Does Playing Card Forum have a new look and a new name?

[EndersGame]

The forum was offline for over 12 hours, so it's good to see that it's back up again.  However, now that it has returned, I see that it has a new look.  And a new name (The Discourse). 

Are these both permanent?  And what's the story behind these changes? 

I've enjoyed becoming an active part of this community over the last couple of months, and look forward to ongoing participation here!

[PrincessTrouble]

Good question.  I'm caught off guard and can't answer.

[Lee Asher]

No. Sorry. There was a server issue last night and we are just trying to fix it. We had to load old software to get it started. It will come back to normal soon. Thanks for your patience.

Lee

[NineLives]

No. Sorry. There was a server issue last night and we are just trying to fix it. We had to load old software to get it started. It will come back to normal soon. Thanks for your patience.

Lee

Good luck guys! I know your're doing a fabulous job (and we'll all be patient ) Noticed the 'fatal error' last night and sincerely felt for you as I pictured the frantic activity behind the scenes  ... Nothing like a white screen to make developers hairs stand on end! Happily, solutions are mostly within reach, even though the detective work to find and fix can be time consuming.

[EndersGame]

No. Sorry. There was a server issue last night and we are just trying to fix it. We had to load old software to get it started. It will come back to normal soon. Thanks for your patience.

Thanks Lee, and all the best!

I'd echo the thoughtful words of Annette (Nine Lives) - I share her sentiments of sympathy and appreciation.

[Lee Asher]

Hi everyone,

Again, sorry for any inconveniences. I don't know why the server went down yesterday, but after lots of coffee, and crashing the software more times than I could count, we're back up and running at 100%.

Thanks again for your patience (and kind words).

[Don Boyer]

I want to personally thank Lee for his tireless efforts in getting the forum back up to snuff.  It took me by surprise - I had a lot of events to manage mid-week this past week and didn't even know the forum was offline until it was offline for a while.

Regarding "the Discourse" - that's actually the forum's original name, from back in the days when it was first founded.  It was renamed PlayingCardForum.com not long after 52 Plus Joker bought the forum from the original owner.

In those days, UC had fallen into neglect, the few other card forums out there had shuttered and the owner of AetherCards was looking for a way to promote his first deck of cards (which, alas, was also his last deck of cards), so he created a forum.  I started using it about two months after it opened (which was about a year into my becoming a deck collector as well as a magician) and was a frequent contributor, so he promoted me first to moderate the STISO (we only had one then), then to also cover the Playing Card Plethora, then I got bumped to "omni-moderator" (a title we no longer use) and eventually he named me administrator of the forum as he took more of a back-seat role and started looking for a buyer.  Roughly a year later, I helped broker a deal that allowed Tom Dawson to buy the forum, which he gave over to 52 Plus Joker as their official forum.