Forum Decorum & Handbook (FAQ)

[stashpanache]

I started a thread which has evolved into an all encompassing discussion which many people might want to read/post.  How do I change the subject of the thread I started to something which is more descriptive of the discussion?

[Lisa]

I started a thread which has evolved into an all encompassing discussion which many people might want to read/post.  How do I change the subject of the thread I started to something which is more descriptive of the discussion?

Modify your first post (click the "Modify" button in the upper right hand corner of your first post, and change the Subject line there.  That will change the name of the thread, and new posts will use the new name.  Old posts will still display the old name.  If you need the names of all of the posts to change, an admin or mod would need to do it for you.

Please let us know if you need help!

Lisa

[stashpanache]

Thanks, Lisa.

[SewRusty]

How to get the url for a picture (instead of the url for the web page the picture is on):  Put your cursor on the picture whose url you want, and right click. This will give you a drop-down menu--choose "Properties."  You will need to copy the entry under "Address (URL)."  You can do that most easily by putting your cursor on that entry, holding the "Ctrl" key down while hit the letter "A" (this will highlight the entire URL, which may be to long to all show...), then the letter "C" (which will copy the URL).  When you come back to your edit window, you can paste the URL you've copied by holding the "Ctrl" key down and hiting the "V" key to past the URL text where you need it.

Um, there may be an easier way (though I haven't used a windows machine in forever, so it might not be exactly the same). I usually just right click on the image, choose "copy image location" (or something along those lines) and then you can just use CTRL (or command on a Mac) + V and have it paste it in your brackets. It copies it automatically that way, (no need to command + C), and you are happily on your way. Just a bit faster. HTH!  

[Lisa]

How to get the url for a picture (instead of the url for the web page the picture is on):  Put your cursor on the picture whose url you want, and right click. This will give you a drop-down menu--choose "Properties."  You will need to copy the entry under "Address (URL)."  You can do that most easily by putting your cursor on that entry, holding the "Ctrl" key down while hit the letter "A" (this will highlight the entire URL, which may be to long to all show...), then the letter "C" (which will copy the URL).  When you come back to your edit window, you can paste the URL you've copied by holding the "Ctrl" key down and hiting the "V" key to past the URL text where you need it.

Um, there may be an easier way (though I haven't used a windows machine in forever, so it might not be exactly the same). I usually just right click on the image, choose "copy image location" (or something along those lines) and then you can just use CTRL (or command on a Mac) + V and have it paste it in your brackets. It copies it automatically that way, (no need to command + C), and you are happily on your way. Just a bit faster. HTH!  

Nice to know how to do it on a Mac, but unhappily, there isn't a corresponding choice on a PC.   I'll go ahead and edit the picture instructions to include Mac details (although not tonight)!   Thanks for your help!

Lisa

[SewRusty]

Here is a way to check if you have Private Messages waiting for you, to read only the posts which have accumulated since your last visit to SG, or to read the new replies to your previous posts:

First, on the home page (or at the top of any page) make sure that the little arrow just below the word "SEARCH" is pointing up.  When it is, you will see three underlined phrases, which are actually links which will take you to various places on SG. 

The first is a link to allow you to read any Private Messages (PMs) that may have been sent to you by other members

The second link  "Show unread posts since the last visit"  will give you a list of all the new posts that have happened since your last visit.  When you get to that list, you can also click on "all unread posts" at the bottom right if you want to find more posts that you may have missed.

The third link is the one I think you will really like: "Show new replies to your posts"  It will show you which topics (and you can just click on that underlined topic) have replies to your last posts.

HTH,
Kathryn

What if I just want to see my subscribed threads? For example, I had read the replies to one of my posts a couple of days ago (and deleted the email with the link), but decided today to go back and respond as the situation had changed, and ended up going through the advanced search to find the posts by my username and subject so that I could find the thread without wading through the forum. Surely there's a better way? Even if it's something that I've missed and makes me look silly? Because I seriously love that feature....a dropdown menu on the top bar would be awesome too--but that might be asking a bit much.

