Badge of shame and stupid questions to you maybe, to others, how long they have spent on the forum helping others.
Just to add my thoughts - I do post very occasionally, specifically on vintage subjects (which I know a little about) when I feel that I've something positive to add that'll help others.
As I suggested in a response to an email from Martin last week - the reinstatement of the site back to it's original form prior to the crash, if that's at all possible, would be a far preferable solution imho.
"There was a wealth of information built up over many years that would, potentially, be lost otherwise & it'd also mean that those who haven't rejoined would, I assume, be automatically reinstated.
Contrast that with the loss of a few weeks posts and a much depleted membership - I'd have though it makes sense to reset everything...."I fully appreciate all the hard work that Martin puts in, especially over these past few weeks, in trying to resolve the issues & one of the reasons that I'd held off rejoining was because I could see the potential for duplicate user name problems in reinstating old accounts.
"I'm still talking to the host company to work out what's going on but they are still being less than helpful..". - Martin
If this is the case then can I suggest that you consider moving the hosting? We had huge issues with 1&1 as a hosting company (I appreciate that you're not with them) & eventually switched to United Hosting who are incredibly helpful, have servers based in the UK & go out of their way to ensure that everything runs smoothly... Incidentally - I have absolutely no association with them other than being a very satisfied customer
Thank you for a great forum & good luck!
Mark