Today I'm pleased to announce that all of our message forums have been successfully converted to the new account-based system, which has been in public testing on a few of our forums for the past several months. What this basically means is that you will need to register before you can post messages. This one-time inconvenience has an upside - new features that will hopefully make the forum system more enjoyable to use for everyone. So, what's new?

• Editing messages: This one has been asked for so many times I've lost count. With the new forum you'll be able to edit your posts if you've made a typo or HTML code glitch. If you created the thread, you'll also be able to edit the subject line. Since this is something that requires accounts, I've never been able to provide it before. In addition, editing your message will be as quick and simple as posting a new one.

• Reply with quote: Responding to someone way up in the thread or to specific points in a message? You can now quote the entire original message in your response. When the quote is viewed normally in the main thread, it will appear in a different font style to your response.

• About the author: A new link under a message will lead to the author's "about" page. This contains their email address (which can be disabled if you prefer an anonymous presence), physical location, registration date, last post date (so you can check if the author of an old post is still active and likely to see a response), number of posts, plus an "about me" area where you can enter whatever you like.

• Customize how the forum operates: You can configure the system to return to the forum index or the thread after posting or editing a message.

Concerned about how some of the other forums systems operate? I've taken any possible downfalls into consideration as well.

• Can't change your password: On some forum systems you're given a randomly generated password that can't ever be changed. Not so here - your password is fully customizable.
• Doesn't remember your account name or password: Combined with the above "random password", this can make a forum practically unusable. Who could be expected to remember that "xYw2a7r" is their password? The new system here will store your account name and, if you like, password in a "set it and forget it" cookie. Don't like cookies? The forum will operate perfectly fine without them; you'll just have to type more.
• Required to login: Even if a forum has the above two, I just don't see the point to specifically logging in to post - or even worse, read - messages. After registration, the forum will operate exactly as it does now - no hassle. With the cookie, you will never have to enter your name or password to post.
• Forgot your password? In many cases, tough luck. But as long as you can remember (and continue to use) the email address you first registered with, your password - and user name - can be retrieved.

Finally, one of the biggest features of the new system is, of course, security. Meaning that only the account holder is able to post under that name. Naturally, this means that you'll need to act fast in order to ensure that you get an ideal account name! Click here to register today - it'll only take a few minutes. You can also view the forum Frequently Asked Questions page for some additional information on using our forums. Naturally, if you have any suggestions please be sure to let me know by sending an email.

Haven't yet visited our forums? Then you're missing out on a lot! Click here for a complete index of our home theater and remote control-related message boards.