Since I have been receiving rather a lot of spam communications originating from the site, I have spent most of today attempting to revise contact forms, bolster ‘captcha’ methods, etc.

This should not affect existing visitors and only improve the experience for new visitors. However, one major decision I have just implemented is to remove the ‘Subscribe’ facility. The original intention of having a ‘subscription’ was so that regular newsletters could be sent out to members. This only happened a few times. Peter Bonnici was to have been responsible for this but sadly died. Accordingly, the only function of this facility now is to authenticate those visitors who wish to post articles or comment on existing ones. (I’m not sure if you need to be registered in order to comment.)

Most of the people registered as ‘subsribers’ have never posted or commented. Accordingly, I have now deleted all of these. (If I have removed someone who does comment or was intending imminently to do so, and you can no longer do so, please accept my apology and contact me immediately!)

The procedure now if you want to post articles is to contact me via the ‘Contact Us’ link at the bottom of the home page. This also applies if you just want to comment and find that you are not allowed. I will then manually enter your details as a subscriber or contributor. Apologies if this causes anyone any inconvenience.