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@Cynique how could you possibly think I wouldn't be interested in this post. I find people irritating when they show me a side of myself. Arrogant know it alls, that are mistaken and stubborn. I'll have more to say after watch the clip. Also if it's okay with you I'll have a look at your chart. I can post here or privately. Yeah even though we haven't met you seem familiar. Also i feel some type of cosmic connection with Mel. I have had the same experience thst she said i gave her. This has happened twice. Troy feels like a younger older brother. And pioneer is a former? Ideological enemy.

I have been perusing my saved files containing material about accessing the akashic records, info which i now vaguely remember gleaning from the internet after a discussion about them on this board a long time ago. I am now pursuing the idea that these astral records, also known as "The Book of Life", are just waiting up there in The Universe to be downloaded into the computer of your psyche through meditation, introspection. and soul searching, and I have now become inspired to explore what, in my present incarnation, is influenced by my past existence. I suspect that i was a man in another life, and maybe a misogynistic one at that, because in this life. female drama queens really get on my nerves as well as possessive divas who think they should be worshiped and adored by the men who they demand to only have eyes for them. I am not particularly maternal, (and mothers who insist on breastfeeding their babies in public as if daring you to say something, fill me with revulsion for some reason. i haven't figured out what, in the past, would trigger this particular reaction in my present life.) i also am pondering if my reason for being so adverse to religion is because I was a persecuted Christian in another life, and also that i may have drowned in yet another one because i really don't like to be on the water or in a swimming pool or at a shoreline.- (Possibly because I once tried to walk on water in another one of these lives, and this proved to be a monumental failure.) Or have i yet to sort out what my purpose for being in this life is. It may be to strengthen the faith of others because anytime i get into a discussion with religious people they are very challenged to defend their views, and this, in turn, can make their faith stronger. I recently had a lengthy discussion with my niece who is a born-again Christian, admittedly "high on Jesus" (her current "addiction"). She ended up crying after being unable to convert me, but she said i just made her more determined to hold on to her beliefs. This was when i got the idea that this could be my purpose in this life because up to that experience 2 days ago, i really had no clue as to what my purpose was for being here this time asround. i honestly couldn't see any situation where i'd had a major impact on anyone. (Maybe i taught that Sara bitch how to hate. She certainly taught me that. She really became the first person I'd ever encountered who embodied every trait that i abhor in someone. Hummmmm. It just occurs to me as i am writing this, that we may have been adversaries in another life. What is also flowing into my thoughts as i write this is that my purpose this time around could also be to experience motherhood because i have 5 kids but, as i said, i am not particularly maternal. My disgust with and visceral dislike of the people surrounding Trump, and my total lack of respect for him, not to mention my disappointment with Democratic wimps, may manifest themselves in my next life and inspire me to be an Anarchist. I definitely believe that being a scribe is a constant in my journey because writing is something that is second nature to me. i thought my days of being an author were done, but i had the draft of an old novel saved on my computer's word processor and when i just happened to come across it while looking for the saved akashic material, i started reading the draft over. i became so engrossed that i felt a compulsion to rewrite and up date it and have been furiously doing this. What the final disposition of this manuscript will be i don't know. All i know is that i am driven to resurrect this work, almost as if its characters came to life and demanded that i give them a chance to see the light of day... My 14-month old- great granddaughter came to visit me on Mothers Day and she is starting to develop a distinct personality. After all the flurry that accompanied her arrival died down, she got around to interacting with me. We locked eyes for an eternity of a moment and there was recognition there as she began to laugh and laugh - and then i did, too. (We once had fun together somewhere in time. ) The light of her purity is helping me to experienced love in my quest to embrace the truth, love and light that are among the components of the akashic undertaking. Just some thoughts... that were flowing into my consciousness as i wrote this.

Whenever you feel like deleting a post, don't. It is revelatory.

Cynique, I'm glad you did not delete the post too. I truly enjoyed reading it. It was riveting, poignant, profound, and revealing. Thank you.

