# OFFER EXPIRES MAY 27! Lapsed Charter Members can regain their title **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 2, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725 "2010-04-02T13:35:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/61 "2010-04-03T17:00:36Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Otherwise, I really don’t care – in fact, I really, really do NOT understand WHAT the big deal is over the whole thing. Seriously. Honest question: Why post something like this? Most of the other posters complaining at least have motives that can be inferred, but your post has me a little stumped. You sound angry, but not because you are pissed off at the sdmb (like some others), it sounds like you are pissed off that there are people that don’t have the same likes and dislikes as you. Am I close? ---
**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:** [April 3, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/62 "2010-04-03T18:01:06Z")
Not really. (And really, what are THEIR motives for complaining? Seriously?) It’s more the board with their whole, “no, we cannot do this AT ALL. Sorry!!!” Then it turns out “we CAN do this.” They said that about the ads – until there was one for a site Tuba didn’t like. Then she wanted a screenshot. They said this about CM – until they figured out a way to make more money off of it. The inconsistancy is amazing. Combine that with their refusal to treat anyone like paying customers, and I see this new offer as a crock. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/63 "2010-04-03T18:03:00Z")
Cool beans. I think this is a nice gesture, and I’ll second what **bucketybuck** said about **xash**. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/64 "2010-04-03T18:04:51Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > It is my honest opinion that accepting that offer would have been a big mistake in the long term. > > Personality issues would have ensured things would not end well. For all **Seven** ’s faults, I do trust his professionalism. But as I’ve said, I don’t believe for a moment it was a good faith offer on his part, so maybe you’re right. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/65 "2010-04-03T18:08:02Z")
Can’t win for losing, sometimes… can you? It’s a nice gesture in response to the complaints of some lapsed charter members. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/66 "2010-04-03T18:19:48Z")
My first impression after reading Ed’s post was: “Cool. Good move Ed/ xash” Followed very shortly afterwords by, “I wonder how many posts it will take for the petulant and ill mannered to complain, find fault, whine and concoct ulterior motives.” Not many it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/67 "2010-04-03T18:20:56Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > For all **Seven** ’s faults, I do trust his professionalism. But as I’ve said, I don’t believe for a moment it was a good faith offer on his part, so maybe you’re right. You trust his professionalism, but you don’t think he was making a good faith offer? How do you reconcile these conflicting ideas? ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/68 "2010-04-03T18:21:30Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I find it strange that people can post to say that this is a waste of money. > > Perhaps I am bad with figures, but for those who had every intention of renewing their subscriptions for the forseeable future anyway, it actually COSTS THEM NOTHING. > > They would have paid $30 over the next two years. Now they will pay $30 over the next two years, and get their charter status back. Win win. > **“Thirty dollars for one extra word”** :rolleyes: indeed. > > As to those who felt the need to drop in here and let us know that they think paying for this is stupid and that they wouldn’t be doing it. Well done. Have an internet cookie. > **As a final point, I am once again very impressed with Xash as an administrator of this board. I believe he has an excellent attitude to interacting with posters on this board, an attitude others could learn from.** **Highlighting mine** +1 ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/69 "2010-04-03T19:19:02Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > You trust his professionalism, but you don’t think he was making a good faith offer? How do you reconcile these conflicting ideas? If he has a job to do, I’m sure he does his best to do a good job of it, if only because that’s how he builds his reputation. But when he offered to work on improving the technical performance of the SDMB, he wasn’t seriously expecting to be taken up on the offer, and wouldn’t have made the offer if he’d thought there was a chance he’d have to do it. I mean, that’s possibly hundreds of hours of work which he was offering for free! No way. He wanted to make a point about the SDMB’s administration, or attract attention, or something, but not actually help the SDMB. Of course, if they had actually accepted his offer (we all know the chance of that was nil), he would have done it and done it well. Because he’s a professional. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/70 "2010-04-03T19:33:39Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Some people are never happy. The people who run the board have made something happen- there is always a cost for achieving that. You can pay and get your status back. What is the big deal? The big deal is that some people need to whine about everything. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/71 "2010-04-03T19:38:25Z")
