I am curious if the idea of starting a new forum has come up.
It seems that from what has been said modifying the current forum would not be easy.

I love the forum, but it is obvious that the software is OLD.
Search engine and lack of e-mail notices to name but two.
Newer forums are much easier to control/maintain than older ones and also have nice 'extras'.
It would also make it a much more enjoyable experience.

Even if you had to start the registrations from scratch I don't think the members would mind if it was to improve things.

This is just my humble suggestion but I would appreciate it if this were taken under serious consideration.

As a database, this place is a gold mine! and quite functional with just the slightest bit of thought and patience.

It wouldn't be worth changing anything at all (and certainly not altering the registrations) if that meant losing access to the years of experience available here.

This has been brought up MANY times in the past. I've even brought it up for more 21st century addition. Some things as simple as RSS, some as simple as allowing me to change the color from this UGLY green (talk about hard on the eyes) in this thread:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......um=40&15

As much as I respect Gene for his depth of understanding, his hands are tied by what the "Grand Poo Ba" wants, and that includes the current advertising structure, from what I have gathered over his many posts.

I'm with you Roger, but don't expect it to happen. That's why I enjoy the Genii Forum MUCH MORE.

And as for losing posts in the database just because we move to something more modern doesn't mean we lose anything (or I say, Steve won't lose anythng, since he steals the copyright of all our posts according to the terms of service).

After all, there are standard formats, like XML and others, that make moving forward an option by converting over past posts.

I'm not the one to make the decisions about how the Café operates however, let me say this. If you read the rules that were set up at the inception of the Café, they very clearly state that Steve wanted this forum to be different. That means everything from the color of the screen to it's advertising policy.

There's hardly a day goes by that some suggestion isn't made to change the Café to be like all the other forums out there. If the Café is made to be the same as all the other forums, then we are redundant.

Those that are not satisfied with the Café or the way it is run should visit those other forums that keep them happy. That is not to say we don't welcome suggestions. Many of the things that have been implemented have been a result of member suggestions. Avatars and the let's make a deal forums are the result of member suggestions.