@Troy Well that makes two of us. It seems my point was missed as well. Take Two Black women have a different relationship with white men - one black men aren't privy to. It's the main reason black women made the best spies during the civil war. Black women know very well what racism looks like. We weren't absent for the last 600 years, we've been on the front lines fighting it at every turn - sometimes alone. The fact that some black men believe they have to inform black women of racism and are infuriated when we don't believe them represents a level of arrogance that is mind-blowing. We (black women) don't need black men tapping us on the shoulder, saying, "dude is being racist" If anything, black women need black men to speak up on their behalf about economic oppression, institutional racism and injustice that is unique to black women. We need black men to lend a hand to right the table when, for example, black women are paid less money than white men, black men and white women when doing the same job and are better educated with more degrees and experience. It's not hard to recognize what racism looks like when Black women are the first to say "Follow me" Underground Railroad", I'm not giving up my seat" Our Lives Matter" while continuously chip away at the bricks and mortar of institutional racism while battling daily doses of sexism with the other. Seriously what could a black man notice and inform a black women about who lives with a daily double dose of oppression? Further, black women have been style trendsetters since we arrived in the Americas... today we call it cultural appropriation when white women take our styles ...but they do copy us to appeal to white men and black celebrities. Therefore making a caricature of a black women's features doesn't deny black women opportunities. It's childish but it's harmless trolling that targets black men like dudes playing the dozens trading mama jokes. But instead of black men lobbing a few of their own, they instead return to black women and say, "white men say black women are ugly, don't you agree?" I, for one, say, "no." And It's not because I'm oblivious to racial taunts. it simply doesn't resonate with me. What some black men finds 'racist" concerning black women is personal. And with that Time magazine cover it appears as if it hit its intended mark.

@Delano It makes you wonder how sexual attraction manifest.. I've never been sexually attracted to women... but I had a mindf-ck moment when I was once working on a project with a "butch" and found her incredibly "hot"... "Knowing" she was physically a women; I had no "desire" to be with her but I became fascinated with the attraction itself. I found it weird because she presented like a man...and it was that aspect of "her" I found attractive. I enjoyed the mental exercise because it helped me to realize what type of men I find attractive... "renaissance men" Although she dressed like a man, talked like a man -she still had a balance about her... that I find incredibly sexy in men. Now of course this brings us no closer to how I decided on or it decided me sexually ...It did, however, help me to understand my sexual attraction to men.

My not ageeing with you does not make me unaware if racism. Your statement is worthy of Pioneer. You are exporting your views to people that dont share them. And you wonder why they cant see the racism. Mel and Cynique don't see it. So in this context it doesn't exist to them. Which is something you can neither see nor accept. Troy you may be missing my point. You are focused on the racial aspect. If you dont see or feel racism does it exist for you. It's a very subtle point. It's a variation on if a tree falls in the forest and noone hears it does it make a sound. The answer is no. A person needs to be conscious of the sound. Substituting another Black person doesn't change the focus to something other than race. At least not a nthe example you have chosen.

Hi there. As for me, my only reasons for not joining in on this site is that I forget. Yes, I do log into Facebook but usually to see family stuff, and I have only recently begun to "tweet". I am in the process of learning how to market my first book so I am also concentrating on getting speaking engagements and writing new articles and I blog. Yes, my publisher set me up on Amazon which I have no problem with. My book writing project was originally about inspiration, and I happen to be a Black person writing about a Black man. But I did not initially set out to specifically reach Black people. So I have become a part of the White mainstream social marketing media. And once I started trying to connect with Black book stores and what not, I became disappointed. Once I found AALBC I was delighted. But I have found that I have to remind myself that I need to engage with others on this site the same way that I do on my Blog, and on twitter. I want to have a site on AALBC separate from my blog and I intend to work at gaining a presence on AALBC by commenting on more discussions. Thanks for AALBC Troy.

Cynique there are signs everywhere if you pay attention. My phone deletes posts and calls people. Yeah Mel and I may have been related. Shes the nicer nore diolomatic twin.

