We've recognized for some time that our "Ask the Experts" forum needs some kind of a kick-start to get it going.  Everyone says that it's very difficult - and a lot of work - to create an active forum.  We're finding that to be very true.

We do know, however, that people have lots of questions about wills and trusts and probate - and we also know that people will chit chat away on a forum once they become accustomed to using it.  People actually enjoy reading posts and even making their own posts once they get started.  Besides being educational, forums are also quite entertaining.

So, we've been at work sprucing up the forums so that they're more user-friendly and more attractive visually.  You'll notice that we've added a number of features that do this - for example, we've added the ability to spotlight certain posts and to add avatars, smilies, and other images.  We've also added advertisements between some of the posts.  Believe it or not, the ads do add visual appeal to the forums because they break up the text.

Now, we're going to introduce a competition to get people to actually do some posting.  For the remainder of the year, we're going to offer prizes to 10 people who make the most posts during that period.  We don't know yet what the prize will be, one suggestion is Sarah Palin's book that will be released on the 17th of this month.  That's a possibility, but we may have a couple of different books that the winners can choose from.  So, if you've been holding back, this exciting offer should be enough to get you going.

Oh, by the way!  Every forum has a problem with spammers ruining everything with their pornographic and generally distasteful posts.  The only way to effectively eliminate that type of activitiy is to require that you register before you post.  Registering means simply giving your name and email address so that we know who you are.  You can register by using the Facebook Connect button if you have a facebook account, or you can register in the old fashioned way by clicking on the register button.  Either way, its free and easy.

And, make sure you upload a picture (or avator) because it makes it a whole lot nicer for other people if they can associate you with a picture or some image.  It makes it more fun for you as well.

Are you convinced?  Alright then - go post!