# Charter status gone. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447 "2009-07-18T16:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/1 "2009-07-18T16:17:49Z")
SDMB - It’s not that important. But… since I have been here for 8 years, and since I have been paying for my membership for the last 4 years or so, I would appreciate it if you would return my membership status to charter member. There must be a DB problem. Charter status is not that important, other than when I see it, I know people have been here for a while. And that was offered when I signed up. Thank you for correcting this. enipla. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/2 "2009-07-18T17:04:57Z")
It looks like you missed the resubscription window by a day or so and got back in too late to retain Charter Membership. This is why you are no longer a Charter Member. **To retain Charter Member status you must resubscribe before the membership expires.** There was no grace period this year, a fact that was widely advertised in advance of the closing of the Charter Member expiration window. You are not a Charter Member. I’m sorry you missed out. ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/3 "2009-07-18T17:24:46Z")
Wow, that seems rather doctrinaire. I’m not trying to pick a fight and this doen’t involve me at all but - wow. I’m just saying is all. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/4 "2009-07-18T17:44:44Z")
Per previous discussions here, admins have no ability to change it back. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/5 "2009-07-18T19:11:53Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#): > > Wow, that seems rather doctrinaire. > > I’m not trying to pick a fight and this doen’t involve me at all but - wow. > > I’m just saying is all. The administrators and moderators here do not make these conditions. We do have to deal with the consequences, though, as in this case. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/6 "2009-07-18T19:16:49Z")
Seems to me that one could just go into the database and edit the title field in someone’s user record. It’s actually strange that the claim is made that this can’t be changed no one has called anyone on it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/7 "2009-07-18T19:34:12Z")
See [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11210789&postcount=98) for an explanation of why this won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/8 "2009-07-18T19:35:24Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > Seems to me that one could just go into the database and edit the title field in someone’s user record. It’s actually strange that the claim is made that this can’t be changed no one has called anyone on it. What makes you think the board admins have access to the database? The only time they’re willing to change it back is if you re-subscribed on time and some technical problem prevented it from working correctly. In that case Jerry has to do it, and rumor is he’s quite busy. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/9 "2009-07-18T23:35:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > See [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11210789&postcount=98) for an explanation of why this won’t work. I figured it might be something like that, but why can’t a subscription date be changed? For example, I’m a Charter Member and I have to renew by April 15. April 15 comes and goes and I lose the status, but I remember on April 20 and immediately renew the subscription, but lose my Charter Member status. Why can’t the staff just change my subscription date to April 15? It seems like a very easy problem to fix, to me. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/10 "2009-07-18T23:37:29Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > What makes you think the board admins have access to the database? > > The only time they’re willing to change it back is if you re-subscribed on time and some technical problem prevented it from working correctly. In that case Jerry has to do it, and rumor is he’s quite busy. I don’t know that the board admins (not moderators) have or don’t have access. Like I wrote above, it seems like it’s a pretty easy problem to fix… at least to put in a mechanism that makes it easy for the administrators. But yeah, Jerry’s busy fixing the search engine. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/11 "2009-07-18T23:55:30Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > I figured it might be something like that, but why can’t a subscription date be changed? For example, I’m a Charter Member and I have to renew by April 15. April 15 comes and goes and I lose the status, but I remember on April 20 and immediately renew the subscription, but lose my Charter Member status. Why can’t the staff just change my subscription date to April 15? > > It seems like a very easy problem to fix, to me. The only problem here is people’s lack of responsibility. Renew the subscription before a specified date and you get your “charter member”. Otherwise, tough shit. Where’s the problem? I also see an easy fix, it’s not the same as yours though. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/12 "2009-07-19T00:19:13Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > The only problem here is people’s lack of responsibility. Renew the subscription before a specified date and you get your “charter member”. Otherwise, tough shit. Where’s the problem? That’s the crux of if. Everybody gets a trophy just doesn’t work with this. Renew on time. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/13 "2009-07-19T17:55:27Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > I figured it might be something like that, but why can’t a subscription date be changed? For example, I’m a Charter Member and I have to renew by April 15. April 15 comes and goes and I lose the status, but I remember on April 20 and immediately renew the subscription, but lose my Charter Member status. Why can’t the staff just change my subscription date to April 15? > > It seems like a very easy problem to fix, to me. As stated before it’s two different subscription databases. We can manually put people in the Charter Member group all day long but those registrations are filtered out every night when the expiration/verification script runs. If a Charter Member allows their subscription to expire that registration passes out of the Charter Member database. That subscription cannot be returned to the Charter Member database by an administrator or a moderator. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/14 "2009-07-19T17:59:26Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > I don’t know that the board admins (not moderators) have or don’t have access. Like I wrote above, it seems like it’s a pretty easy problem to fix… at least to put in a mechanism that makes it easy for the administrators. But yeah, Jerry’s busy fixing the search engine. 😉 Well, let me enlighten you. Neither administrators nor moderators are able to restore Charter Member status once it has expired. And what Jerry is doing – or not, as the case may be – has nothing to do with any of this. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/15 "2009-07-19T19:27:47Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > For example, I’m a Charter Member and I have to renew by April 15. April 15 comes and goes and I lose the status, but I remember on April 20 and immediately renew the subscription, but lose my Charter Member status. Why can’t the staff just change my subscription date to April 15? The fundamental reason is _that wasn’t the agreement_. The agreement was if you don’t renew on time, you lose that status _permanently_. What is so hard to understand about that? (BTW I’m a former Charter Member. I _chose_ to revert to Guest status.) ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/16 "2009-07-19T20:53:34Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > The fundamental reason is _that wasn’t the agreement_. The agreement was if you don’t renew on time, you lose that status _permanently_. What is so hard to understand about that? (BTW I’m a former Charter Member. I _chose_ to revert to Guest status.) Um, there’s nothing fucking hard to understand about that. I was just wondering if there was a way to help someone out. But fuck them, right? ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/17 "2009-07-19T20:54:47Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Well, let me enlighten you. Neither administrators nor moderators are able to restore Charter Member status once it has expired. > > And what Jerry is doing – or not, as the case may be – has nothing to do with any of this. Thanks for the enlightenment. It’s obvious that this is clearly a people issue, not a technical one. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/18 "2009-07-19T20:58:19Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > Um, there’s nothing fucking hard to understand about that. I was just wondering if there was a way to help someone out. > > But fuck them, right? Well, yeah. Why should they get special perks, when they screwed around, despite all the messages and postings, and didn’t bother to renew on time? Boo hoo. It’s just a freaking title. You snooze, you lose. (Hell, if it weren’t for the discount, I’d wait out the Charter period to lose the title on purpose, just because of all this bullshit) ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/19 "2009-07-19T21:08:27Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well, yeah. Why should they get special perks, when they screwed around, despite all the messages and postings, and didn’t bother to renew on time? > > Boo hoo. It’s just a freaking title. You snooze, you lose. > (Hell, if it weren’t for the discount, I’d wait out the Charter period to lose the title on purpose, just because of all this bullshit) The discount means that much to you, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447/20 "2009-07-19T21:31:30Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well, yeah. Why should they get special perks, when they screwed around, despite all the messages and postings, and didn’t bother to renew on time? > > Boo hoo. It’s just a freaking title. You snooze, you lose. > (Hell, if it weren’t for the discount, I’d wait out the Charter period to lose the title on purpose, just because of all this bullshit) There’s no bigger discount than paying nothing, why not do that? Surely you know of the ways to block ads yourself? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charter-status-gone/503447.md?page=2)