# Just curious: why did I lose my Charter Member status? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 5, 2025, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577 "2025-01-05T05:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/1 "2025-01-05T05:39:52Z")
Not looking to change anything, just curious. I believe I paid for my subscription for all the years I was notified. Did I miss something? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/2 "2025-01-05T20:54:21Z")
Memberships were a feature that was never fully ported over to Discourse. We don’t have your history from vBulletin so we can’t look up exactly what happened in your case. The user groups from when we switched from vBulletin to Discourse are still intact, and since the membership feature was never implemented on Discourse, those user groups never change. If you were a Charter Member when we switched, you are still in the Charter Member user’s group. If you were a Member, you are still in the Member user’s group. All I can tell you at this point is that when we changed software, you were in the Members user group and not in the Charter Members user group. Your Charter Membership must have lapsed at some point. Members and Charter Members don’t receive ads on the message board. However, that is the only portion of the old membership system that has been ported to Discourse. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/3 "2025-01-05T21:00:19Z")
Thanks, I was just curious. There were a few years where I left media including the Dope due to depression about how long it has been taking to fight ignorance. I must have let it lapse. Another quick question, is it only charter members that can use custom descriptions like “Robot Mod in Beta Testing”? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/4 "2025-01-05T21:01:47Z")
Go to this thread for requests: > [@Custom Titles Queue {Please make your requests in this thread}](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-titles-queue-please-make-your-requests-in-this-thread/998955): > > Please enter your current title and what you want the new title to be as a post in this thread. The basic rule for Custom Titles are that they are supposed to be fun, so nothing offensive. You can’t use something that is already a title of some sort in the system (Moderator, Admin, Charter Member, etc). Self-deprecating titles are Ok, but you can’t insult someone else. So I could change my title to “old fat guy” but I couldn’t use “Ned is ugly”. In the past, the staff had to change a couple of… ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/5 "2025-01-05T21:07:32Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > Another quick question, is it only charter members that can use custom descriptions like “Robot Mod in Beta Testing”? The original plan was that Members and Charter Members would be able to have custom titles for free (something that you had to pay extra for under vBulletin). But we gave up on waiting around for Memberships to be implemented on Discourse and opened it up to everyone. Post your request in the thread that @What_Exit linked to if you want a custom title. Note that you can’t choose a title that is already in use by the system, like Administrator (or any variation on that like Admin), Member, Charter Member, SDSAB, etc. A more complete set of guidelines is in the linked thread. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/6 "2025-01-05T23:03:17Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/7 "2025-01-06T00:33:59Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > Another quick question, is it only charter members that can use custom descriptions like “Robot Mod in Beta Testing”? I would love you if your description was a variation of, “Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/8 "2025-01-06T02:11:22Z")
And this is exactly what I want; Do Not Taunt! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-why-did-i-lose-my-charter-member-status/1012577/9 "2025-01-06T02:53:37Z")
You are awesome.