Mel, I don't expect you to be "up in arms," I'm not even up in arms. Had Pioneer not posted the photos I probably would never have seen it. I have not cracked the pages of Time in more years than I can remember. I also want to remind you this is not about "beauty" for me. I never used the word, all I've done is refute beauty being part of my argument. No need to be confused, I'm not writing Time magazine, I'm not calling for a boycott of them, I'll just go back to continuing to ignore them Again I just find it fascinating that some people see racism where other do not. Even the unwillingness of some to recognize it when it is staring them in the face is remarkable to me. I would never have guessed this to be the case. I've learned a lot in the discussion. Actually, I've been reading a lot on this subject lately but I should have been more precise. Old people watch TV for news. The majority of young America consume news online and the majority of those through social media. The trend strongly favors a rapid growth of news consumption in this manner, and if Facebook continues to grow in dominance, they could be the number platform for the consumption of news for Americans. What makes Facebook's dominance so troubling is that fake news still proliferates on Facebook and their algorithm creates filter bubbles. The end result is a population which is at best less informed and at worse, misinformed... Now if you want to apply the "phrase up in arms" to me. Use it in conjunction with Facebook. I've been boycotting the platform since early March. But I also recognize virtually no one will boycott Facebook despite tons of great reasons to do so. People just don't care enough about anything to change any aspect of their behavior for more than a few minutes. Think about it, (this is probably worth a separate conversation), the planet is rapidly heading to a point where it will be inhospitable to sustain humanity; and collectively we are doing NOTHING about it. We are an interesting species... The failure of the media to recognize Trump for the racist (or at least behaves like one, courting and earning the support KKK) con man he is, in fact, the reason he in the white house. They failed to call a spade a spade but instead treated him as if he was a legitimate candidate, covering him extensively--just to make more money. The failure to recognize racism is dangerous to us as Black people and virtually ensures its continuation. Now, of course, I know racism (as Del implied) is a tool of the capitalist. I also know that any educated person knows there is only one race and humans are far more alike than we are different. But these facts mean very little to actual racist operating in a racist society. @Cynique, OK I understand your response to my question. I also feel some kinda way about Leslie's skits on SNL too, particularly when they pair her with that puny white boy. But SNL is starting to bore me anyway. I'm tired of seeing Trump administration skits, They are becoming less and less funny to me. Still SNL is a show written by mostly white men for white people. How many years did it take for them to get Black women on the show? And when they finally got some we see how they are used... @Delano , I just wanted to know what you thought about Trump. I can't know what is in the man's heart, but his behavior is indistinguishable from a racist's. So it does not really matter what you or I think about his underlying motives. His behavior speaks for itself. Del, do you think Trump, at least sometimes, behaves in a racist manner? Bold faced so that you don't forget it this time? Del, my comment about being the only person who believes Trump is a racist was not meant to be taken literally. It was a just a playful dig at you and Mel

i think it's becoming obvious that in this entire debate, semantics are blurring, rather than clarifying responses and the message each one of us is attempting to convey is compromised by the disparities between one person's definition of a word as opposed to the other person's definition of the same word. So there is no common ground. This would seem to be the case when i responded to your request for which of the 2 posted pictures of Viola Davis looked more "natural". My idea of natural had to do with the first dictionary definition listed below and that is what my answer to your question reflected. Your definition of natural is more aligned with the 2nd dictionary definition of natural and this is your reference for saying i did not answer your "simple" question. These 2 definitions are the reason why i referred to "natural' as being ambiguous and i settled on using the word "better" in my response and i explained my reason for answering the way i did. With respect to both definitions, i can't give you an either/or answer because both pictures are natural on some level and unnatural on another. So, you 'll just have to abandon your role of being an arbitrator and settle for the rely i gave. NATURAL 1. existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind. 2. of or in agreement with the character or makeup of, or circumstances surrounding, someone or something. As for racism, i, for instance, have mixed emotions about SNL continuing to give :Leslie Jones a forum for portraying an overbearing, sex-crazed, loud black woman. For me, this irritation was exacerbated when she appeared on the show a couple of weeks ago, doing this routine. The audience who is practically all white love her antics and laugh loudly not with, but at her. But this character seems to come natural to Leslie and TIME magazine thinks her character is worthy enough to earn Leslie a place on the list of the 100 most influential famous people, We all know people who act like the type of sista that Leslie lampoons so we have to ask that since it is an authentic depiction, should we allow ourselves to be manipulated into defending or condemning SNL's enabling Leslie to glorify this type of black woman. SNL mercilessly skewers Trump and other political or pop culture celebrities, who make headlines in the news, so they don't really discriminate. i find Leslie's buffoonery offensive and over the top, It could be said, however, that she pushes the envelop and challenges blacks to be able to take a joke. Laugh to keep from crying BTW, there was a lot of protest about the cover of Lebron James recreating King Kong abducting a white blond blue-eyed damsel in distress, and i think rightfully so. But racism is just so pervasive and the white powers that be so in control. that you could make a living pointing out daily examples of it, as some black leaders do, thanks to malicious white corporate types providing them with grist for their mills.

