Karen,
Thank you. I'm glad you like the site. I spent a lot of time working on it.
I have also been a little concerned about the lack of activity on the forums. I was hoping to see more activity and discussion.
If the forums are hard to find, we can certainly discuss a more optimal placement within the site navigation.
I chose to put the forums under "Member Resources" because you have to have an account in order to post, and the only way to have an account is to be an IBHA member. I'd have to go check the settings on the old site, but I don't think the original forums had an ability for non-members to show up and post to the forums.
If we choose to relocate the forums to a different location, it is actually not much work at all. I can rearrange the site navigation in seconds.
One thing to keep in mind is that I set the site up with mobile computing in mind. More and more people are viewing the site on tablets and smartphones. I went with a minimal top level navigation on the front page to prevent clutter on mobile devices.
I've said this to the IBHA Board, and I'll post it here as well. My primary objective with this site is to create a platform that:
#1) Enables IBHA members to advance the field of big history
#2) Facilitates big history-related business/projects/initiatives
I'm completely open to suggestions on how to make this site better. No one will ever hurt my feelings by sending me an e-mail that says "Hey, is it possible to add blah blah blah to this page?" or "Can we add a page that talks about xyz?"
If we need to take the forums and rearrange/modify/rename/move/promote/restructure/retitle/whatever, I'd be happy to work on that. I would really like to see more discussions.
Feel free to drop me a line at hkyeakley@bighistory.org.
Thanks for posting.