Well, I don't know... I kinda like the glowing gold aura idea!
It's up to Matt and the other mods, but I've always liked the fact that the News forum stays clean and the news links stand alone. It allows every news story to remain in the chronological sequence in which it was posted. If you allow replies to news topics, then the more actively discussed news topics will constantly be pushed to the top of the forum index-- maybe it should be that way, I don't know. But I like the fact that the latest headlines are always at the top of the index.
Just my personal opinion, and no--- it needn't be accompanied by a glowing gold aura.
