# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/101 "2010-04-04T16:52:41Z")
> [@Beetle\_Juice](#): > > This is your idea of a response? > Are you 12. > Get a life. No, no, no! The proper pattern is 5-7-5. 5-7-5. Let’s take it from the top, people! ---
**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:** [April 4, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/102 "2010-04-04T16:58:30Z")
> [@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? > [@Gfactor](#): > > I’ve asked an administrator to take a look. I have searched the system and I find no listing of “labtrash” from before 2001. And I find no postings before March of 2002. I see no postings from you before 2001, none at all. It is possible that you had a registration prior to 2001 that became corrupted in the system – I had that same problem – but it didn’t zap postings, just made that registration unusable. I find nothing in my notes about this but lord have mercy this was more than ten years ago and some serious hard drive crashes and like five computers ago. If you have anything that would document this – an email from me would be sufficient – we’ll revisit the issue. Is it possible you were at one of the “alt-fan” sites? We had no jurisdiction over those sites. Not sure if the internet still has data from way back when – let me go look to see if any of that is archived somewhere. Still wouldn’t change things but now I’m really curious. ---
**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 4, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/103 "2010-04-04T17:15:05Z")
> [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](#): > > Sure, if either $7.48 or $15 is a deal breaker for you, take the free ride. Sir, please, let us not lose focus. That post was not about \*\*srz \*\*taking a “free ride.” It was about \*\*Guin \*\*saying how loldum it was to pay for words under her user name, even though she pays for words under her user name. For full appreciation of the comedy, allow me to summarize. **Guin** : It’s so stupid to pay for two words under your user name! What a ripoff! **srz** : Um, you pay for two words under your user name. **Guin** : Err, no, I pay for the… perks? **Someone Else** (whose name I can’t be bothered to scroll for): And those perks would be? **Guin** : Umm, I can’t remember. Solid LOL-factor of 8.5. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/104 "2010-04-04T17:25:27Z")
I would be willing to pay $3.50 to have my title changed to “Wild-Assed Guest”, plus I’d throw in free medical advice of questionable value. I was a bit peeved when my charter membership vanished with minimal notice (actually I don’t remember getting any, though it’s quite possible it was overlooked due to being wedged in amongst heaps of spam in my old e-mail account). Still, the SDMB notification system is vastly preferable to that of magazine subscriptions where you pay for two years, start get renewal reminders after only three months (which get increasingly desperate as actual renewal time approaches), culminating with a series of plaintive sad sack letters after your subscription actually lapses. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/105 "2010-04-04T17:28:03Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > No, no, no! The proper pattern is 5-7-5. 5-7-5. > > Let’s take it from the top, people! Your response is this? I wonder if you are 12. You should get a life. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/106 "2010-04-04T17:57:42Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Is it possible you were at one of the “alt-fan” sites? We had no jurisdiction over those sites. Not sure if the internet still has data from way back when – let me go look to see if any of that is archived somewhere. Still wouldn’t change things but now I’m really curious. To support **labtrash** that this type of thing did happen, I joined in August of 2002 (I remember who my first post was a reply to and the content of his response), then in Jan of 2003 I had to re-register for some reason (I didn’t know why and I didn’t ask). I used the exact same username, but I don’t see the posts from August 2002 to Jan 2003 when I search. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/107 "2010-04-04T18:33:30Z")
> [@Beetle\_Juice](#): > > I do believe you are a bunch of pretensious, pompous asses. > But that’s just my opinion. It’s not like I want it so I can say “Nyah nyah, I’m a Charter Member and you’re not!” Maybe you missed the part where the payment renewed my subscription for two years. Here’s the thing – I would have been paying that money anyway! So by making that payment a little sooner, now I get to maintain my subscription from there on out at a cheaper rate. It makes financial sense. The super-awesome title is just a bonus. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/108 "2010-04-04T18:49:06Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Sir, please, let us not lose focus. That post was not about \*\*srz \*\*taking a “free ride.” It was about \*\*Guin \*\*saying how loldum it was to pay for words under her user name, even though she pays for words under her user name. Thank you. That was the second time I was quoted out of context, and was beginning to suspect that is was intentional to draw attention away from the point. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/109 "2010-04-04T19:08:11Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > To support **labtrash** that this type of thing did happen, I joined in August of 2002 (I remember who my first post was a reply to and the content of his response), then in Jan of 2003 I had to re-register for some reason (I didn’t know why and I didn’t ask). I used the exact same username, but I don’t see the posts from August 2002 to Jan 2003 when I search. If you send me either a PM or an email, I’d be curious to know who your post was to and the contents of the response. I’m just trying to find out some things about if the board was wonky at that point. samclem ---