The film I Origins is on Amazon Fire, I will watch it this weekend.

So glad you did not! I'm so glad I listened to "THE VOICE" that told me to take some time on the board tonight to read" ... I enjoy your voice and your messages and I gravitated to your words when I first noticed your posts... I agree there's a kinship and it feels as if I walked past you , (or any one of the vocal crew here ) on the street, sight unseen, I would immediately turn around because of the spiritual/energy connection. I know I'd say, "Have we met somewhere, before?"

Troy Everything is subjective. Otherwise you and Pioneer wouldn't disagree on points you both feel are clear or common sense. Think about it unless you perceive racism it doesn't exist for you. In your mind this is ridiculous. But there us an implication which i will overtly state. My perception does not change the global reality on my perception. And perception is reality. That's obvious to anyone that reading the post in this thread. Excluding your own. I have dropped a few bread crumbs. Cynique attempted to draw yiur attention to this with the simple statement. Del has made some good points. However I don't think this sparked any fresh inquiry along ybe lines of my inflammatory statements. The flame illuminated little. Two final statements. I could be overestimating may contribution to this argumemt. Whenever I agree with Pioneer I know I have missed something.

http://www.etonline.com/news/217849_steve_harvey_ex_wife_mary_vaughn_sues_for_60_million_alleges_torture_soul_murdering/ I wasn't going to say anything and then I read this. As a woman I've noticed (with a side eye) the "Show Boating" Steve likes to do on his Talk Show and Family Feud (White Folks defend yourself). I'm not sure about you but I'm Tired of seeing his Tired, was never a King of Comedy self plastered all over the few channels I care to watch. I'm assuming his 2nd Wife was disgusted too. Go on Girl, Get his Ass! Talking out the side of his neck about his over glorified 3rd Wife "Oh if it wasn't for Mildred(or whatever her name is, alleged mistress), I wouldnt be the Man I am Today" Eyeroll. (That made me cringe, that SOB) Visiting Prez Chump to discuss Top Secret "underprivileged" business lol, He's over there making Oprah $$, got a younger looker older woman by his side(Shocker, she wasn't Blond & Blue eyed). How dare he flaunt her on that 1000 Family Feud Episode. I saw you Steve grabbing yourself when she was brought out with the Cake. Popcorn pimpn, I saw you! Looking like that Old Uncle at the Family Reunion picnic that couldn't Help himself, but he did anyway. Sending memos to his soon to be fired employees "Don't look directly at me if we cross paths in the hallway" "You will be gently escorted by Security out of my Ofc if you so happen to end up in there to ask me about your job" Don't Quote me but that's pretty close. They said in court documents what she says is mostly jiberish, I'm sure nothing is going to happen, just a woman, I think rightfully scorned. I'm just glad he got sued. Take him down a Peg or 2. Im routing for you #2. We need another Black Talk Show Host, who should be next? Not Tyra or Queen again. NEW Family Fued Host, any takers? ...Cedric the Entertainer. YASSS! IN YO FACE SH! Like most people with half a brain and a scrap of morality. I'm sick of seeing people like him praised for their Fakeness, their Bad Behavior, their downright in your face disrespect. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. SPEAK for yourself... Who is this Steve Harvey and Why the F*ck is he all over my TV?

