OK, I know this site is in beta, but...

Thanks for all the questions and the patience for answers. Here's some of those answers:

1. Backyard Showcase
I'm working on an overall display for this right now. You can take a look, but be prepared for some very large photos:
http://www.centralvalley.com/backyardshowcase/
This will continue to change as I work out the kinks.

2. T-shirts
They're giving away 7 T-shirts each week. We ask people to leave their answers in the forums, but we do try to cull through the answers also left as blog entries and comments (they're just harder to find).

3. We do use Drupal to run the site and it is an open source CMS. There's no way we'd be able to write this software in house and keep up with everything else. BUT, we do have plans for a redesign for this site soon. We've found some areas that work very well (I love getting all the photos) and some that don't (no one seems to get what Groups are). We'll try to post some pics of the redesign for feedback before we start to code it.

4. Bah. You're right. The FAQ and Contact us links have gone bad. I'll get that fixed. For now, if you have problems, hit me up. My contact information is at the bottom of this.

5. The User Points are something I'm playing with right now. As you participate on the site you get various points. What I'd like to do is set up a system where everyone gets more "responsibilities" as they get more points -- so take part, have fun and be nice and you get to post more, lead conversations, earn swag, that kind of thing. I'm open to suggestions here if anyone has them.

Jennifer Ward
Interactive Media Editor
Work: 441.6363
AIM: JenniferFresno

Ok, first I’d like to apologize to all for all the typos on my original post on this subject. My only excuse is that my laptop battery was dying and I was keying as fast as I could. (Actually, I was also on my second glass of Chardonnay too).

Anyway, like I said before, I think this website is a really good feature for the Bee. It allows some great feedback and contributions, but it really needs some serious work. I’m not going to attempt to list all the problems with this website. If you don’t know about them by now, then you should not be putting up a website in the first place. I think that anyone that spends more than 10 minutes here will get frustrated when trying to do simple tasks.
As I understand it, the website software used here is free, open-source. I think the Bee should re-think this. Sometimes when you use freeware, you get what you pay for. If you stick with this software, it will need some serious attention of a good website designer and software engineer. And I bet you will end up paying a lot more in the long run than if you had bought of good software in the beginning. And the Bee continues to encouraging folks to use this site which will lead to more frustration.
The website idea is very good so -

Please save this website!

I must have missed your questions. Send 'em my way through a private message on the site, reply to this or e-mail at jward@fresnobee.com.

Sorry about the missed questions.

Jennifer Ward
Interactive Media Editor
Work: 441.6363
AIM: JenniferFresno

I'm beginning to get just the tiniest bit frustrated with this site. I've asked a couple of questions now, and it appears nobody is monitoring the site to answer my questions. Of course the "FAQ" and "Contact us" links aren't working, so no possibility of an answer there... This could be a fun site, but if nobody is taking care of it, it's going to die.

I was thinking the exact same thing when I was exploring this site. SO much potential but I am unable to get anywhere and in turn it's very frustrating. Like you, looking for more backyard pictures and I was unable to do so. I also tried to look at the "FAQ" and "contact us" link and all I had gotten was "page not found". :(