# Once a Charter Member, always a Charter Member?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [July 6, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801 "2013-07-06T18:38:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801/1 "2013-07-06T18:38:26Z")

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I just noticed that Q.E.D.'s last post was in July 2009, yet he is still shown as a Charter Member. (Didn’t he die?)

Did he pay for membership four years in advance, is someone paying for him in his memory, or do Charter Members _never_ die?

Otherwise, I’d expect lapsed CM’s to no longer show as such.

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**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:** [July 6, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801/2 "2013-07-06T18:40:46Z")

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He did die. I think that the title actually changes the first time that one logs on after the change happens.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801/3 "2013-07-06T19:21:29Z")

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I am not sure how it was set up, but Q.E.D. was also a member of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board and as such his membership would have been free.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801/4 "2013-07-06T19:24:40Z")

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When posters die, we placed their accounts in a Posting Sabbatical category that keeps their membership status as it was. We do the same for posters who want to take a break from the board.

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**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:** [July 6, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801/5 "2013-07-06T19:30:58Z")

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Q.E.D. was indeed comped as a Charter Member, he paid his dues by being a member of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board. And we have left things as they were when he left us.

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-a-charter-member-always-a-charter-member/662801/6 "2013-07-06T19:35:00Z")

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And I think that’s a good idea. I’m not suggesting a change, I was merely curious, and always hyper-sensitive to potential bugs in the software.