Mel hits a three from the baseline.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Lynda Johnson Co-Founder/Co-Chair Go On Girl! Book Club lyndajgog@gmail.com 917-923-8035 Go On Girl! Book Club Hosts 25th Annual Author Awards GALA Saturday, June 3rd in Chicago, Illinois NEW YORK – May 17, 2017 – Go On Girl! Book Club (GOG!), one of the largest national reading organizations in the U.S. dedicated to supporting the work of authors of the African Diaspora, will host its 25th Annual Author Awards Gala on Saturday, June 3rd at 4pm at the Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The Annual Author Awards event is the highlight of a weekend of activities for club members and guests and is an important part in carrying out the mission of the organization. As Go On Girl! Book Club Co-Founder, Lynda Johnson explains, “Our author awards event is done to shine a light on the writers who tell our stories and keep black culture relevant on the literary landscape. We take the time to celebrate them and let them know we’re out there reading and discussing their work and that what they do matters.” The organization will present top honors to its favorite 2016 authors: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie voted 2016 Author of the Year for her gripping and intriguing novel, Americanah. Chigozie Obioma voted 2016 New Author of the Year for his debut novel, The Fishermen. A Literary Legend Award goes to Dr. Haki Madhubuti for his body of work and the major contributions he's made to our literary landscape. A Literary Beacon Award goes to Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, authors of Tryin' To Sleep In The Bed You Made. Additionally, two scholarship awards are presented: an Unpublished Writer's Award to encourage and celebrate a writer who has not yet been published; and An Aspiring Literary Scholar Award to a student attending an HBCU and studying literature or communications. Among the guest authors who will be joining the organization for the weekend include Marita Golden who will discuss her latest novel, The Wide Circumference of Love and facilitate a young writers workshop. Edward Kelsey Moore will discuss his latest novel, The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues. The organization will also donate books to The Chicago Books to Women In Prison non-profit as part of their Literary Community Service. To top off the evening there will be an all-star dramatic performances of the novels written by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their novel, Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made at 8:00 pm. Tickets to the Go On Girl! Book Club Awards Dinner is $85 and can be purchased until May 19th at www.GoOnGirl.org. There will be an author meet and greet book signing featuring the honorees and guest writers. Books will be available for purchase at the event by Chicago's own Underground Bookstore. Tickets to the Dramatic Presentation are $25 until May 29th and $45 until June 3rd Go On Girl! Book Club ABOUT GO ON GIRL! BOOK CLUB Go On Girl! Book Club is a multi-faceted organization that, in addition to producing an annual author awards event, provides scholarships awards to aspiring writers; produces a literary magazine; organizes & mentors Jr. GOG Chapters for young girls and much more. Go On Girl! Book Club has been the subject of a PhD dissertation on black female reading groups and group members have written, produced and recorded GOG’s theme song. The organization’s papers are archived at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature in Chicago, Illinois. The very first Go On Girl! Book Club Author Awards event was held in 1993 at Royston’s Jazz Club in Brooklyn, New York. It was a small, intimate affair attended by the members of the first and only GOG chapter and the 1992 Author of the Year, Gloria Naylor (Bailey’s Café). Since then, Go On Girl! Book Club has honored countless writers including Bebe Moore Campbell (Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine), Octavia Butler (Parable of the Sower), Valerie Wilson Wesley (Where Evil Sleeps), Lawrence Hill (Someone Knows My Name), Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa (Daughters of the Stone), Daniel Black (Perfect Peace), Marlon James (The Book of Night Women) and many others. The organization has grown from a group of three New York City co-workers who discussed the latest books by Black authors over lunch to a national non-profit literary organization with over 30 chapters in 15 states including New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, Illinois, Virginia, Indiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, California, and the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. For more information on Go On Girl! Book Club visit www.GoOnGirl.org.

