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Message Board Folders
The forum is structured into a number of folders, also called sections, that help to keep messages organized. Take a few minutes to review these descriptions to make sure your message ends up in the right place. This will help ensure that your message reaches its intended audience (not everyone looks at every folder), and it will save our volunteer Section Leaders time when they don't have to relocate your message to the right place.
The folders are listed on the main page of the forum. You can get to the list of folders at any time by clicking on the Literary Forum logo at the top of the page.
Movement and renaming of messages
To keep discussions organized and on-topic, staff members sometimes move messages from one thread (discussion) to another, or to a different folder which more closely suits the topic being discussed. Our staff will also occasionally rename a thread (change its Subject). In particular, threads (or parts of threads) which drift into chat will be relocated to the Algonquin Round Table folder. If you have difficulty finding a message that you posted, ask any staff member for assistance.
From about 1919 to 1929, the Algonquin Hotel in New York was frequented by a group of New York writers, critics and wits who met daily at the hotel, deeply influencing the writing of the period. Here at the Books and Writers Community, the Algonquin Round Table section (the “Gonk”) is the place for general questions and comments about the forum. You can introduce yourself as a new member, ask how the forum works, let us know if our software is misbehaving, ask questions about commonly used software, or bring up other topics that don't seem to fit into any other section.
The “Gonk” is also a place to hang out and discuss topics that are not related to books or writing - personal events, general observations, interesting Web pages, pets, recipes, etc. - and have casual conversations about almost anything else you can think of.
Forum staff sometimes move off-topic messages from other sections into the Algonquin Round Table section. This is commonly referred to as “gonking” (or, when it happens to you, “being gonked”). Generally, no notification is posted about such a move, and there is no stigma associated with it.
