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Today we launched the GayCalgary.com Forums - a major update that has site-wide implications.

The forums also include special topic forums for magazine articles, directory listings and photographs.  The old photograph comments system has been replaced by this newer system, and old comments have been migrated.

Another component that came as a side effect of the forum update is the new rating system.  Members can now rate articles, photos and even directory listings (for gay-friendliness and over all quality).

Finally, we have implemented a basic user profile system which we plan to elaborate on at a later time.  Currently you can upload a profile portrait which appears beside your forum posts, as well as specify basic information about yourself and choose what parts other users get to see.

You might be wondering what's happening with the contents on the old forums.  We are currently looking into the possibility of migrating old message into the new forum system, however this may take some time complete.

In the meantime we are still adding new rooms to the new forum area, however if you have any suggestions, feel free to post them in our suggestions room.

This is a big move toward making the GayCalgary website more fun and interactive for visitors and members.  We hope you find these new features useful!

Feel free to reply to this post if you have any questions about how to access any of these new features, or visit our Frequently Asked Questions board.

Cool!  This ought to be fun!

Okay, so after some deliberation I'm happy to say that we were able to import the messages from the old forum - however they did undergo an intense process of elimination.

First we deleted all users from the old WebBoard system that had been inactive for over a year.  Then we deleted all message threads that had been started by a deleted user (including replies from still-valid users).  This whittled 5000-some-odd messages down to about 250.

If you're disappointed that your old messages weren't ported over, don't dispair, just post them again - it's a fresh start!

Just a minor update to the forum - if you're logged in, you will now see a star icon beside the REPLY button when viewing a discussion thread (similar to the Add to Favorites icon from the photo section).

Click on the icon when it has a green + symbol to watch a discussion thread, or a red - symbol to stop watching the thread.  You are sent an E-mail every time a new message is added to one of your watched threads!

Try it out now!  If you are logged in, scroll to the top of this page and watch this forum thread.  Don't worry, you can remove the watch later - if you forget, you'll be reminded next time a message is posted here!