Time to Update Spark People

If you're new to Sparking, this site can seem overwhelming with all its information. Jump through this hoop and earn 3 points, that hoop will earn you 5. Oh boy! You can spend hours learning and racking up points to get to another level and to spend your points giving Spark Goodies to others. When I noticed that people on certain boards were posting after every other entry, I knew they were spending too much time on the computer and little time on meal planning or exercise. I don't often have that problem anymore.

Nowadays I have difficulty finding a new entry at the Daily Spark. I've watched them all--many, many times. I'd like to see something new. Who is in charge of posting different videos?

There used to be videos of recipe preparation that would pop up daily. Not sure what happened to that, but I did get tired of watching Chef Meg giving the same old demonstration. Is she still posting ... or still working for Spark People?

On the daily email for Spark Recipes, is there a huge board at which people throw darts to decide what will be posted? Yesterday was Valentine's Day. After the main recipe offering was a recipe of End-of-Summer Salad. Um, it's February. Lately, there have been recipes more appropriate for Halloween or Independence Day

Some Spark articles have been there for well over a decade. I was delighted when I no longer had to "turn" a page and could continue to scroll down and read an entire article. That was a plus, although some of the articles haven't been put into the new format; but has anyone checked the old articles and updated the information or even edited the grammar or spelling? Trivia questions derived from the information in those articles are on the same hit-or-miss rotation as the recipes, so much so that there is a board with the correct answers to which you can refer.

One thing that I didn't understand was why an exercise video might be imbedded in an article (and be the main reason for the article) and after exercising with the video, there was no way to get the points for your effort. If Spark People partnering with an exercise guru helps both parties, why not help out the people who participate in the exercise?

It is the member blogs and interactions that breathe life into this site. We have some fantastic bloggers who blog almost daily and are so entertaining. Personally, I have read "Germans, as in dogs" and "himself" and "Lord, love a duck" and "the big butt" to excess. Surely there is another blogger who could be featured. If you want to read the same phrases day after day, subscribe to her blog.

As far as what Spark People originators have put into the site, it is rather old and left to wither on the vine. I would like to see new videos and articles. If newspaper writers can crank out articles daily, can Spark People staff writers contribute new articles at least weekly? I appreciate that they do their research and that takes time, but perhaps timely articles could be used from other publications. If it costs too much because of copyright to borrow them, could they be linked with an explanation as to their pertinence?

My point is not to complain, but to point out that the members could stand to see something new, whether that be new articles and videos, or updates to what is there. Give us a reason to stay on the site.