Dave Baker

Thanks, Michael! When you say it doesn't work, do you mean that you get the (mostly obnoxious and unhelpful) page that says Sorry, an error occurred. If you are unsure on how to use a feature, or don't know why you got this error message, try looking through the help files for more information. The error returned was: Sorry, but we did not find any matches to display. Try again and broaden your search criteria. If you were searching for new posts since your last visit, it's possible that there are none to show.

Hi folks, first let me apologize for being so scarce on the message boards. I am very sorry to be so long in posting to this message thread. I am sorry the software is presenting some "issues" (as Microsoft might say). Regarding the Views stat for each message thread, I think I fixed it a little while back. (At one time, the software was rebuilding the Views only once every blue moon, rather than incrementing the Views immediately. I later changed a software setting.) So when one views the front page for any particular forum (e.g., the 401(k) message board at http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showforum=20), the Views stat next to each of the listed message threads should be up to the minute. The wrinkle is that your web browser might be caching that page, such that viewing a message thread and then using your browser's "back" button/key to return to that message board's front page won't show X+1 views of that message thread. To bypass the cache while the page is on your screen, hit the Control-F5 combination of keys on your Internet Explorer or Firefox. Regarding the display of information about new content, I am so sorry that the software makes such a mess of it while it tries to be all things to all browsers. As mentioned earlier in this message thread, a nice straightforward way to see some recent content is to click on "Today's active topics" towards the bottom of the front page of the message boards. The same link appears on the BenefitsLink.com menu (stretching horizontally across the top of all pages except the message boards) under Discussion -> Message Boards -> Latest Messages. You might want to click on the following link (even though it looks like it's garbled) and then bookmark it once you get there, or create a shortcut on your desktop: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?a...;CODE=getactive By "new content," I mean a list of all message threads that either were created during the past 24 hours or that existed 24 hours ago but have had one or more messages added to them. I apologize for the inconsistent terminology (today's active topics = latest messages). (Note: You can see topics active over a period longer than 24 hours. First go to the page that shows active topics over the past 24 hours. Then scroll to the bottom right part of that page and look for a dropdown box labeled "Get active topics for: " -- You can select "this week" or "past 2 weeks" etc. and then click the adjacent Go button.) The other way to get information about new content, as you know from understandable frustration, is the "View New Posts" link that appears toward the top right part of most pages (but only if you're logged in). This produces a list of message threads that were created since your last "visit" or that existed at the time of your last visit but have been modified (i.e., have had one or more reply messages added to them). You'll notice, on the front page of the message boards (at http://benefitslink.com/boards/ ), a phrase towards the top left part of the page that says something like "Welcome back; your last visit was: Nov 23 2012, 01:47 PM". The View New Posts link is supposed to show you a list of the message threads created or modified after that time, if it's working correctly. (Strangely, that date and time shown as your last visit is updated even if you weren't logged in when you last viewed the message boards, and even if you're not logged at the time of viewing the front page of the Message Boards. Essentially the software is recording the fact that somebody sat down on that particular machine and looked at some page on the message boards at the date and time shown as the last visit.) If you log out of the message boards using the Log Out link, the date and time at which you log out will become the date of time of your "last visit." When you next view the message boards, the View New Posts feature would show you only the message threads that have been created or modified since that log-out time and date. So if the View New Posts feature is important to you, you wouldn't want to log out until you're sure you've looked at any of the message threads listed by View New Posts. I think the gotcha is that the message board software tries to do something special for the user who browses the message boards each morning, leaves the browser open without logging out, and then browses the message boards again each afternoon. When the first page is viewed in the morning on Day 2, the View New Posts feature shows message threads that were created or modified since the afternoon of Day 1. When the user sits down in the afternoon on Day 2, the View New Posts feature only shows messages threads that were added or modified since the user began browsing the message board that morning; this is because 3600 or more seconds have passed since the time at which the user last viewed a page on the message boards. Essentially the software considers you to be visiting a second time if it's been more than an hour since some page was generated for you by the message board software. What's happening to some users, I think, is the View New Posts link works "right" when you first use the message boards in the morning on Day 2 (let's say 9:08 AM). Let's also say that you view a few messages and that the last message is viewed at 9:17 AM. Time passes. If you haven't viewed another page by 10:17 AM then if you click on View New Posts it no longer works "right" because you're shown only message threads that were created or modified after 9:08 AM. This occurs because 3600 or more seconds have elapsed since the last time the software generated a page for you. Essentially the 10:17 click is the start of a new "visit," such that 9:08 AM was the time at which your last "visit" occurred, and the View New Posts function assumes that you want to see only messages since 9:08 AM. The messages from before 9:08 AM are considered old. I could set the 3600 figure to be some higher number such as 7200 (2 hours), but it probably needs to be set at something in that vicinity in order for the View New Posts function to work the way most people expect when they sit down later in the day or on the next day. The probable reason the "back" button seems to show the "right" results on the View New Posts results page even at 10:17 AM or later is that your browser is showing you a cached version of that page -- it's displaying for you a second time the version of the page that was generated for you earlier in the morning. If, however, you click on the View New Posts link, the software queries its database and generates a new page showing results as of that second and your browser almost certainly will show those results rather than showing the cached version from earlier that morning. (By the way, if the results of the View New Posts link aren't "right" then one thing you might want to do is go to the lower right part of that page, where you'll see the dropdown box for "Show active topics:" described above. At least that's a way to see all message threads created or modified in the past day or past week, etc., in reverse chronological order, even though the resulting list isn't specific to the last time you visited the boards.) But I might be wrong about some of this. The documentation for this version of the software is weak, and my research on Google indicates other boards with this version of the software have had trouble with the View New Posts function. The newest version of the software purports to have an improved version of the whole business of displaying new content (click). It sounds like it offers some enhancements, although I'm not sure the underlying method of tracking "visits" has been changed. They've also changed "View New Posts" to "View New Content" for certain reasons. What I'd like to do is upgrade the software to the newest version (a move from version 2.x to version 3.x), in order to see if it is better in this regard, and in order to take advantage of some anti-spam features available only in the new version. The spammers have been hitting the current message boards hard, resulting in bogus registrations that are inflating the number of registered users and that result in spam messages on the boards from time to time. I'd also feel better having the most recent version in order to be sure that all of the potential security issues have been addressed. I can try to make the site appear as similar as possible to the current site in order to minimize disruption, but there certainly will be some new stuff to get used to. Is everybody OK with needing to do some relearning in order to get the benefits of an upgrade?

