The Maria

this is also posted to the right-hand side of the forum

Hi everyone! Several people suggested this on the Fan Forum Software Upgrade thread here, but I think this is important enough for it to warrant its own topic. I strongly suggest that you make an announcement topic about the software switchover and top it on each one of your boards. This isn’t mandatory, but I think it would be a good idea for all of you to do this.
Here’s what I suggest that you post:

Hi everyone! Please read the Site-Wide Announcement that Jerry D. posted. Here’s the content of that announcement:

Hi everyone!

Over the next week, Fan Forum will be undergoing a long overdue software upgrade. This new software should improve board performance, provide new features, and increase the security of this site. Many thanks go to the Fan Forum moderators, who for the last few weeks have been helping to beta test the new site.

In order to move to the new system, the current Fan Forum boards, posts and users will be backed up Wednesday night, May 5. Posts made or user settings changed on the current boards after that will not show up on the new boards. Also, please note that any saved Private Messages that you may have can't be imported into the new software, so you might want to copy and paste those messages somewhere else on your computer.
Important Information: Your Login ID in the new system will be your Publicly Displayed Name in the current system, rather than your Login Name in the current system. This means everyone needs to change their current Publicly Displayed Name to be what they want to be called in the new system by Wednesday, May 5,when the transfer will be done. Once your Login ID is set in the new system, you will not be able to change it!

Also note that custom avatars will have to be moved over manually, so make sure you have a copy to upload into the new system.

The switch will take place next weekend, May 8-9. Once the new site is opened, the current site will remain open for a time until we're sure the new system is working properly.

If you have any questions or problems during this process, please post them to the Software Upgrade Discussion Topic thread on the Questions & Answers board.

We look forward to seeing you all on the new and improved Fan Forum!