[Lisa]

Here is a way to check if you have Private Messages waiting for you, to read only the posts which have accumulated since your last visit to SG, or to read the new replies to your previous posts:

First, on the home page (or at the top of any page) make sure that the little arrow just below the word "SEARCH" is pointing up.  When it is, you will see three underlined phrases, which are actually links which will take you to various places on SG. 

The first is a link to allow you to read any Private Messages (PMs) that may have been sent to you by other members

The second link  "Show unread posts since the last visit"  will give you a list of all the new posts that have happened since your last visit.  When you get to that list, you can also click on "all unread posts" at the bottom right if you want to find more posts that you may have missed.

The third link is the one I think you will really like: "Show new replies to your posts"  It will show you which topics (and you can just click on that underlined topic) have replies to your last posts.

HTH,
Kathryn

What if I just want to see my subscribed threads? For example, I had read the replies to one of my posts a couple of days ago (and deleted the email with the link), but decided today to go back and respond as the situation had changed, and ended up going through the advanced search to find the posts by my username and subject so that I could find the thread without wading through the forum. Surely there's a better way? Even if it's something that I've missed and makes me look silly? Because I seriously love that feature....a dropdown menu on the top bar would be awesome too--but that might be asking a bit much.

You can see a list of your subscribed threads by clicking the "Profile" button near the top of each page.  Then in the box on the left labled "Modify Profile", click on the link titled "Notifications and Email"  That will take you to a page which shows all of your "Current Topic Notifications" (the threads you've subscribed to).  The name of each thread is a clickable link that will take you to that thread.

HTH!

Lisa

[Linda Dean]

I can't seem to add an avatar.  I have a Mac and wondered if that was the problem
Thanks,

[DragonLady]

Linda, email it to me and I'll upload it for you.  dl@artisanssquare.com

[SewRusty]

I can't seem to add an avatar.  I have a Mac and wondered if that was the problem
Thanks,

I have a Mac too, and while I did have some difficulty getting the image to upload (had to give it about three tries) it did finally work. Hopefully, DL can help you out. I think my new one is from an image hosting site...I'll double check in case that would make it easier for you. :-)

OK, I checked...it appears that I uploaded it. Are you hiding the extension? "Un-hiding" the extension might help?

If you can't get it, there is an option for using an image hosting site and posting the image URL--I recommend Picasa, Photobucket is pretty easy to use as well. Flikr and a few other similar sites would probably yield the same results though.

[Lisa]

For those of you using Flickr to host your images, Flickr has again changed the look/feel of their photo-hosting site.  Previously, they disabled the right-click, "properties" method we all still use to post pictures from anywhere else on the web.   They want you to post "clickable" images so that your viewers will have the option to click back to Flickr and see your pictures there.

From one of their FAQs:

The direct link to a photo file is no longer shown on the page. Per the Flickr Community Guidelines "pages on other websites that display content hosted on flickr.com must provide a link from each photo or video back to its page on Flickr." Linking directly to the photo file doesn't do this.

(The quote is underlined, as it is a link, so that you can click it and link back to the FAQ quoted--which also includes a link to their community guidelines.)

However, when they took away the ability to "right-click", etc., they also provided a method to easily get the BBCode you need to post photos here. 

However their latest change is to revise how you get to that BBCode.   Here's what you need to know. 

