I really appreciate all of the improvements that TER has made over the years. IMHO, it's BY FAR the best site for this hobby.

However, there a few additional features I'd like to see:

1. The ability to rate reviews. There's a huge difference between a good review and a bad one. I'd rather read one detailed, thoughtful review by an established, reputable hobbyist than a dozen of the thoughtless, boilerplate reviews that people submit for free access. I'd be cool if we could rate reviews like you can on Amazon, so that you could then feature the most helpful reviews first.  As an extra bonus, you could make "earning" free access much smarter. You don't get free access for a single approved review - you only get access if enough other members find your review actually informative and useful. (That would reduce the number of fake/boilerplate reviews).

2. The ability for reviewers to earn "reputation" scores. Let's face it - there are many people on this board who've been hobbying for YEARS, and have seen dozens of providers. The know the hobby, and they know how to rate a provider. They participate in the local discussion boards. Their opinions are VALUABLE. On the other hand, their are reviewers who are pretty darn naive. I'm much more interested in the opinions of the most knowledgeable reviewers than I am the new guy who just submitted a boilerplate review for free access. If you had this feature, then you could highlight those reviews that came from the most reputable, knowledgeable reviewers. As a bonus - this could make moderating/approving reviews much easier. Highly rated members could have reviews/message board posts immediately approved; only low-rated members submissions would require moderation. You could also provide additional perks for high-rated members.

3. "Advanced" statistics on providers. The TER review system is VERY good, and VERY detailed. However, there are some relatively simple things that would make it better. For example - let's say that you allowed us to rate reviews based on how useful, thoughtful or detailed they were. Then, let's say that you also implement a member "reputation score". This would allow us to identify those providers that were consistently receiving the highest ratings from the reviewers with the highest reputations. That would really be awesome, and would help truly identify the best providers.

4. A calendar for visiting providers. On the new ad boards, providers tell us when they're visiting our city. However, some providers tell us weeks in advance; others, a day or two beforehand. However, there's no easy way for me to see WHO'S IN TOWN TODAY - I have to read through back through a few weeks of posts, trying to figure out who's in town when. A local calendar would make this MUCH easier.

Thanks for your consideration.