I’m not sure how VB works, but I have a question. Can we set the Member type as a ranking, which get’s displayed on the 2nd row, while simply entering the default title to be blank space?
For example:
When folks have custom titles enabled they look like this:
xash
Keeper of the Keys
Administrator
Kunilou
Asker of the Obvious
Charter Member
Newperson
Working Their Way Up
Member
And when their custom title expires they revert to this:
But that’s the thing. Any changes to Charter Members apply to either ALL Charter Members, or NO Charter Members. There are no title options for Charter Members who are also Custom Title Members. And that’s even assuming bold fonts (or any other suggested changes) were agreed upon, but I’m not addressing any of those issues for now.
You don’t lose the tag, you can proudly display it any time you want. You can even do a Mon/Wed/Sat Charter Member, and Sun/Tue/Thu custom title. Fridays are casual, so you go with whatever your mood strikes that day. I’m half-joking, but you get the point.
You can see two lines in my title. I would actually prefer not displaying my Admin title, because it takes away from any jokes in my title.
It would probably work initially when you start your subscription, but when your subscription ends it would get all screwy because of the way vB handles subscription expiry and restoration.
Besides, it would just look clumsy. We tried it with admin/mod titles and didn’t like it at all, so I doubt we’re going to adopt it even if it did work.
It looks like the solution is to put the words “Charter Member” in our custom titles.
Kunilou
Charter Member, Advocate of Obvious Solutions
Of course, I guess there’s nothing to stop any old poster from claiming the title “charter member” (or for that matter, SDSAB, Admin, or Mod) in a custom title.
Hell, maybe when my current subscription expires, I should just buy a custom title and be done with it.
Note that you have a 30 character limit. So even if you were allowed to do this (which you aren’t), you’d be left with:
Kunilou
Charter Member, Advocate of Ob
Which is why none one those are available options.
If you decide to let your Charter Member subscription expire, and then purchase a Custom Title subscription, you’re going to have to first buy a regular membership and then a custom title subscription, which will end up costing you $8 per year more than if you just bought a custom title subscription while your Charter Member subscription was active.
Assuming that you would like to retain the privilege of Charter Member for as long as you are an active member at the SDMB, and you’re interested in a custom title, there is no reason to wait until your Charter Member subscription expires. You might as well go in for a custom title now, and join in the fun.
Not sure this is the place, or if I should dare to ask, but - how many Charter Members are we down to, at present? Thousands? Hundreds? Less than a hundred?
We do not discuss subscription numbers – or any numbers, as a general rule – the Straight Dope is owned by a privately held company that does not usually disclose information.
Of course we’d always like to see more subscribers, regardless of the current totals. .
I agree. Others may not, and that’s their prerogative, but I like having the “Charter Member” honorific. Custom titles are a way for the board to generate a little money, and that’s cool. I’m not clever or creative enough to come up with something interesting, but I’ll pony up the eight bucks just to support the board.
But not if it means I lose “Charter Member.” Sorry if that seems silly to some of you.
There was sufficient demand (as seen from the poll responses) to make researching this in more detail worthwhile, and I was able to figure out a way to do this without a hack, and without messing up the titles of Charter Members who do not purchase a custom title subscription.
Hopefully more of you will now join us in custom title fun.