First, see if you can see the "More ways to share" icon under the image on the right (looks like this: ).  If not, you need to go to the image's page (where you will find that icon).  Put put your cursor on the image.  If you see a transparent banner at the bottom of the image, you'll find five links in the banner.  The one at the top-left of the banner (the name of the image on Flickr) will take you to the image's page.   When you get there:

1.  Click the "More ways to share" icon---hover over the icon and the browser should ID it for you,
2.  If the "Grab the HTML/BBCode" link is black, proceed to the next step, if it's blue, click the link which will open a pop-up window. 
3.  Click the radio button next to "BBCode" near the bottom of the pop-up window (otherwise you'll get the Flickr default, HTML, which this board doesn't use).
4.  Choose the size you want from the drop down menu.  (If you need to preview sizes, go back to the image page, then click the three dots icon to the right of the More ways to share icon, and choose "View all sizes."  You'll be able to take a look at the various sizes that are on the drop-down menu, then back to the More ways to share/Grab the HTML/BBCode and choose the size you want.)
5.  Copy the code from the window and bring it back to your reply window here and paste it where you want the image.  Don't use any of the buttons over the reply window to add img tags--Flickr has helpfully include those in the code they provide for you!

So if I do all of that with one of my images, the code I post looks like this:

Code: [Select]

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/30567563@N03/3819024184/][img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3819024184_840ae5a565.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/30567563@N03/3819024184/]One White Peony[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/30567563@N03/]lisaalissa[/url], on FlickrYou  may wonder why there are two lines of code.  The second line provides a caption (the name of the image on Flickr), a link to your profile on Flickr, as well as a note that the image is hosted on Flickr.  It looks like this:


One White Peony by lisaalissa, on Flickr

You'll note that there are three links.  The first is the image itself.  The second is the image's caption (which takes you to the same page as the image). The third is to the poster's profile (mine won't tell you much, since I never filled it out )  As I read the FAQ/Community guidelines from Flickr, you can delete the second line of code if you like (since the image itself links back to Flickr).  When I do that, I get the image without the captions, which looks like this:



Please try out posting your images hosted on Flickr in the "Sandbox"!  We keep an eye on it, and are always glad to help.  (If you have trouble, please leave whatever you got there, so that we can see what happened.)  Hope to see you posting images from your Flickr-hosted photos soon!

etc:info for new Flickr scheme to get to BBCode

[Lisa]

If you're displaying an image in a post, by linking to it (from somewhere out on the web), but you wish it were smaller, you're in luck!

You can direct the software here at SG to limit the size of the image.  You'll need to add sizing information inside the opening tag.

For instance, if I only had a single size of this image (keep scrolling ...I've picked the largest copy of this image I have, as an example):

but wished it were smaller, I'd take its code, which looks like this:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://www.pbase.com/lisaalissa/image/109168299/original.jpg[/img]and add " width=500" inside the opening img tag so that the code looked like this (notice that there is a space between "img" and "width" but nowhere else in opening img tag.

Code: [Select]

[img width=500]http://www.pbase.com/lisaalissa/image/109168299/original.jpg[/img]and I'd get this:


The "500" in that code specifies the number of pixels to be displayed.  So if I change the 500 to 350, and then 200, I get even smaller images which look like this:



So if your image is too large, add this helpful code so that it will be displayed at the size you prefer!  Give it a try in the Sandbox!

[tcsewhat]

I have looked at my profile page to add a signature line or a photo.  But I see none of the buttons you refer to in your directions.  All I have is a profile summary button.  Did I do something wrong when I registered?  or did the rules change?  I can't even add more infor about myself to my profile.  Please help. Thanks.

[DragonLady]

I have looked at my profile page to add a signature line or a photo.  But I see none of the buttons you refer to in your directions.  All I have is a profile summary button.  Did I do something wrong when I registered?  or did the rules change?  I can't even add more infor about myself to my profile.  Please help. Thanks.

You'll have to wait until you have 11 posts.  I added that rule a couple of months ago to try to help slow the floods of spam. In the meantime, I'll be happy to change it for you if you need me to.

[tcsewhat]

No, I can wait.  Thanks! 

[rhodeanie]

To show the newest posts at the top of the thread, go to your profile, then click "layout preferences" on the left hand side.  Scroll down, and tick the box next to "Show most recent posts at the top". Save your changes, and then click to another page.  You may have to hit "refresh" on the topics you open the first couple times.

