I'm going to explicitly state this here--
if I can verify WHO you are (and were at hyperboards) I am automatically moving your post count onto your new account HERE, but only if you are using the same username.
I don't want to "out" anyone if they truly DO want to 'start over' from scratch, that is, but familiar people and usernames should automatically keep the same post counts they had ad Hyperboards.
So if you sign up HERE with a new username... expect a PM from me about whether or not you would like your post count, and if I know that we HAVE a pre-registered account here for you, whether or not you're having trouble accessing it, would like help with that, etc.
To OPEN a fresh PM:
you have to scroll to the bottom of your "in box" to see the newest messages. (I think this is the default setting here.)
Hopefully this will help everyone!
To follow up on this--
if you sign up here with a new username (different from your regular one) and DON'T get a PM from me about your former username at Hyperboards... please PM me.
I can verify that someone HERE is the same as the person there-- but only if I have some idea which two usernames to compare. I don't have any automated means of figuring out who is who, so unless I recognize who you "used to be" I don't really know where to look on the member list from hyperboards. (Not that I necessarily think that I should be able to do that. I think it's fine that I can't.)
There *are* about 1600 people registered there. 
* To PM someone here--
because we don't (yet) have a way of turning off some of the more big-brotherish things that can be viewed in member profiles here, we have made it so that other members (and guests, of course) can't view everyone else's profiles-- only their own.
Therefore, clicking on a member profile won't be a method to use to send a PM for now.
Instead:
open up the tab on your header that says "My Messages" and select "send a message." If you type in the first few letters of the member's username, the system will suggest names-- rather like autocorrect.
I think this is an AWESOME feature, because I
an terrible at remembering exact spellings of usernames (ETA: I 'an' also a terrible typist, for whatever that is worth... I could probably use autocorrectx elsewhere, too, it seems).
I had a horrible time with the search feature at hyperboards when I was trying to PM someone, because it was so darned-- well,
nitpicky. Hmph. This is MUCH easier for me to use.

You can also change a LOT in how your PM box functions and how it appears to you personally-- creating sort lists, etc. is much nicer here, I think.