would not have been searching through many, many forums, would I.   This is just another way of making people aware.  Community Help, as we all agree, is not the proper place for this thread, but does a general information place exist?  Again, I am not interested in political forums, but it is nice to be  alerted and updated about events pertaining to my survival in todays world.  And yes I do accept the fact this is my responsibility to make myself aware, but I am sure I am not alone here. 

Read the description of the Community Help Group.  This is for problems on this website, not your neighborhood.

The real problem goes pretty deep and probably can't be solved without a major redo. The forum is poorly organized so it is difficult to find and follow themes. The result is a lot of duplication of topics because it takes perseverance and time to search through pages of topics,groups,subgroups,etc. to find anything.

Karl

Thank you for responding Terri.  Apparently there IS someone on staff who cares.  I look forward to the possibility of seeing some changes. 

As far as the “Barry Jackson” email is concerned, I’m not necessarily looking for a group to discuss “healthcare reform.” I am more hopeful that a group will be set up by and monitored by AARP staff that members can use to give input to ALL issues, political and otherwise.  I would further hope the “ powers that be ” would take these things into consideration while making their decisions.  It is my feeling that AARP does and says things on behalf of the membership that, if polled, they would find are NOT the wishes and desires OF the membership.  It makes one wonder what AARP’s agenda might me!  Look at the amount of members that were lost last summer because of this and after yesterdays news about AARP’s latest endorsement I believe there will be many more.  What ever happened to the concept “divided we fail?”  It appears to me the divide is more between the membership and AARP than anything else.

~!~

John

Thank you for your post and we are already investigating some of these great ideas for future changes. 

You mentioned receiving an email from Barry Jackson - there is a group that discusses soley the Health Care Reform - here is a link to that discussion:  http://www.aarp.org/community/groups/HealthActionNowMythbusters

There is also the group main page - http://www.aarp.org/community/groups where some groups are highlighted and you can search for groups as well.

FACT #1 - The post that was removed wasn't in the computer tip forum, it was in COMMUNITY HELP.

FACT #2 - You appear not to have read posts #3 and #4.  This is evident because of the comment: "the topics do in fact deal with computers and the internet".

>>>>POST #3: When, it is listed; I think it would have been obvious, COMMUNITY HELP.

>>>>POST #4: DUH!!!  why would you grab Topics from another Forum to make a point??

FACT #3 - The point of the post is still valid.  If I'm going to be chastised for a really important post that is off topic, and it was flagged as such in the SUBJECT LINE (I have a PDF copy as proof), then the other off topic posters should be chastised also.

FACT #4 - Out of 101 screens on the community help forum, there were 163 posts (by other people) that were off topic; and this takes into account duplicates due to system errors.  That comes out to 1 off topic post for every 1.61 screens.

COMMUNITY HOST - If you what the list I have, e-mail me at my e-mail address on record, NOT THROUGH THE MESSAGE CENTER.  Here is a sampling:

select subject_line_ from aarp_off_topic_in_community_help limit 0,6

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PRINTER

VISTA AUDIO PROBLEM

HOW DO I INSTALL WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION

SWIMMING POOL DECOMMISSIONING

USING GOOGLE AND IPHONE

LOST EXCEL FILES

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Ooooups!   I'm with you all the way JakeRader, good for you amigo!  Thanks!

Just looking at the subject lines your list, it appears to me that almost half the topics do in fact deal with computers and the internet.

The first time you posted one of your rants, I defended your right to free speech assuming that you had gotten carried away in your passion for the subject.  Now however, it has become oblivious that you care little for the common rules of conduct in user forums. 

Shame on you!  And shame on you cronies for supporting you!  Would any of you allow this sort of behavior in your own forums?  I think not.  As long time and active participants you should be setting an example for new members.