DragonLady
For the life of me, I can't find "layout preferences" when I click on Profile.  Please help.  Thanks!

[Lisa]

To show the newest posts at the top of the thread, go to your profile, then click "layout preferences" on the left hand side.  Scroll down, and tick the box next to "Show most recent posts at the top". Save your changes, and then click to another page.  You may have to hit "refresh" on the topics you open the first couple times.

DragonLady
For the life of me, I can't find "layout preferences" when I click on Profile.  Please help.  Thanks!

Hi Rhodeanie!

The board's software has been updated since DL wrote that in 2006.  They renamed what used to be called "Layout Preferences" as "Look and Layout."  You'll find the box you need to tick there.

Separately, before you open a thread, you'll find an orange oval labeled "new."  If you open the thread by clicking on that oval (instead of the thread name), you'll be taken to the earliest thread you haven't already seen.

HTH,

Lisa

[Violet in Miami]

I can't figure out how to include at the top of my post/reply a part of another's post that I am commenting on. How do I do that and include the formatting everybody else apparently knows how to include? Thanks for all help. Maybe I missed something looking over this thread. A good example is the post above this one.

[Doris W. in TN]

I can't figure out how to include at the top of my post/reply a part of another's post that I am commenting on.

In small font at the upper right of everyone's post, you'll see the word Quote.   Click on that, and a reply box will come up.
Next,  you can place your blinking cursor in that reply box w/quote, and delete as much as necessary while leaving the important part of the post to which you are replying.

A second way to do it, is to highlight & copy the part of a post that you want to quote.  Next,  in the icons above a reply box,  above the smiley face icons, to the far right you'll see a cartoon 'thought bubble' icon (I don't know what else to call it)  to the right of the # icon.   Click that icon, right click your highlighted & copied part of a post between the [  Quote ]   boxes, and it should work.   Give it a try here. 

[fzxdoc]

Violet, just click on the "Quote" button just above the post that you want to insert into your post. The posting box will then open with the quote already there. You can just merrily type your comment below it. Come on over to the Sandbox to test that feature!

Kathryn

Doris we were posting at the same time 

[Lisa]

Violet, just click on the "Quote" button just above the post that you want to insert into your post. The posting box will then open with the quote already there. You can just merrily type your comment below it. Come on over to the Sandbox to test that feature!

Kathryn

Doris we were posting at the same time 

And if you want to add a quotation after you've started working on your post, just put your cursor where you want the quotation to be, then scroll down in the "Topic Summary" immediately below the reply/editing window until you find the post you want to quote.  You'll find an "Insert Quote" link to the right immediately above the text of the post.  Click that, and the entire body of the post will be placed where you had your cursor.  Go ahead and delete what you don't want to quote, but be sure to leave the opening and closing quote tags, which will look something like this. 

Opening quote tag:

Code: [Select]

[quote author=fzxdoc link=topic=124.msg318256#msg318256 date=1358608600]Closing quote tag:

Code: [Select]

[/quote]
Note that if you're quoting someone who is themselves quoting someone, that you'll have a set of opening and closing quote tags for that someone too!  Each opening quote tag needs an ending quote tag, or the board's software will assume that there is an ending quote tag at the end of your post...and your text will get included in the text box.

Finally, if you want to quote something from another thread altogether, open another window/tab and go to that thread, click the "Quote" button and copy the entire editing box that opens, go back to your post (original window/tab) and paste.  Edit as appropriate (see above).

HTH,

Lisa

eta: info about quoting material from a different thread.

[Violet in Miami]

 Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate your help.

[KathleenB]

I'd like to practice posting from my host site... is this a good spot?
Kathleen

[karent]

I'd like to practice posting from my host site... is this a good spot?
Kathleen

Kathleen, look for the Sandbox.  It is just below this thread in Site News.  It is where you can practice any kind of maneuver you want, and the mods patrol it frequently to assist.  K

[Lisa]

I've noticed in the discussions of various books, TV shows & movies, that sometimes we want to discuss something that might spoil the viewing experience for those who haven't seen it yet.

