Hi Tony,A quick glance at this forum shows:1) an increasing number of single post threads, and even more with fewer than five.2) an obvious absence of almost all the regular contributors from six months ago.3) not a single funny thread4) quite a bit of padding - "careers at"...Don't you think its time to admit that registration has killed this forum off?Or am I missing the point?

Mr Cool - thanks for the observation and disappointed that you didn't ask for some data before jumping to conclusions!Just been on to check and in the month before this change was made we had 55,000 pageviews of the forum. This last month we've had 88,000 pageviews. I think that's a pretty compelling set of numbers to say that overall readers are finding the content more accessible and more relevant.I would also add that I can't recall the last time we had to delete any content from the forum, whereas prior to the change this was a continual headache with profanities and slander running wild.I totally accept your point that the banter and witty remarks have diminished, but at the end of the day this is not Private Eye, it's a site for people to hopefully further their consulting careers. As someone who reads and contributes replies a fair bit each week, I would say the volume of quality responses to people's questions has undoubtedly gone up as a result of the changes.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

N.B. as for the "padding", the thing readers enter most when searching threads is the company name they are interested in, so we're looking to make sure that all firms are covered so that everyone leaves with at least some info about the consultancy they were looking to research.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

I for one feel the forum has finally become what it stands for unlike before where most people only came on to have a go at 'fresh' questions ie; those with some naivety. I am sure that discouraged a lot from actually asking what they really wanted to for fear of being ridiculed.If one wants to give witty answers and pass crude remarks then there are other avenues for that talent. I am sure there are more out there who now recommend and commend the Top-Consultant forum for being just what it is supposed to be.Kudos to the team for all their work in getting this forum back in shape and keeping the unwanted posters outA

I think the Aces' post proves Mr Cool's point marvellously - best to aim for the lowest common denominator, and leave humour to other avenues. This forum is now mind-numbingly dull, but clearly that appeals to some people's personalities. It's heading firmly into Q&A land, and not a water-cooler for consultants.Anyway, it would be terrible for people to be offended when called out on their uninformed but surprisingly pretentious posts - I'm sorry, I meant naive.

Was it originally intended to be an avenue for experienced consultants to come on here and have a go at others? It can always be a water cooler for consultants but you cant disagree that there were a lot of anonymous posts and posters who had nothing to contribute other than pointing fingers, passing snide remarks and demeaning the original poster.There are a lot of forums where members stick to core objectives and yet is a fun place to share a few laughs. Nothing stops consultants from doing the same here, unless I am missing something. The joke of it all is it just takes 30 seconds to register - not clear why that is a big deal for the experienced, fun and so called 'core' of this community to disappear from here?A

Hold on....the internet is (in)famous for trash-talking, and i'll argue it should be kept alive in all online media...get a good laff if nothing else.The chief villian and TC hero was ZB. I know I am not alone in saying that we miss ZB's view on ACN and IBM.Care to kick things off ZB?

Agree 100% (and sorry Tony, despite your stats it seems to me that many sensible posts struggle to attract any/many replies which wasn’t true before) BUT Tony had no choice: I spent an interesting (yes really) half hour with a barrister at the cricket a few weeks ago who made it clear that by not seeking any form of registration or validation TC were laying themselves wide open to having the a**e sued off them. Tony was criticised for aggressive policing but a) he and his team have got better things to do b) he might miss something c) if something is in the public domain even briefly his willingness to remove it doesn’t provide a defence in law, only a mitigation