It’s a fair enough deal and looks like there will be a few takers. They get their title back, the board gets a bit of wonga, people get to bitch about it and others bitch about the bitching. Everyone’s a winner! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/72 "2010-04-03T19:46:19Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Combine that with their refusal to treat anyone like paying customers, and I see this new offer as a crock. I guess those “perks” of more PM space don’t qualify as treating you like a paying customer, and yet you continue to be a paying customer. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/73 "2010-04-03T19:47:46Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > If he has a job to do, I’m sure he does his best to do a good job of it, if only because that’s how he builds his reputation. But when he offered to work on improving the technical performance of the SDMB, he wasn’t seriously expecting to be taken up on the offer, and wouldn’t have made the offer if he’d thought there was a chance he’d have to do it. **I mean, that’s possibly hundreds of hours of work which he was offering for free!** No way. He wanted to make a point about the SDMB’s administration, or attract attention, or something, but not actually help the SDMB. Emphasis mine. I seriously doubt that any task or combination of tasks involving a vBulletin board require that much of an investment. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/74 "2010-04-03T20:22:51Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > If he has a job to do, I’m sure he does his best to do a good job of it, if only because that’s how he builds his reputation. But when he offered to work on improving the technical performance of the SDMB, he wasn’t seriously expecting to be taken up on the offer, and wouldn’t have made the offer if he’d thought there was a chance he’d have to do it. I mean, that’s **possibly hundreds of hours of work which he was offering for free!** No way. (bolding mine) Apologies for continuing this hijack, but the bolded part is completely false. **Seven** offered to use his expertise to help tweak the server settings to improve performance, based on his extensive hands-on experience hosting a variety of websites, including multiple vBulletin sites. Changing settings involves editing a few text files – it’s not a time intensive process. The value in the offer was the knowledge gained through experience, not the labor involved in changing the settings. And since the server settings can be kept completely separate from the message board data, it’s hard to see what nefarious goals he could have had – it’s like someone seeing your car backfiring and spewing black smoke offering to tell you what kind of oil to put in and how to gap your spark plugs so that doesn’t happen. At the time of the offer, the site’s performance had gotten really bad, so I thought it was a pretty nice thing of him to do. No big deal that TPTB chose to solve the problem on their own, but it’s kind of rude to misrepresent what was offered, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/75 "2010-04-03T20:50:11Z")
Aren’t you supposed to be on holiday, **Giraffe**? Let me guess, raining down South? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/76 "2010-04-03T20:55:51Z")
> [@](#): > > TPTB saw it as an important priority, Any chance you can use your influence to get them to see fixing the data base errors as a priority? Not threadshitting, just asking. Somehow, to my mind, that should come before restoring titles, priority wise. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/77 "2010-04-03T21:11:07Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Apologies for continuing this hijack, but the bolded part is completely false. **Seven** offered to use his expertise to help tweak the server settings to improve performance, based on his extensive hands-on experience hosting a variety of websites, including multiple vBulletin sites. Changing settings involves editing a few text files – it’s not a time intensive process. The value in the offer was the knowledge gained through experience, not the labor involved in changing the settings. I defer to your greater knowledge. I seem to remember that his offer was quite extensive, and at the time it was said that it could take him a lot of time. If that’s not the case, then I’m sorry. > [@](#): > > And since the server settings can be kept completely separate from the message board data, it’s hard to see what nefarious goals he could have had Oh, I’m definitely not implying this. As I’ve said, he’s a professional. > [@](#): > > At the time of the offer, the site’s performance had gotten really bad, so I thought it was a pretty nice thing of him to do. No big deal that TPTB chose to solve the problem on their own, but it’s kind of rude to misrepresent what was offered, IMO. You know him better than I do. I just wonder what was in it for him, giving free work to improve a board that he wasn’t very active on anymore. And he must have known that all previous similar offers had been refused (or not even commented on) by the administration here. But you’re right, this is a hijack and I will not pursue it further. My excuses to **Seven** if I misunderstood or misrepresented his motives. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/78 "2010-04-03T22:24:22Z")
While I’m on the fence about getting my Charter Member title back, what I’d really like is to get my original join date back. I joined this board back in 1999, and had to re-join again in 2001 for some reason. I even had the same username. Is getting my join date back a possibility? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/79 "2010-04-03T22:43:46Z")
> [@labtrash](#): > > While I’m on the fence about getting my Charter Member title back, what I’d really like is to get my original join date back. I joined this board back in 1999, and had to re-join again in 2001 for some reason. I even had the same username. > > Is getting my join date back a possibility? I’ve asked an administrator to take a look. ---
**Author:** ![Beetle\_Juice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Beetle\_Juice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beetle_Juice)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/80 "2010-04-03T22:50:19Z")
I was seriously warned for an opinion which has been reinforced. I insulted no one except those willing to be insulted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725.md?page=5)