I understand that the goal is to increase participation and conversation in this forum by having a 30 post minimum to gain access to the story section. However it would have been nice to have been able to finish one of the few stories that those of us under 30 posts were actually able to engage in and enjoy.

I started out the same place you are right now. Spend some time looking for new pictures and posting the urls to them. There are many places to look for good pictures. Try facebook, instagram, or any of the other social media places. Try looking for video's. Write a story if that is something you like to do. Find movies with braces in them. [u]Do not complain about the rules here, that will not get you approved for the story section. [/u]

Contribute to the group in a constructive way. No one is forcing you do be a member of this forum. If you do not like the rules, you do not have to stay.

There are lots of stories available after you contribute to this group. Have patience. Help make this a good place to be.

There are over 50 stories currently available to members who are actively contributing.

Braceface2015

I'm not complaining, I'm just noting that this rule has never made sense. If the organizers of this site don't like constructive criticism, oh well.

Policies and rules should be revisited and evaluated, and it's pretty clear the "reward for contributions" structure hasn't worked. Why not just admit it? My suspicion is there would be many more than 50 stories here, after however many years (is this site 10 years old now?) if they weren't hidden away where nobody can find them and if they weren't limited by a random regulation. The main stories YOU have are STILL the ones that have been kicking around since before this site was started.

And it obviously doesn't work effectively as an incentive to get more image/video posts – the vast majority of those are by one person, with a scant handful of others every week, most also longtime contributors. The super poster clearly loves doing it, since s/he doesn't need more posts to get access, and the others have specific interests. That's great, and I am grateful for their efforts. But this message board clearly hasn't changed the poster-lurker divide. It would make more sense, at this point, after this many years, to admit that some people like to find and post images and others don't.

Even an amateur review of the posts and who posts them makes it quite clear that the policy hasn't been successful.

Disappointing is an understatement! Allowing people to indulge in content such as stories, which most have all seemed to disappear from the net, would in my opinion would encourage more forum interaction. But rules are rules!

Yes, I also think it should stay.