At the ASPPA conference I met a delightful couple who run Benefit Insights, Inc., who told me about their product called SecureFileX. I believe Janice Wegesin is using it. It's basically a custom secure (https://) web page created for your firm, with an "upload" button. You give your client the URL of the page, the client uses its web browser to navigate to the page, the client clicks the upload button, and then the client's web browser presents the standard dialog box used to specify a file for uploading, such as a confidential Word document on the client's PC, a census data file on the PC, etc. Once the file is uploaded to the secure server, it's available for you to download it using standard secure FTP (I think; I didn't see that part demonstrated). benefit-insights.com Dave

Just a reminder that a policy on the message boards is the prohibition against posting of articles published elsewhere. Thanks. (Back reference: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?s...8057&st=40)

http://benefitslink.com/localsearch/result...MYDB&sort=2 http://benefitslink.com/links/20110708-086535.html http://benefitslink.com/localsearch/result...retirement+plan

It's because members have complained about posts seeking book co-authors or contributors. Such posts recently had been happening over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... in a fairly obvious attempt to bump message threads onto the recently-posted listing, and to see that people get the message over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. It's obnoxious, and it's free advertising rather than being a single appropriate announcement made among peers. This policy admittedly affects many potential members, but it is a fairly clear way to avoid recurrence of the problem. Could you propose a more narrowly crafted rule that would address the problem?

New policy -- no messages allowed that solicit membership in organizations, such as "Apply to join Widgets-Experts.org" Moderators, please delete such messages. Thanks for participating on the BenefitsLink.com message boards!

New policy -- No messages allowed that consist solely or primarily of lists of topics with a reference to another web site, such as "419,412i, captive insurance, section 79 scams ............ www.tax-some-other-site.com for more" The BenefitsLink.com message boards are for discussions of questions and answers on this web site. Moderators, please delete such messages. Thanks to everyone for participating on the BenefitsLink.com message boards!

Heard from Kirk the other day about a moderation feature he needed some details about, so he's still on frequency :-) Anyone like to join him as a co-moderator of this message board?

Please do not post messages seeking people to participate as a co-author or contributor to a book.

These folks advertise on BenefitsLink: BeneCom Associates, LLC http://www.benecomassociates.com/ See also http://www.dollarcompensationstatements.com/ - listed in the BenefitsLink Vendor Directory

Yes -- View results for 'breast pump' on BenefitsLink.com

Egad, an imposter. I am interested, though, in what kind of convention it was. Retirees from a particular corporation? Or an association of some sort? Dave

Are you confusing me with someone else, Lance? I don't think we've met, and don't sponsor conventions, but I forgot something else once. I think.

This is not helpful.

Generally not, but it is not uncommon for a publisher to require an author to assign his copyright to the publisher as a condition for publishing the work. (The publisher wants exclusivity, doesn't want a competitor also publishing the work, wants to know it's the first one to publish the work, etc.) No.

