Because I am paranoid.
Made sure that my email address is correct.
Took a screenhot of my Contact Info (which has my member number.
Downloaded all private messages in a txt file.
Downloaded my avatar.
A BIG THANK YOU to everybody who has been involved in the setup and testing of the new system. I’m looking forward to something to learn.
There’s also a parody version that features Kermit the Frog.
(Don’t worry, it’s just a stuffed animal, although it might warp your childhood)
I’ve been thinking about Annie a lot lately, and I’m sure she’s not the only poster with this issue.
Does anyone have her real life information? A phone number, a snail mail address, anything? I’m embarrassed to say I’ve known her for all these years and talked to her a lot and I don’t have any of that stuff. You just take it for granted that people will always be around. Until they aren’t.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
At one point I think it was under consideration but most people don’t appreciate getting stuff from us. We’ve only done it once and mostly people came to tell us how angry they were about it. Among the complaints were comments that we promised when we got your email information that we wouldn’t sell it or give it away or use it to hassle you and that’s just what that email was, an intrusion.
Not sure if that’s going to happen or not. I shall inquire.
Jenny
THIS change can only be a good thing, considering what we’ve been through lately. I’ve been around long enough to remember the change from AOL. It was different, but we got through it.
I applaud and appreciate everyone involved in this effort.
Things should be the same as they are now; some ad stuff, less if you’re a subscribing member.
The content side of the site – the column pages – will not change and are separate from all this.
It should be readily apparent to someone who has missed all this news upon their return to the SDMB that Things Have Changed.
You’ll see a box that invites you to change your password. Once you navigate that you’re good to go and the board is accessible.
For those that have problems doing this, we’ll work with them to resolve their issues, whatever that issue might be. Probably the fastest way to go is to send me an email. TubaDiva@aol.com
I can’t stress this enough: If you find you can’t get on the board when the switch comes, DO NOT MAKE A NEW ACCOUNT.
Contact me, or a mod, or send up a smoke signal. Hit me up on Facebook. I post there regularly and there is a Doper group page as well.
Also in response to similar concerns from thorny locust.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
What about those of us who already have an account at Discourse? Is the new incarnation of the Straight Dope Message Board going to be separate from that, by which I mean can I have a different user name and password than what I already have on Discourse?
Two other issues I’ve encountered with Discourse over my years in China is that it rarely works here without a VPN, and with a VPN it’s spotty.
I belong to multiple vbuuletin boards and log in with out issue. Isn’t vbulletin and discourse the same thing except one is more up to date than the other?
I used to post often on a board that was ostensibly dedicated to professional development for us overseas teachers. They had a recurring problem with some idiot(s) who kept using the avatars to post extremely graphic, very disturbing porn GIFs. As some of the site was used at work by our employers and, of course, the site also was available to students, most of whom are minors, that could have gotten someone on the site staff actually put in prison (seeing as the site staff are also overseas in that very country). I do not blame the staff here for being extremely careful with avatars and other links.
And, no, I was not the one posting those. That’s not why I don’t post often there now.
This sounds fun. 
Looking forward to it. I hope the transition goes well.
Another thank you to TubDiva and the staff for getting this done.
No, there’s more differences than that.
vBulletin is *just *forum software, it’s run on various servers but (AFAIK) there’s no public “vBulletin”-run servers.
Discourse is hosted software - it runs on the servers of Discourse (so, software-as-a-service). So the concern is that if you have an account in one site hosted by Discourse, you can’t have others.
I don’t think that will actually turn out to be the case. SAAS servers are set up to account for that kind of thing.
Does discourse require unregistered readers to connect to their google or FB account?
Do SD registered users need to give access to their google or FB accounts to use the site?
(Thank you for your time! good Luck with your launch! )
No questions, no complaints.
Just a note of acknowledgement and appreciation to all who have been working to make this happen while simultaneously fending off flaming spears of frustration and impatience from the masses.
mmm
Discourse hosts a lot of different forums. Each will have their own requirements.
No. All you need is your SDMB user name, and you’ll have to change your password.
SO MAKE SURE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR USER CONTROL PANEL IS UP TO DATE BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THE PASSWORD RESET E-MAIL GOES.
Very welcome news, I can’t wait.
Will there be pages for threads, or is it continuous scroll? If it’s the latter, how do threads like the Trump Clusterfuck thread in the Pit feel? That one’s been going on for almost 4 years now, and has well over 44,000 posts.
But, yay! I wouldn’t mind if we could use some of this momentum to test out posting in-line pics.
I’m filled with trepidation, of course, but the 502s and 504s have been a royal PITA. So thanks to TPTB for making this happen, and I won’t expect everything to be running perfectly a week from Friday. Anything like this usually has some things that don’t work right off the bat because it was next to impossible to anticipate the reason why they wouldn’t.
One question: will the in-board search function still exist, or will we have to use Google? And will there be any changes (hopefully upgrades!) if it’s still there?
I’d normally be up to that. But given the extent to which this board’s membership skews old, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to see most of my fellow Dopers naked. :eek: 
I googled >>goatse definition<< which did not produce any pictures, or at least they weren’t near the top of the results. But the first result was from Urban Dictionary which included the definition on the results page. Easy peasy, no eye-bleach required.
Kudos for taking a risk with Discourse. I was hoping for XenForo (probably the smoothest transition for users and administrators), and honestly expecting the worst with vBulletin 5.
I’m looking forward to it, and I’m glad my $15 is going to productive use. Lawn chair, because I think the old Doper crowd will hate it. Tough. If they still visit despite the timeouts, they’ll rewire their brains and get used to a new message board system, even if their VCRs are still blinking 12:00, and they’re still holding on to their Nokia 3310s with an iron grip.
The learning curve will be steep for administration and maintenance. Ruby on Rails, Ember, and PostgreSQL instead of good 'ol PHP and MySQL or MariaDB. However, there’s a TON of features. I hope the powers that be make the most of it.
TubaDiva said upthread:
I’d really, really like to get confirmation of that. Infinite scrolling is pure ducking evil:
[ul]
[li]Is Discourse going to highjack my Cmd-F/Ctrl-F keyboard shortcut?[/li][li]When the whole page isn’t loaded, you can’t search for content in that page.[/li][li]I don’t want Discord to search; I want to use my own, built-in search.[/li][li]Google is broken, because you no longer link to a page.[/li][/ul]
I use Discourse boards quite a lot for technical support, and they all implement infinite scrolling, and they all ducking suck. I hate using them, and they’re a necessary evil.
The SDMB isn’t necessary, and I won’t stand for a website highjacking my operating system shortcut keys and breaking something as basic as a freaking search.
That’s all good and well, but what if between now and then, a burglar invades a member’s house, steals his computer and pistol whips the member. The member sustains a concussion which causes severe amnesia. After months in the hospital, the member gets discharged home, buys a new computer, longs to reconnect with the only message board he’s ever interacted with (in fact his only social contact of any kind), but only vaguely remembers the site name. *Was it the Squiggly Dumbass Message Board? *He recalls only scrambled bits and pieces of Doper names, like “Trumpet Famous Opera Singer”, “Quagmire the Mercurochrome”, “Snowblower Jo”, “It’s Miller Time”, “Two Many Crocodiles” and “Nice Mr. Condiment.” The neurologist tells the member, *“I’m afraid if you don’t reconnect with this strange message board you keep droning on about, your amnesia will worsen and your brain will turn to jelly.”
*
How are you going to deal with these kind of cases?!?