Forum: Ask Questions of the Moderators Here XXIV

last thread

Side scroll on the Dream Thread. You may need to check them all. Also noted the ? by the name, whats up with that/

Yhe sidescroll will go on a bit until pogge fiddles with something that deactivates putting a space before a sentence. The ? means you do not have a profile here. My name is now underlined and is a link to my profile.

See my comments here near the end.

There is side scroll in the PPF2 thread …. (wasn’t me!)

here’s a wierd one …

The thread “how many children will die in 1918 scenario” showed a the top of the list at 1:04am as a new posting from Fiddler Dave. It also showed 95 posts so I thought I would see how ‘long’ it really was and if a new thread was needed.

When I opened it, 2 things were observed:

• it has side scroll
• it appears as a ‘closed thread’ - no new comments box at the bottom …

I hope there is a ‘natural’ explanation and this is not the new outcome of stopping the spambots???

Sorry, that one above should have been “showed 148 posts” - remembering the wrong thread count ….

‘’DemFromCT — 28 November 2006, 22:04 so, BB, it ought to be easy to spot long threads and close ‘em.

Anything longer than 120 is fair game.’‘

I’m not seeing anything that tells me how many posts there are. :-( Not fair! I wanna play too…

AnnieB — 29 November 2006, 01:18 --- it appears as a ‘closed thread’ - no new comments box at the bottom

Scroll all the way to the bottom, then scroll to the right. Comment box is there…it’s trying to center itself to the page, but ‘cuz of the MASSIVE sidescroll, it doesn’t even appear on the lower left of the screen!

Sidescroll appears to be caused by indents in the following:

October 28 Grace RN – at 04:08

BTW--- I DO like the text magnifier in the upper left corner under the Wiki Birds!

Both threads are fixed.

BB

I’m not seeing anything that tells me how many posts there are. :-( Not fair! I wanna play too…

It’s that number in the middle on the topic index page. You’re using 50 last changes?

BB shamefully looks down at his shoes

Yes sir.

I found it! I found it!

BB raises his head and jumps for joy, proud that he learned to navigate TWO websites in less than a week!!

A note for the Mods—the left side bar on forum.forum is really spread out and down…any way to squeeze that back up towards the top?

It’s on my list. The style sheets for the skin changed quite a bit for this version and I haven’t sorted that out yet.

Cool on the text enlarger thingie…wish that was on the NEW forum!

Ok, so way are some threads suddenly closed? Dr. Woodson posted this AM on the canning thread and I wanted to comment, but there’s no comment box…and no link to a new thread. That thread had a loooooooong scroll so maybe I’m trying to get in at the same time you’re trying to fix it and it’ll be open again soon????

Please check and advise! :-) THANKS FOR YOUR HARD WORK! YEA MODS!

duh…Dr. Woodson posted YESTERDAY not today, don’t know what I was thinkin’! Still, the thread is closed….will it reopen?

Bronco Bill:

It turns out the wiki page where the sidebar is maintained is much more sensitive to white space. Tighten up that page and it tightens up the sidebar.

I’m-workin’-on-it:

The thread wasn’t closed. It’s just that the sidescroll was pushing the comment box to the right. Fixed now.

ooooohhhhhhh! Thanks! I wasn’t sure just what was going on…how on earth you guys and gals figure all this out is beyond me!

How’s Melanie doing by the way?

slowly recovering, thanks for asking

DemFromCT — 29 November 2006, 11:41 --- I hope you’re keeping Melanie apprised of what’s going on…won’t she be surprised (happily) when she comes back and finds Old Yeller all spiffied up, and a whole new Forum unfolding…

Dem or pogge---could you edit the last post in FluPrep XXV to point to the New Forum, Diary Flu Prep XXVI? Thanks

But there’s a Flu Prep XXVI here as well. You want links to both?

yeah, do that if you don’t mind…

Done. And fixed the sidescroll too.

What’s up with the superscript “?” by the names?

Thanks!

Sarge, that means you don’t have a profile on file. Click your nae, it’s a link, and write something to make it go away.

Sidescroll on Oklahoma Preppers III

Fixed

Sidescroll here too :-(

Why can’t I post now? I wrote it, put in the code number, the page renewed itself, but my post wasn’t there. :\ On 2 different threads. :>><<

Well, obviously this one worked, but this was the easy one, no links. grrr.

Isn’t it odd that there hasn’t been any news posted since 2pm? I’ve tried to post a story there twice, but zippo.

I do know that if you mistype that three digit code it will act like it’s posting but your post gets eaten. I just posted a news story with a link — and made sure I got the code right — and it went through.

If anyone else runs into the same problem, please let me know.

pogge — 29 November 2006, 19:12 ---

That’s the same problem I wrote you about earlier today. Tried 3 times to create a new thread with a link to the old, made sure I put in the code correctly, but nadda. Old Yeller musta been hungry today…

No bug reports on this that I can find. Did it react very quickly on those occasions when it ate your posts? Or did it take a minute, as if it was really saving and then recreating the page to send back down to your browser?

