I don't know (but would be interested to know) what your routine is on arriving at the Monestary. I normally shamble in here after working intensively in a mad solipsistic way for several hours, and the first thing I do is head into the New Nodes refectory and look at the SOPWs to see if there's something I can help with. After all, it is more blessed to give than to receive, I always reckon :)

If I have anything to offer I offer it, and then I'm down to Mediations, roam around a bit, saunter into the CB, check my mail and so on. Very therapeutic.

The only drawback is, it's a real schlep to look at *all* the SOPWs. We all know the monastery can be a bit slow (and we all know how to do something about that). But how else can I find out whether there's anything left for me to do? So in practice what I'll do is look at the first four or five I think I know something about, but ignore those further down the list. Even if I know how to answer the question, there are bound to be several good answers already, aren't there?

So what I thought was, it would be rather jolly if it were possible (though I don't know how these things get done) if one of the following were the case:

• each SOPW had a number in brackets next to it showing how many responses there had been
• SOPWs that had no responses were in bold or surrounded with fairy lights or something
• SOPWs with no answers were under a separate header at the top of the Newest Nodes page, dropping down into the main SOPW section when they've received (one? or two?) responses

§ George Sherston

PS Whilst writing this, it occurs to me that I could always glance down at the bottom of the page to see whether / by whom a node has been answered. So perhaps this is not such a useful idea. But I still think it would help concentrate effort where needed, and help avoid that sad lost feeling you get when your SOPW has fallen back to eighth in the queue with nary a bite.

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