Changes, updates and shiny, SOTA Options

[Redjack]

Time has come for us to look into upgrading the forum software. There is a licensing cost associated with this and we would like to get maintenance. This brings us to three talking points:
1) There are costs with both the software and hosting. Currently we are absorbing the costs of out pocket.
2) There will be a major update to the site this year. This will bring some new functionality and a bit of work to insure that older functions (like spoiler tags) work properly.
3) A new skin will be required with the new software. With support, we could have more than one.


For #1, we would like to keep from advertising if possible. An option to avoid banner ads used in the past was to make available the "Dumpshocked" group for a nominal donation. For those already dumpshocked, we would consider a second tier group like "Dumpshocked Again" or "Dumpshocked Twice" or "Dumpshocked & Blackhammered", etc.

For #2, this would be worked through in a beta site of some sort.

For #3, we would welcome community support on this. Not sure exactly how we would manage it, but I'm sure some of our members can come up with creative ways.

-Redjack