This is NOT a DRILL.... This is message one of several to follow, designed to prepare you for the changes coming concerning the FORUM SOFTWARE we currently use and the SEEMLESS TRANSFER to the software we will be moving to soon.
Now, we use PhpBB, it has served us well for 2.5 years, but it is time to put it to death and move on to a MUCH BETTER program which has many of the following features:
For Users:
*You will seemless move to the new program, all your posts will move as well as your avatars.
*You will have many new posting features and options, creating dynamic looking posts.
*You will have easy image posting and free/interactive image storage.
*You will be able to easily send messages to mods and admins through hot keys allowing you to report poor or unwanted behaviour of other members or spammers.
*You will receive special rating (ranking) from 1 to 5 stars based on your participation levels.
*Many features which will make your time spent here
For Admin and Mods:
We will have dozens of new features for expelling any spammers, easily track posts by members we receive complaints on.
We can thread scrolling messages to keep you update on events.
We can mention club meetings and post newletters.
We can BULK DELETE pages of spammers (say they are carried over from the existing software) within minutes, we can delete all spammers, literally 50 at a time.
Features TOO RICH to describe - all designed to make YOUR EXPERIENCE exactly what it always should have been, hassle free, family friendly and commercial free.
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POST NOW IF YOU HAVER POSTED BEFORE
To members who have joined, yet never posted (and using the new interface I see that there are HUNDREDS of you, many who have logged in recently, you really need to POST at least ONE MESSAGE in ANY FORUM so that you aresegregated from the NON-POSTERS who are going to be eliminated during the change.
My point, we are not only moving, but I want to eliminated unnecessary content, such as 1) posts never answered to 2) members who have never posted 3) members who have registered but never logged in and finally 4) posts greater than 2 years old (this latter one may never have to happen as long as we have a good active membership) and not hundred and hundreds of members who are either no longer with us or never went beyond the sign up process.
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Your existing username and password will work, your avatar will be the same, all your posts and replies will be there, the only difference is that the pages will look a little different, but friendlier to use and more feature rich.
Estimated time of Arrival ( hopefully within 2 week or less ) prepare yourself by making sure you have your password ready to sign-in. You should have the option now to have it auto-emailed to you, so if you are not sure what it is - get it now and write it down.
NEW MEMBERS will be going through a registration process including decyphering a 6 letter jumble text/numeric code they need to type to get through the registration system - this will be the FIRST FIREWALL to keeping spammers out - the second is hand-picking out people who go through the registration JUST to hand post spam links in the forums. These people will be eliminated immediately and I feel confident that the membership numbers REFLECT the actual people and not an inflated number that gives validity to spammers - we will again be a closer group, with a real community of members and AS ALWAYS "The BIGGEST LITTLE BEE FORUM ON THE INTERNET!"
Peace and preparation. You will receive several more notices prior to the BIG MOVE, but be aware, it is closer that you may expect, do not expect November to end before the move is complete - it should not be anywhere near that long. So make sure your username and passwords are in order and post if you haven't, otherwise, just wait for next announcement and wish us a speedy and sucessful transition.