@Mel Hopkins I co-sign to all of that good shit!

@Mel HopkinsWOW! How interesting! Thanks for the feedback i was just about to delete my post because i decided it was too rambling and probably of no interest to anybody but me. But I'm glad i let it alone long enough for your response. I definitely subscribe to how revealing eyes can be. i have had several similar experiences down through the years, whereupon eye contact with a new acquaintance or even a friend established a fleeting connection of familiarity. Especially men. And one great-granddaughter who is 6 holds onto my grandson's leg and hides her face when she's around me. And actually i don't like her too much, either. I find it noteworthy that i seem to have rapport with and am very often on the same page with you! As i said, there was something almost bizarre about the hostility between me and the Sara-person and there had to have been some kind of underlying reason for our mutual dislike. But i feel a kinship with you,Troy, Del, Pioneer, CDBurns and harry and several other posters who drop in from time to time, even if i don't always agree with them. Life is a strange.

This sentence struck me to the core! How can we hold on to "beliefs" that aren't ours to begin with but instead were given or forced upon us... I often wonder if the purpose of life is to lose our beliefs - engage in productive thinking when we do find ourselves thinking... And yes! Most of all experience and accept love ... Have you seen this awesome movie with the premise the eyes are the windows to the soul and "recognition" does occur through the eyes? The story reveals no matter how many lives we live we return with the same "eyes"

@Delano, Ms. Davis is not a commodity in the respect that she's for sale - her work is for consumption but not her. What's for sale is this issue of "Time" magazine. The magazine cover dictates newsstand sales. What's in question is whether or not the photograph of Ms. Davis and Ms Davis's popularity will sell copies. Would I pick up this issue if I saw it on the stand? Yes I would. I'd want to know why Ms. Davis is so happy and what's next in her career. So in that respect, yes I'd buy.

I Like #2!!! Great Idea!!!

So a woman has to be attractive. Is that the only state she can exhibit. Perhaps she should be Barbie. Are you purchasing her? Is she for sale or even rent.

That's one of my specialties. Its like i had the following idea. Let's say you went to a masked ball. And you met someone and fell die them. Then when you met you found they weren't the sex that you are attracted to normally. What would you do. Then lets say on your third meeting yiu found out they cross deessed on your second date.

What is fascinating is the entire discussion centers around image or mostly. She had become a symbol and has cease to be a person. What is being said is an externalisation of internal prejudices, opinions and beliefs. That are being discussed as though they could be objective truths. It's like a Slave Auction of Black Women. Along the Black Mail Female divide. She means whatever you believe she means. But don't think you are right. Since this is an intellectualised conversation about belief. I am indifferent to the picture. Or it doesn't have the same weight or implied meaning.

Well, the second picture is a dreary affair, one big dark brown blur; a dress that is the same color as she is and lips muted out of prominence. She appears tough and masculine with her afro butch haircut and thick eyebrows; not a sista that a white person would want to mess with. A strong black woman. She even looks like she's gonna put her hand on her hip.and her smile is challenging. The only thing feminizing her is the inexplicably unnecessary display of cleavage. To me, the main difference between the 2 pictures is that she looks neater and more composed in the second one. ELLE Magazine is a French publication, so i guess that's how they imagine African American women want to come across: hard and no-nonsense. I do agree that, as an actress, it's acceptable for Viola to embody different personas and i am, personally, tired of discussing the subject because it's all about opinion and perception and not fact. Viola is "gonna do what she do" And TIME magazine is gonna "do what dey do", and "neer the twain shall meet".

It sounds like you can only judge someone's attractiveness if they are a potential sexual partner.

@Troy , There's no echo chamber here... We are eclectic personalities bringing our homemade dishes to the party. I can stay away, and when I return there's a whole host of different topics... But one the best things about posting here is even though we all have our own things going on, I feel if I post something everyone would "get it." I don't have to struggle to be understood.

