Yeah but the world does not have to look like reddit x chatgpt just because it's temporarily on hype. I love this oldschool stuff here and generally for me new layout/ui just is pain in the ass to get used to. And that's not even taking into account the loss of valuable info, we have within tons of post here now. But that's maybe just me.
There are a number of visual themes and stylizations that can be made with Discourse. We aren't modeling Reddit, we are using the software that Reddit happens to use, which happens to be one of the worlds leading forum softwares now.
All new things are going to require a little bit of figuring out and finessing. We have at least 2 months to get things solidified and getting people more familiar with the new forum software and where things are at. I don't even have a spot for grow journals setup there yet; this went from a "well, let's give this a trial run" to "wow I can't believe we're actually doing this," and pretty quick too. So this is a lot of new for us too.
I plan on helping to make the change as easy as possible, with tutorials, we can do screen-share chats, etc. No one will be left in the cold and dark on anything, we're all in this together.
Further, we are looking at ways of preserving some of that old content. Migrating it would be the best way to ensure it stays valid, but there's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much content that nobody looks at, is barely crawled by search engines, etc. And while it's nostalgic, it's becoming a serious, real case of hoarding.
I would like to give everyone a fair opportunity to preserve their threads and work over the years. But we're going to have to be realistic in the same breath.
I agree. However the issues with the site and the lack of support from xenforo are forcing the change. And we are not even in the loop on the real back of house goings on.
So despite how much I like this layout here I am for the change if it helps the site grow, work correctly, and be popular.
Let's not even TALK about the back of the house stuff. It's terrible. Mossy beats me daily and demands lotioned foot rubs.
Change is good. I think this will be a good change for the site and community overall.
So what's the plan with fundraising for the new site? Does a normal round of asking for donations cover it? Sounds like a decent chunk of change up front compared to how it's been running the past couple years
@Son of Hobbes 
We are figuring out what that is going to look right now. As of current, we're actually spending LESS money on Discourse than we are currently with Xenforo. But that said, I'm looking at a managed, hosted option for Discourse that is not done by Discourse themselves (they paywall the most useful things, which I get, but to get there we'd have to spend $500/month, and that seems excessive.)
I am pricing out a similar cost option to what we're paying for right now (just hosting alone is $200/month, that doesn't include licenses for all the add-on's, renewal fees for those licenses, etc.)
I 100% believe we can keep costs pretty damn close to what we're paying now, for a FAR MORE robust forum experience.
... it's all changed now you know...with the introduction of AI and grow apps you can order them in any colour you want.....
.....not like when you were a lass and they only come in green......
....
