# Custom Title and Guest Status **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452 "2011-02-15T15:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/1 "2011-02-15T15:35:09Z")
I just got the following in an email. > [@](#): > > Your access to the paid subscription “Custom Title Charter Subscription” is > about to expire… > > If you do not extend your subscription you will revert to Guest status. As a > Guest you’ll be shown banner advertising and will lose some of the privileges of > your current membership status. That can’t be right. My charter subscription doesn’t expire until next year. It’s just the title that’s ending. But this implies that if I don’t renew the title I’ll become a guest. Is this just a badly written email? Or did someone flip the wrong switches on the ENIAC and cross-wire the two so that title now affect membership instead of the reverse? ---
**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:** [February 15, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/2 "2011-02-15T15:42:20Z")
Apparently the system sends that email out to all expiring subscriptions, regardless of the type. Since we did a hack in the subscription system to accommodate custom titles, the system simply sends this heads up email by default. Your custom title is expiring; your Charter Member subscription has another expiration date. You should be able to view all these dates from the User Control Panel. Custom titles go for 8 bux a year. We hope you resubscribe. You have a nice custom title, I’d hate to see it go away. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/3 "2011-02-15T15:59:40Z")
That’s what I figured. But with the expiration coming up, everybody will be getting one of these and I thought having it cleared up in print would be helpful. Thanks for the quick answer. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/4 "2011-02-16T07:58:52Z")
You should be able to at least mess with the template to have it say, “If this is not a custom title subscription and you do not extend…” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/5 "2011-02-16T13:47:30Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Custom titles go for 8 bux a year. We hope you resubscribe. You have a nice custom title, I’d hate to see it go away. Read out loud in the right tone of voice, this could sound like a thinly veiled threat. “Hate to see anything… unpleasant… happen to that nice custom title of yours…” Hee hee 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/6 "2011-02-16T16:09:39Z")
It was a threat. She knows where he lives, and has a nice, new Louisville Slugger she wants to try out. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/7 "2011-02-16T16:31:54Z")
FYI, to change the wording, you just have to edit the variable paidsubscription\_reminder from the AdminCP. Go to Phrase Manager / Search in Phrases and type “paidsubscription\_reminder” in the Search for Text box, then change the Search in… button from “Phrase text only” to “Phrase Variable name only”. This will pop up the variables for both the email subject and the body text, with edit buttons next to them. Can I suggest changing the email to simply say something like: > [@](#): > > Dearest $username, > > One of your paid subscriptions at the SDMB is about to expire. Please check your \UserCP\ to view and manage your subscriptions. Or don’t. No one cares what you do anyway. > > Love, > $vboptions[bbtitle] (That’s not a typo in the link, you need HTML, not vB code.) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-title-and-guest-status/571452/8 "2011-02-16T17:13:01Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Read out loud in the right tone of voice, this could sound like a thinly veiled threat. > > “Hate to see anything… unpleasant… happen to that nice custom title of yours…” “Custom titles _break_, squire.” [crash!] “Aw, see now, my partner’s clumsy!”