I did not take the "It's just books" as a put down, I just don't take the critique at face value. I write this because on every single page of the site, there is a menu says "Discussion" There is also a search box on every page which would direct anyone to the forums with a simple query. Again, finding the forms is not difficult if one put in an ounce of effort--unlesss I'm missing something. If I am please tell me. Also, the site gets at least 10 new sign ups a week, but the majority never post. This is something I really worth pursuing... because it is worth understanding why these people don't post I just don't have the time. Still, the forums are simply not as popular as they once were. I'm sure it is a combination of several factors but I suspect the strongest factor is Facebook. Facebook plays a zero sum game. They literally want to be the only place users ever go when they go on-line. Aldso people are still reading the pages they are just not commenting. One page for example that is really popular is the one about the Best Black websites. It ranks well in search and deserves better presentation I just don't have the time to address it now, Only 1 out every 2,000 visitors to the pages leaves a comment (not counting myself). I dunno, what motivates you to post here @Mel Hopkins ?

@Troy said " I can and will add discussion forum content to the homepage to reflect the conversations that are taking place on these forums " That is a good idea! Maybe if you also add "create your own profile and join in the discussion" this will encourage folks who are looking for a social networking site to participate. The discussion forum, encourages transient traffic. Those visitors aren't necessarily coming to the site because they put in a search term - they're visiting because they have an opinion on the topic and want to express it. If they stay to join the community -even better. As for those visitors who responded "it's just books" that wasn't a put down. I've sent "readers" here... they like books. They just couldn't find the discussion forum. I've noticed that in the past, you've posted discussion topics on twitter - in fact that's how I met @VL Towler she was very vocal in topic - and the link on twitter took the visitors right to the discussion. Well that sucks... I have a facebook page. I have followers (5) not friends. I send my wordpress blog posts to facebook, twitter google etc. I'm able to syndicate my blog posts that way. But my website isn't a social networking site like AALBC. I have subscribers not members (at least not yet.)

Also Facebook, earlier in the year, killed the ability to syndicate one's facebooks posts. They are starting to raise the walls of their walled garden. With just under 2 billion users, they are have effectively become the Internet.

That part of the comment was for @CDBurns, - The board merges the comments even if you quote from other posts. haven't noticed a way to keep them separate when responding.

No @Mel Hopkins, I have not tried Depop. I actually never heard of it until you mentioned it. I checked out the site and don't have any interest in it. I'm sorry to read that the initial reaction of those that you invited was "that it is nothing but books." I suspect if you probed you'd find there was a different reason because the reality is that the forums were always dominated by non-book conversations. But to your point, I can and will add discussion forum content to the homepage to reflect the conversations that are taking place on these forums. Maybe some variation of this feed:

Please Please bring this feature back! 1 1/2 years later and I'm still working on my AALBC project but that is one of my findings - you are a missing a chunk of forum dwellers by not attaching the discussion forum to social media. There's an intellectual audience that is simply looking to be social but without an highbrow outlet. (remember that dude who thought he could match wits and decided we were too 'ignorant" lol) But I digress, I like using my profile here and it's only second to twitter... in the rough draft of my AALBC strategic study, I think I included how engaging the profile page could be - but in a way, I was talking out of my butt because it was. I saw what I posted on twitter appeared here back in 2010. When I refer those who are looking for another social network, they respond "it's nothing but books"...and that is how the front page appears when you first visit the sight. The discussion forum/profile/blog pages aren't obvious. Anyway, I wil soon finish because I want you to have it. What's keeping me from finishing is I've been working on my two websites to use as a vehicle for passive income - and what I've learned during my pursuit of growing a valuable website is this: When I "press" your monthly newsletters on theleadstorydotorg... they experience fast growth and are my highest performing content! Also theleadstorydotorg is very popular on baidu.com and the visitors seem to be very interested in aalbc. com. Not the heck sure what the people's republic of china wants with us - but I'm going to keep promoting your site on the leadstory lol Really? Tell me more! Have you tried depop? I've been on almost a week and absolutely love this app although I haven't sold jack! You on the other with new product may kill on this app. https://www.depop.com/mellymelle