Discussion:Splitting the Tax Forum

Question: Are you in favor of this or opposed to it?

Question: What should the two new forums be called? My thoughts are to leave the professional forum as is, named "Tax Questions" and create a new forum with a name something like "Tax Questions by non-professionals" Thoughts?

Thank you!

- Tim Doyle, TaxAlmanac Moderator - Talk to me 14:05, 26 January 2007 (CST)

One should be "Professional Tax Community Discussion"

The other should be something like "General Public Tax Discussion and Questions"

It would be my impression that if you are a professional preparer, with a filled out profile, you are in the "professional" group.

- Tim Doyle, TaxAlmanac Moderator - Talk to me 14:19, 26 January 2007 (CST)

Death&Taxes: I am working to also provide a "combined" forum as well, so you'll still be able to see the same view that you see now. I'm just going to offer additional views for those that want them.

Bigman: There won't be any verification process, other than what the community does.

- Tim Doyle, TaxAlmanac Moderator - Talk to me 14:36, 26 January 2007 (CST)

I have found that now after I send my sister my daily email in the morning, I am here....it is addictive like the coffee I drink to start the motor. It is entertaining, and I can't believe how much knowledge I've gained not only from posts but research. Some of it is self-knowledge; I have realized that, unlike my cynical and callous exterior, I do suffer fools....maybe not gladly, but I suffer them. Now I find I keep the screen on while working [thanks to PGatto] and steal glances, refreshing the screen, now and then.

I too am at a crossroads with the question posed. Even though I don't don the fancy letters behind my name as other professionals here, I have many years experience in this field and am a owner/operator of an accounting/tax preparation practice. On most days I feel knowledgable and adequate, however, there are many days when I wonder what in the world I'm doing in this business. Many days when I feel down right stupid. Many days when I simply have a brain block, or brain overload. Many days when I feel so alone in such a huge tax rule world. I am so grateful to all who are a part of this site...those who make it possible in every way. I have tried my best to give as much as I take from this forum. I too am addicted....have considered seeking, or starting, an AA program (Almanacers Anonymous) :) Seriously, I feel much more at ease knowing I have someone to hash things out with. And YES, I have posed "stupid" questions, and will again. I apologize for this and hope the civilness of those here will also continue. I suppose it really doesn't matter to me what changes are made to this forum, as long as I am allowed to continue to be a part of the experience.

Gotta little windy didn't I :)

So....I DO agree that this forum can be sequestered...in my days when I don't want to think of difficult problems, it is nice to go to a forum with "easy questions" most often from laypeople.

Kudos to D&T, JR, Riley, Dennis, Deback, Intltax and so many others for helping me throughout last year and hopefully this year....speaking of...gonna post a new question...I know the answer, but hope someone can make me feel better :)

Crying is good for the soul...but can I still have dinner with D&T? hehehe

I cook Wednesday-Friday when she works; I make a wicked Pasta Carbonara. Next week I plan curried beef and chicken caccciatore.

In this office the kitchen is ten feet from my desk.

My kitchen is about 10 miles from my office....I don't even like going home to tell the truth...chicken of the sea!! hehe

Just curious Doyle so if we have two forums than who will actually respond to those who really need the help-the non professionals?

Without enforcement, folks are going to post wherever they want. Those of who are addicted ('hello, my name is CorpTax H. and I'm an TaxAlmaholic') are going to read both groups anyway. No matter what the question in whichever grouping, we're still going to check for a profile before responding to a unfamiliar name. I don't see any benefit from the split.

I would be strongly in favor of requiring a profile before being able to add to a discussion.

I also would be in favor of a five-day waiting period.

In short, you'd have to create an account then would have to wait five days (or three or whatever) to post. I'm fairly sure some versions of wiki support that sort of thing natively. There would be several advantages to this for TaxAlmanac.

Nothing frustrates me more than hit-n-runs. These are people who post a question, get answers or more questions as precursors to an answer and never pop back up again. I am convinced that 73.8% of those people never even check for an answer. They come across TaxAlmanac, post a question and then lose interest or get distracted while waiting the 20 minutes (or less) it takes to get an viable answer. These sort of people are worse than those who are simply unthankful because the hit-n-runs don't even come back to see if there was an answer. Grrrr...

The waiting period would greatly discourage hit-n-runs. The waiting period would also allow new members to get a feel for the room before crashing the party. It doesn't take long to learn who knows what they are talking about, who is helpful and who isn't. This is simple party etiquette.

Finally, the waiting period would cut down on the frequently asked questions. During the five days (or however long) the new user is reading but waiting to post, there is a good chance their question will be answered.

Anyway, that's my two cents (before taxes).

Besides, it's the content of the posts and not the bio let me know who the real pros are.

On a lighter note - the food discussion. I used the live on Pepsi, cigarettes, and late night snacks during prior tax seasons. Well, I quit smoking in May and I just found out I'm a diabetic yesterday (no more Pepsi and snacks). This should make for one very GRUFF tax preparer.

I value the service greatly...I do my own tax research via RIA, and while the research is great, it is often just as beneficial to see what other professionals have done in real life experience.

I've had a number of great questions answered here - thanks to incredibly knowledgeable folks like JR1, SandySea, and others.

>>Maybe we should have a separate forum for our non-serious posting...

Anytime you want to talk exclusively about non-tax stuff, you can go to the General Chat forum.

I've said from the beginning when I came to this board - there should be a separate forum for tax pros (regardless of credential) vs non tax pro. And yes, to be considered a tax pro - you must be registered-disclosing who you are, address, phone/fax,e-mail, INCLUDING ME. Reason I never did it, was because it wasn't a requirement to post here. Now that it will be, I've got no objections. So long as we all must register - then can't we use our actual names instead of pseudo names?

This board could also be useful in another way - aside from the questions and answers forums, it could also be a useful referral-if a client moves and doesn't feel comfortable using you from a distance - you could refer to someone from this board.