An Invitation to Members of the old Forum

[Hal Heindel]

Hello Wim, Christine, Lu, justrite, jtjohn, Vern, jb, Pamela - everyone:

When spammers nearly trashed the old forum in 2007 while I was visiting family in Vegas, I began to look for ways to neutralize those miserable low-lifes. Turns out there was no silver bullet. Like trying to kill an elephant with a BB gun. I did manage to prevent posting, but having to sift through more than 100 applicants a day, every day, virtually all of them bogus, and then having to purge my in-box . . . mind-numbing, to put it gently.

Except for the spam attacks, the old forum worked well and proved to be key in developing the program. Morning Flight wouldn't be what it is today without the guidance and untold contributions from forum members. But it was time to step up to the next level. Our new forum is a commercial vBulletin product from the UK that offers much better spam protection. It also comes with custom styles, avatars, file attachments, even individual blogs and photo albums for each member.

Today, I'd like to ask for one more contribution. Back in Vegas, when I thought the old forum was in jeopardy, one of the first things I did was delete the e-mail address of every member to prevent harvesting. That might have been a little hasty, seeing that no spammer ever gained access. Still, your privacy is paramount.

If you were registered at the old forum and you're reading this, please e-mail me at printfire@live.com to renew your free membership. It would be sad to see the spammers win even a small battle. Besides, you're going to like the new Lounge, I promise you, and I hope to see you here soon.

All the best,