One thing that will change is your password. We store passwords as a hash that cannot be decrypted so the existing passwords will be lost. In order to make the transition as smooth as possible, everyone that has posted will be given a new login with the same username they've been posting with. The password is initially set to "art". It is suggested that you change your password as soon as possible.

You can get a look at the new forum at AudioRoundTable.com/forum. For right now, it is being used for last minute development work. You'll see our forums installed there sometimes, but other times you'll see nothing there. I'm working on the conversion script, getting it to import all our messages and users. We definitely do not want to lose any data, and we want the conversion to be as painless and seamless as possible.

I do not suggest posting in the new forum while the old forum is still active. Until we go "live", any data placed in the new forum will probably be lost. I am doing a code/break/fix test cycle on the conversion script and each time I run it, I look at the data and then wipe it out. So you'll see various forums come and go.

Once we've moved to the new forum, all the links on the main page will point to the new forum. You won't be able to post in the old forum anymore. That's how you'll know it's time to reset your password and start posting in the new forum. We'll make a post to announce it as well.

• The NEW AudioRoundTable.com

What I need is for as many of you as possible to search through the posts to find any bugs you can. Try out the forum, make posts, update your user information and modify your password. Just play with it and see what it will do. Let me know if you find any broken links or other problems. Write to me at webmaster@audioroundtable.com and I'll maintain a defects list and either fix them or deal with them in some way.

I've only uploaded a few forums, just enough to test with. This isn't a permanent move yet - so don't post important stuff in the new forum. Make test posts if you want, change account info, learn the user interface, navigation and things like that. We'll delete it all and reload from the archives in a few days after we've had time to evaluate the existing data load. I just want to see if I can identify any more problems and fix them before doing the final conversions and turning off the old forum.