I apologize for my arrogance -- I have the key to most of the buttons and levers that run the software, but it's everybody's community. Thanks for these great comments. My frustration is with the continued frequent posting of the full text of articles that have been printed in magazines. First, I don't know whether the magazine publisher would permit it. Second, publication of articles is not consistent with the purpose of the message boards. Third, the articles that have been published tend to be have highly promotional aspects, which again is not consistent with the purpose of the message boards. Fourth, the articles generally are from past issues of the magazines, not concerning breaking news. And several users of the message boards have written to me to express their frustration and displeasure with what's been happening. Hence my goal in setting a "policy" is to be clear and public as to what's out of bounds, and to encourage moderators to enforce it. So the proposed policy is: "No posting of reprints of the full text of articles published elsewhere. (Government documents are not considered articles.)" What do you think?

New policy: No posting of reprints from articles published elsewhere. Moderators, please delete any such messages. Thanks, Dave Baker Administrator

Mygosh, is it 2011 already? Thanks for the report!

This is a lot like other IRS year-end announcements in years past, in which a last-minute extension is granted for a document amendment but until that time the lawyers and others are spitting out documents that get Fed Ex'ed to clients and otherwise slaving over a hot keyboard. The extensions are wonderful but definitely bittersweet. It would be an interesting story -- though probably not enough to be the plot of a movie -- to know all the details about how the decision was made inside the IRS to add Form 5500 to the list of exempt forms. I expect form preparers in other industries are similarly relieved about seeing other forms on the list, but also unhappy about needing to assume compliance was required with the IRS regulations. Form 5500 is filed by employee benefit plans that are not retirement plans, as well. Must be a lot of relieved self-insured group health plan sponsors out there. It sounds like ASPPA did a good job in its lobbying, and might have been the key player in getting the successful result. In the end, "the feds has got the A-bomb," so we're all subject to the way the bureaucracies operate. And maybe the training was a Good Thing for plan sponsors and for TPAs for whom potential mistakes by staff were reduced (reducing the risk of liability for resulting damages), even though in hindsight the training was not required?

From today's BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter: [Official Guidance] Text of IRS Notice 2011-6: Form 5500 Declared Exempt from PTIN Requirement (PDF) 14 pages. Excerpt: "An individual must obtain a PTIN to prepare for compensation all or substantially all of any form except those specifically identified by the IRS as not subject to the requirements of sec. 1.6109-2. At this time, the IRS identifies the following forms as not subject to the requirements of sec. 1.6109-2: . . . . Form 5300, Application for Determination for Employee Benefit Plan; Form 5307, Application for Determination for Adopters of Master or Prototype or Volume Submitter Plans; Form 5310, Application for Determination for Terminating Plan; Form 5500 series; . . . . Form 8717 User Fee for Employee Plan Determination, Opinion, and Advisory Letter Request; . . . ." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

The BenefitsLink.com search engine has some hits: search results for: 401(k) or 401k and (benchmark or survey) (Note: To get to the BenefitsLink.com search engine, go to the BenefitsLink.com home page first, via the "To BenefitsLink.com home page" link at the top left of these message boards pages, rather than the "Search" link at the top right of these message boards pages.)

The software would accommodate posts by unregistered members, but I needed to turn it off in order to slow down the spammers. For the same reason, no more than one username can be registered under a particular email address. What you can do, though, is get a free hotmail email address (or gmail or yahoo, etc.) and then register another username (e.g., "anonymous8720"). When you register another username, you must specify an email address (to which a click-here-to-confirm email is sent in order to complete the registration), so you'd specify the hotmail email address. To post a message under that username, you'd log in by entering the hotmail email address into the log-in form, rather than the email address you're currently entering when you log in. (You might need to click "Log Out" first, in order to get logged off of your current username.) Dave Baker Administrator

Very cool, Bill! I believe I can implement it, and will get on it. Dave

I am very sorry for this trouble, folks. I believe the message boards have been getting hit by a rogue piece of software somebody (not a board member) is running, which is trying to suck up all the messages at once. There is a limit to how many requests can be made at the same time. It caused the server to crash about once a day for about four days. I made an adjustment that seems to have stopped the crashes. When I restarted the server it got the date and time were wrong (Murphy's law), which I spotted (but not right away) and fixed. I hope to improve the error message that is standard under the message board software, to say something more useful than "database error." Generally the database is not working at all when that occurs. IPS is the name of the company that makes the software, which is why that word appears in the error message. Please feel free to email me at davebaker@benefitslink.com if you see this error or if the message boards have become very very slow. P.S. - If you are frustrated with the way the message board software automatically puts you into an "HTML" mode when you are posting a message, which seems to me to cause difficulty when trying to edit the text of the post before submitting it, you can click on the top right button that has two arrows chasing their tails (in the screen that appears when you click a button to post a new topic or to post a reply in an existing topic). That button puts you into a plain text mode. Thank you!