Confusion persists…

[Kristofer Emerig]

I’m receiving multiple notifications of login difficulties on the site. I believe these are login attempts by former members who do not yet realize that the previous admin deep-sixed the place, and that they must register with new accounts.

I'm not entirely sure how to address this little snafu.

[Saul Gefen]

It's the password change that is the issue here. I have created a password here after I made an account and then I forgot it and then followed instructions to change password, this site sends the wrong link to change the password, it sent the right link after like 5 attempts, then I was able to create a new password...

[Kristofer Emerig]

Ah, well then that’s a different issue altogether. The notifications to which I’m referring pertain to email addresses of persons not registered. I suspect they were registered on the old forum, were away for some time, and don’t yet realize that the old forum went *poof*.

[HS Teoh]

Maybe a little notice can be put up on the front page explaining briefly what happened and why returning users need to re-register?

[Kristofer Emerig]

You mean some professional and polished message, such as “The previous admin nuked the forum; please re-register and by the way, all of your stuff is toast”?

[HS Teoh]

Well, it could be more carefully worded (naming names may rouse some hornets that we could do without, for example), but essentially, yes. At this point we're not likely to get any of the old stuff back ever again, so might as well just come clean and say it for what it is.

[Kristofer Emerig]

Yes, of course. I wasn’t serious, and I certainly don’t want to instigate deeper enmity; we’ve all witnessed quite enough carnage on a forum that once displayed the somewhat ironic slogan, “music composers unite!” emblazoned across its banner. Perhaps this time we can endeavor to live up to the slogan. I’m not pledging to surrender my irreverent sense of humour, but I have learned to be less stridently opinionated.

[Kristofer Emerig]

Good advice HS. I’ve removed the ‘naming names’ element from my comments here.

[David]

I'd put some sort of banner up on the home page briefly explaining the situation. How sarcastic it should be depends entirely on your sense of humour (which I understand to be quite considerable). Not having been around that long myself, i don't know that much about the internal politics of the site but I guess that any allies Gavin may have had will probably not be returning anyway..... Incidentally, I'd never come across SNAFU before. Rather a good one which seems to date back to WW2.

[Kristofer Emerig]

Dave, I honestly didn’t know the origin, nor the acronymic nature of the word until you brought it to my attention, and I researched it. Now, I was raised in part by European grandparents, diaspora of the Great War that fled to the States. My grandfather was interred in German camps and, once liberated by Allied forces, joined the American Air Force. It is possible that they introduced me to this annoying little utterance? I would discourage adopting its usage; once habituated, it’s as difficult to kick as black coffee and cigarettes. At any rate, it’s a word more partial to colloquial speech than formal writing, and I suspect it’s more widely used here than over there beyond the pond, so to speak (if you are indeed still ‘over there’).

However, to the point. I suspect no matter how artful a message we craft, those who have had the carpet pulled from under their feet, and their content undeservedly obliterated, might assign blame for their mistreatment to a site of the same name (and even domain), whether justifiably, or not. Those who suss out the situation and are determined to sign on will, regardless of encouragement. In my estimation, the vast majority of approximately 4.5K members signed up once, made a comment or two, never to return. Those will never return because they undoubtedly forgot the site’s existence years ago.

[HS Teoh]

I'm not concerned for the thousands who signed up but never truly participated afterwards -- their presence or absence is basically irrelevant. What matters more is those who were active on the old forum but might be turned off upon coming back and being surprised to see the old site replaced by something completely different. For these ones it might be worth putting up a banner, just for the sake of continuity, and acknowledgement that yes, we are aware of what used to be but no longer is, and you're welcome to start anew with us (or not).