Missing Board Posters

[Chief]

I am wondering where some former posters to this Board have gone. The barber in Arizona, the guy in Kansas who lived near Washburn University, the tax preparer in Florida who lived in Sebring. Let us hear from you.

[Ricardo]

Hey Chief (aka Billy O)

I'm still around and mostly reading and learning. I'm close to Kansas University not Washburn.

Regards - Ricardo (The guy from Kansas).

[Chief]

Ricardo

it's good tohear from you. Hope you had a very good and successful season. Are you at Emporia. It has been a long time since I've been in Kansas.

[taxmom34]

Kram BergGold has been missing for a while also, from mass. curious if too busy or ill?

[Ricardo]

Chief

Yes - season was good - clientele is diminishing due to attrition ( nice word for aging ).
Many have been with me since I began, in the fifties. I'm about out of here also.
I'm twelve miles from Lawrence, Ks.

Regards - Ricardo

[taxea]

Some have moved to a forum restricted to professional preparers. I have seen them there. Can't tell you about the ones you asked about without their "handle".

[oceanlovin'ea]

professional

Aren't we professional?
I think most of the posters on this board are very professional and knowledgeable. I appreciate that they are on this board and share their wealth of knowledge with us.

Linda

[taxea]

Aren't we professional?
I think most of the posters on this board are very professional and knowledgeable. I appreciate that they are on this board and share their wealth of knowledge with us.

Linda

Many are pro's but the tax book does not weed out DIYers and does not give us any way of determining the level of a poster's knowledge.

[geekgirldany]

I agree with TaxEa.

Also include that this forum is picked up by the search engines. One thing I wish could be stopped. I like to go into detail on my questions and postings. That is why I sometimes later go back and trim them down after the discussion and add "for privacy" because anyone can view this forum.

[Gretel]

Curious. With board is restricted to professionals?

[Bees Knees]

Many are pro's but the tax book does not weed out DIYers and does not give us any way of determining the level of a poster's knowledge.

How can anyone restrict their board to pro's only. Is there some kind of secret pro password I'm not aware of?

[Bees Knees]

I agree with TaxEa.

Also include that this forum is picked up by the search engines. One thing I wish could be stopped. I like to go into detail on my questions and postings. That is why I sometimes later go back and trim them down after the discussion and add "for privacy" because anyone can view this forum.

Even if this board was for pros only, IRS regulations prohibit you from disclosing client information to other pros, unless they work for you in your firm. You NEVER should want to give enough detail about a client where someone else might guess who you are talking about. Even if you were to send me a private email, you can't disclose who your client is, their address, or any other information that might give me a hint as to who they are.

[JohnH]

There's probably no way to restrict it entirely, but you could require the entry of a CAF number as a part of the registration process. If anyone didn't provide one in the proper format, then they'd have to go through a second level of verification in order to participate.

[Bees Knees]

There's probably no way to restrict it entirely, but you could require the entry of a CAF number as a part of the registration process. If anyone didn't provide one in the proper format, then they'd have to go through a second level of verification in order to participate.

When this board first went to being password protected, it was stated that the reason why it is being restricted to customers of TheTaxBook is because this board is being hosted by a company that is in the business of selling books. This message board is offered as an additional free service to customers who have purchased a book from the host company. If the board allowed people with a CAF number to register, or people with an EA number to register, or people with the new tax preparer registration number to log on, not all of these people would be customers of TheTaxBook.

Given the fact that you have to have TTB in order to participate on this board, that automatically makes you a more informed participant.

[JohnH]

Bees: I should have acknowledged in my post the fact that buying the Tax Book was the fundamental requirement for participating in the Forum. Guess I just assumed everyone here already knew that. I was simply pointing out that there are convenient ways of further restricting it if you chose to do so, but I wasn't advocating one way or the other. Fact is, I like the forum just the way you guys have set it up. Thanks for all you do.