Something very strange is going on. All hands to emergency escape pods, and prepare to eject if something bad happens.
Vulvarse is, of course, a joker. His/her post makes absolutely no sense. It matches with nothing said by anyone else. And bears no weight of logic. Why would anyone buy a used forum only to delete all threads? The only reason to spend any considerable amount of money on a forum and its database is to continue the activities of said forum even if in a more politically correct and subdued manner than previous to the takeover. (And remember folks, the price paid for the forum must have been considerable.) Why would anyone buy a forum named 'Sciforums' only to change it to an 'online health community' and to forbid all talk of science? The compulsory fee is just a complete signature to the joke. The very idea is humorous. Also the 'small (admin-approved) message in a fine font' is a humorous giveaway. Receipts from health clubs. Healthy lifestyles mandatory. Etc etc etc... Also. Vulvarse is a combination of vulva and arse. Also. Vulvarse is not a member of the admin group. Also. Vulvarse has posted humorously in his/her other two posts... Note. I'm 'flagged' not for being an asshole or being crude or being stupid or whatever. I'm flagged because I'm 'unhealthy'. Actually. I'm quite healthy. I need no gym membership. I get a good workout every day at work. Thank you very much. Mentions of 'lower class'... etc..... Heh. This post would never have even been considered as real if not for the uncertainty in the air. This is another sign that the new 'management' needs to get their shit together and make their intentions plain. Maybe they're debating what they want to do. I imagine any 'corporation' would find itself in an awkward position to maintain the discussions that take place around here. But, perhaps this isn't your typical corporation. Only time will tell. And hopefully not too much time. Anyway. Calm down, guys. I know things are all weird and people are antzy. But keep things real. It's quite possible that the changes on the way are going to kill this once glorious place, but they won't be as drastic as Vulvarse would have it. I'm looking into what it would take to start a new forum. It looks like a huge pain in the ass. Setting up a basic forum would be easy. Customization of the interface would be the tricky part. And you can't really set up the software to play with on your own machine unless you have MySQL which is pretty damned expensive. I think that if you get a host, they deal with that. And they'd also set up the database and whatnot. (For a fee.) But, I'd like to customize the interface a bit. Especially seeing as how everybody is pretty gung ho for the 'no basic vBulletin' thing. Let's hope it's not needed.
I'm sure Vulvarse is a joke.. but I cannot help but think that if there is some truth to it, we are screwed. After all, all I have to go on is what Dave said and did and what these new people are saying. $125 a week? That is stupid.
You won't need to pay the undesirable fee Absane. However you will need to cut off all contact with Invert Nexus, on and off the online health community. Our researchers have reason to believe this will be a welcome restriction for most members. If you are an exception you have exactly 7 days to say your goodbyes. No members (not even members of staff) will be able to read the messages left by invert with each of his donations, they will appear only for invert to view on his own computer each time he logs in to read the 5 subforums of the online health community he has access to.
So cruel you are. I am the epitome of health and healthy living. Why. I even quit smoking cold turkey in these very sacred walls. You should hire more thorough 'researchers', vulvarse. You've been had by shoddy charlatans. Shittily so, even. Absane, on the other hand, is a steroid popping freak. Surely you don't equate health with Roid Rage, do you?
That's what I'm saying. When you pay for a host, they handle all that stuff. But, if you wanted to set up the software on your own machine to play with, MySQL costs 600 bucks for the minimum package. Per year. So, in other words, to play with the software, you have to actually go out and start the forum. You can't play with it 'risk-free' in your own home to work out the kinks. I'd like to play with it to learn the settings. Php. Play with the templates. Css. Etc... Otherwise, it would all have to be done while the forum is active and that's not really too cool. I suppose what I could do is set it up with the basic interface at first. Then set up templates on the side. Set it up so that you can change the interface to a different layout and put the test layout there. I'd probably also set up at least two themes. One light. One dark. I've always hated staring at this white screen in the middle of the night. Light text on a dark background is better for nocturnal viewing. Plus, it'd be cool to make a pokemon theme and force inane posters to view the site through pokemon eyes. Muaha!!!! THE POWER OF ADMIN!!!!!! Uh oh. I haven't even set up the forum yet and it's already starting to go to my head.
Just get Opera. You can use 'user' mode to display any page the way you want it. If you want black background you can do that with one click. example http://sciforums.spuriousmonkey.com/blackbackground.png
I'm not sure, but I think I can modify the database in any way I want too. I just don't know how. I can use phpMyAdmin. I can apparently (if I would know how). We need a nerd to tell us more.
Excuse me?* Jelsoft offers a "brand-free" license that enables you to turn off that copyright text for a few dollars extra.* No rules were broken.
Oops. My bad. I meant no offense. I wasn't aware of such a license. Anyway. Seeing as how you are paying attention to things being said here, I will offer my respects to you despite my disappointment in certain aspects and nervousness about certain others. Thank you for making such an amazing forum and keeping it going for as long as you have, Dave. I am sorry to see you go even though I've seen little of you 'here'. (Heh.) It's a real shame you couldn't have figured out a way to keep the site and to maintain it. But, things will work out as they work out. At least the database will remain. Cheers.