Generally, those who post that sort of thing mark it w/ "Spoiler" ahead of time.   However I frequently have already scanned/read the spoiler info.   Since that might not be just me, I thought I'd show you how to hide text so that it can only be seen if highlighted.  Here's an example:

There is transparent text below this line which includes "spoilers."  Highlight the blank space (place cursor somewhere before the blank space, hold down the "Shift" key and click the cursor below the blank space) if you'd like to read it:

Here's who won the _____________ contest!  Wasn't it wonderful.  And here's who killed the victim in the book I'm recommending.

When you highlight in the blank space above this line, you'll see the text in white. 

Here's how to do it! 
1.  Go ahead and tell us that the blank space you're creating has a spoiler that can be seen if the space is highlighted. 
2.  Then type your spoiler and highlight it.  Choose "Change color" so that color tags will appear around your spoiler text (it doesn't matter what color you choose, since the color you want, "transparent" isn't on the list.  Go into the opening color tag and change the color to "transparent."  My coding above looks like this: 

Code: [Select]

There is transparent text below this line which includes "spoilers."  Highlight the blank space if you'd like to read it:

[color=transparent]Here's who won the _____________ contest!  Wasn't it wonderful.  And here's who killed the victim in the book I'm recommending.[/color]

When you highlight in the blank space above this line, you'll see the text in white. 

3.  That's it.  Be sure to hit the Preview button to check that you've gotten the effect you want before you click the "post" button.  If it's right, go ahead and post!

HTH,

Lisa

eta: more detail about how to highlight the blank space

[LynnH]

Lisa - I've tried both Firefox & Chrome and I can't get your spoiler text to be visible after highlight.  Am I restricted to IE for this to work?  Or did I misunderstand how to make your 'hidden' text visible by highlight the text?
Thanks
Lynn

[JDol]

Hi Lisa, Hi Lynn - I am on Chrome and it is workng for me. I click (And Hold) the Left mouse button and drag it across the text area

[LynnH]

That's what I did too!  Ok - off to try on the PC.  Maybe it is a Mac thing
Lynn

[karent]

Lynn, I'm in Chrome and it's working for me as well.  I thought it didn't, I kept putting the cursor in the empty spot and clicking... nothing happened.  I was going to say something, then I realized that the cursor changes from an arrow to the blinking text icon in the middle, clicked on that and held down moving the cursor.  It opens the text for me.  Thanks, Lisa, I never had any idea one could do that!  K

[Lisa]

Glad I could help!

JDol's Click & drag works, but I've added more detail about how to highlight the blank space to see the "spoiler" text in my original post w/out having to drag using the mouse:

(place cursor somewhere before the blank space, hold down the "Shift" key and click the cursor below the blank space) Below is another one to try:

You should only be able to see this text if you've highlighted the blank space!

You'll notice that only the text is hidden, not any smilies you use.

HTH,

Lisa

[Zalin]

I just avoid threads that may contain spoilers but I will definitely try this. I don't think it works on my iPod though.

[blue mooney]

Lisa, thank you for pointing this out. I accidentally got spoiled a couple of times, too, while scanning posts to find utube links. This is a nifty feature!

[Lisa]

I just avoid threads that may contain spoilers but I will definitely try this. I don't think it works on my iPod though.

Good point! A way to deal with that would be to hit the quote button.  It's not pretty, but you can then read the text. just make sure you don't hit the post button unless you actually want to post.

Lisa

[Zalin]

Oh thats a good idea!

[LynnH]

Lisa - it may just be me, but on my Mac, I can't get the highlighted text to show.  It is just a solid blue line.  So I sent the link to my work PC and used IE.  That time it showed all - including the hidden text.

Ah well - I finally found something the Mac couldn't handle.
Lynn