**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:** [April 4, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/110 "2010-04-04T19:12:37Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > To support **labtrash** that this type of thing did happen, I joined in August of 2002 (I remember who my first post was a reply to and the content of his response), then in Jan of 2003 I had to re-register for some reason (I didn’t know why and I didn’t ask). I used the exact same username, but I don’t see the posts from August 2002 to Jan 2003 when I search. I’m not discounting what he’s saying – anything is/was possible here in all these years and memory is a faulty beast at best. I do note that we did have a substantial outage towards the end of 2001. The backup software failed somewhere around November-early December of 2001 and we didn’t notice that failure until sometime in February when we had a huge system crash. When the system was restored to the last available backup all the board activity from December 8, 2001-February 2002 had vanished. This included registrations made during that period and all the posts they might have written in that time (and everybody else’s posts from that time period as well). In fact right this second I’m looking at an old announcement from March 16, 2002 that says “We’re back! . . . You’ll notice our backup carries us to December 7, 2001. That’s the point where the file size of our archives exceeded 2G – since that day all backups were truncated due to file size limitations. That has since been corrected but what’s gone is gone. All we can do is go forward. This also means if you changed your name since December 7 we’ll have to do it again. It means if you didn’t register until after December 7, you’ll have to do that again as well.” But that didn’t remove registrations or postings prior to December 7, 2001. ---
**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 4, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/111 "2010-04-04T19:14:35Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > **Guin** : It’s so stupid to pay for two words under your user name! What a ripoff! > **srz** : Um, you pay for two words under your user name. > **Guin** : Err, no, I pay for the… perks? > **Someone Else** (whose name I can’t be bothered to scroll for): And those perks would be? > **Guin** : Umm, I can’t remember. > > Solid LOL-factor of 8.5. Nobody ever remembers me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/112 "2010-04-04T19:47:24Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I’m not discounting what he’s saying – anything is/was possible here in all these years and memory is a faulty beast at best. Fair enough. Mine may have been due to a 90 day trial thing, not sure if the sdmb did that or not, but it seems to stick in the back of my mind. ---
**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 4, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/113 "2010-04-04T19:55:40Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > You can still have a sig if you’re not a charter member. Yeah, well, I guess I’ve always been a member, so I never even really thought about what you DON’T get as a “guest”. (It used to be you couldn’t use the search function). I think that was the main feature, and then I just got used to paying. So basically, the best part about a paid membership is really increased PM storage and being a CM is the discount? Huh. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/114 "2010-04-04T20:40:38Z")
Fuck. It is what it is. If you don’t like it, don’t do it. I pay money each year because I want to give a place that I enjoy some money in exchange for that enjoyment. I have a grand total of 33 PMs in my history here so I doubt that I am in danger of going over the limit. I have also donated to freeware many times in my life because it seems like the decent thing to do. When I saw this offer, my first thought was, “it’s about damned time. People have been wanking about this forever and offering to pay more money to get the title back.” I was pretty surprised about how the complaints went though. I thought that it would be some of the current Charters bitching that it was unfair to them because they had paid on time all of these years and other people shouldn’t be able to buy the perk. I didn’t imagine that people who had no interest in the deal would be annoyed about people who did. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/115 "2010-04-04T20:43:55Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I didn’t imagine that people who had no interest in the deal would be annoyed about people who did. You always look at the rosy side of things, don’t you? It didn’t surprise me at all. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/116 "2010-04-04T20:51:29Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Fair enough. Mine may have been due to a 90 day trial thing, not sure if the sdmb did that or not, but it seems to stick in the back of my mind. Oh! In the beginning of pay to post new registrations could post free for 30 days – then you either became a member or your posting privileges expired. This was to induce you to be a subscribing member. Some people thought if they didn’t take us up on the offer initially and returned to the board that meant they had to re-register, that their old screen name didn’t count or didn’t work or had been removed from the database and/or the board. Wasn’t true. We don’t “recycle” screen names and once you register a name that’s pretty much the end of it. Posts by subscribers who don’t renew their subscriptions still reside. The name is still good – that person is just not a subscriber and doesn’t have the perks of membership – profile pix, more PMs, the right to purchase custom titles, etc. But the history remains. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/117 "2010-04-04T21:40:50Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > \I thought that it would be some of the current Charters bitching that it was unfair to them because they had paid on time all of these years and other people shouldn’t be able to buy the perk. \ I hadn’t thought of that - hey, how come all these people who can’t keep track of dates get to buy back something I had to work to keep? (Kidding! Just kidding!) ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/118 "2010-04-05T04:57:25Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Oh! In the beginning of pay to post new registrations could post free for 30 days – then you either became a member or your posting privileges expired. This was to induce you to be a subscribing member. > > Some people thought if they didn’t take us up on the offer initially and returned to the board that meant they had to re-register, that their old screen name didn’t count or didn’t work or had been removed from the database and/or the board. > > Wasn’t true. > > We don’t “recycle” screen names and once you register a name that’s pretty much the end of it. Posts by subscribers who don’t renew their subscriptions still reside. The name is still good – that person is just not a subscriber and doesn’t have the perks of membership – profile pix, more PMs, the right to purchase custom titles, etc. But the history remains. That would explain part of it, but it wouldn’t explain why the posts prior to Jan 2003 aren’t there. I do remember that when I did re-register, none of my previous posts were associated with my account at that point. ---
**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 5, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/119 "2010-04-05T14:47:11Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Nobody ever remembers me. ☹ Aww, sugar, I’ll remember everything you do from now on. Here’s a toffee. The bad news is the toffee isn’t real. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725/120 "2010-04-05T15:59:34Z")
**Scissorjack** said: > [@](#): > > They didn’t decide to “make it available”, they decided to sell it to people who already paid for memberships back when the place was desperate for money. I’ve never gotten the foofaraw over people who wnated to keep their Charter Member titles, but selling someone back something they’ve already paid for is a dirty scam and I hope nobody is dumb enough to take you up on it. Incorrect. They are selling back something to people who failed to keep buying their privilege. Charter membership was always on a “keep paying for” plan. They are just making re-available something that was originally expected to be gone forever. You lapsed on payment, you lost the privilege. End of story. Only now someone has found a way to restore the privilege. But it costs money, because it cost money in the first place. If they’d paid on time, they wouldn’t have to pay now to reinstate. This complaint is pathetic. Some people wanted this. TPTB found a way to make it happen. They actually invested effort into having someone find a way to make it happen. That should be considered a _good_ thing, one of those _responding to the wishes of your members_ kind of thing. Edit that: _responding to the wishes of your **paying** members_. This should be cause for celebration and spreading of thanks. Instead we get gripers who look on _anything_ the board does as a source for complaints. Seriously, WTF? **xash** said: > [@](#): > > \*\*Moderator’s Note \*\* > > * * * > > **Scissorjack** ,… If you post again in this thread, you will be suspended. So should I include my previous comment? Well, I’m responding to the stated sentiment, I’ll let it stand even if I don’t expect a response. **Guinastasia** said: > [@](#): > > Thirty dollars for one extra word? Jesus wept. :rolleyes: No, it’s thirty dollars for 2 years of membership at nominal membership rates, _and_ restoration of Charter Membership status that _includes_ the discount rate from there forward. From someone whining that the only reason she keeps the title is for the discount, how can you fault people who want to secure that same discount for themselves in the future? **pedescribe** said: > [@](#): > > No, no, no! The proper pattern is 5-7-5. 5-7-5. > > Let’s take it from the top, people! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offer-expires-may-27-lapsed-charter-members-can-regain-their-title/534725.md?page=7)