Purely on a hunch, I changed the load order of a couple of a scripts. Will keep an eye on things.

Did it react very quickly on those occasions when it ate your posts?

The first time came back quickly, but the next two took some time…

I thought maybe the way I had been creating the split threads before the upgrade was somehow changed. Before, I did the “Cont. from here” thing, then the horiz bar, then copied with color the previous couple of posts.

I tried removing the color coding first, and that didn’t work, so I removed all my formatting and hit post, and that didn’t work…

I got up from my chair, looked for the nearest window, and pondered jumping, but then realized that I work in the basement, so it wouldn’t have done me any good! ;-)

pogge---no Full Topic Listing? I get a blank page with a full left side bar.

If it’s on your to-do list, I apologize for jumping the gun…

I got a full topic listing.

Meanwhile I’ve installed a slightly revised comment script. Things change quickly in PmWiki land. Let’s see how it goes.

Why do some of our names have question marks after them? (I’ve probably missed something rudimentary.)

You don’t have a Profile. If you click on Profiles in the left sidebar you’ll see that many who post here have created profiles and that’s why their names don’t have question marks. Click on your name and it will take you to an editor where you can create one. It’s not required, though.

Ah - thanks.

I tried to change the mustard to pale green (finally found the page again-called style options-)but the color didn’t change even though the address said pale green, time after time, when I hit return. Trivial I know. The main wiki section is pale green for me, though.

btw, when my posts got eaten, it was a very fast reload.

I knew I forgot something. I have to do a review of the alternate colour schemes. I made those particular style sheets up, they don’t come with the software.

Nope. Still no Full Topic Listing. The URL I’ve been using is http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=Forum.FullTopicListing

I assume it hasn’t changed…

You broke it!

Seriously, your link took me to a full topic listing.

I’ve had the page up most of the night to see if it was just really slow loading…but alas, I still see only the left side menu and a big, 17″ wide yellow field. No borders, no links, no nuthin’. Checked cookies (all the chocolate chips are gone), removed temp files, defaulted all IE settings.

Tried launching in Netscape 8.1 and the left menu seperator lines are stretched all the way across the page, but no topic list. (But then again, nobody uses Netscape anymore, do they?)

I hope noit. But it stratches in Firefox 2.0 as well. On the “to do” list… bear with us

ohmygod, the forum sounds like it’s having as many aches and pains as I’m having this AM!

Only “differences” I’ve had here for 2 days is that the links on the left (in the yellow area) are scattered down the side of the page, instead of one under the other & I’ll bet I still have a question mark after the handle when I post — did yesterday even though I’ve had a profile on file for months…..let’s see if that happens this AM….

Heeeyyyy!!!! No question mark!!! Thanks!! Makin’ progress!

It’s not a major issue for me right now. But down the road, when I start ‘blitzin’, I’ll need to see what I’m closing! ;-) Otherwise, who knows? I might end up closing my own threads…and we wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we…:-)

Looks like Full Topic List works here at work. Must be the fact that we’re closing on the house in VA today, and my PC doesn’t like it’s bedroom! ;-)

DOH!! Not closed…

That’s great news BB! Hope you’re very happy in your new digs! Whew!

Are any of your neighbors prepping and do you have a root cellar? More importantly, how about a RWFK hidey-hole? Just wondering…

bird-dog --- Thanks…much happier here than in over-crowded FresNo!!

No root cellar, just lots of roots! The house sits on a wooded property…with about 475 tons of leaves that just came down in the past couple of weeks! Very few of the homes here have cellars…most of this area is just a few feet above the high-tide line of the river…

Haven’t had much time to check with the neighbors yet, but my BIL and his fiance live about a mile away, and they’ve said that it’s not gonna happen. :-( No prepping for them—they have music and their pets!

RWFK hidey hole? Ooooh yeah! Absolutely.

Excellent! (re RWFK) <grin>

Do you have a wood-stove? Those trees should keep you warm…and a river, sounds like a great place for SIP. Your BIL—not so great.

BB, congratulations on your move! About the water level, do you know how high the river has risen, ever? Do people build on pillars? (Or concealed pillars?)

Pogge @ 19:12 - I’m having the same trouble as Jane. I’ve tried half a dozen times, double-checked to make sure I have the code correct, that my author name shows up, etc. Everything looks fine but when I hit ‘post’ it just refreshes the page w/o any additions. (Not that I probably have much worth reading, lol.)

Hoping this one shows up!

Were all of your failed attempts on a particular thread? Which thread?

Jane - @ 11:27 --- The water level….well, about a month ago, we had a very unusual (for this area) nor’easter blow through. 11 inches of rain in 8 hours!

The river rose about 15 feet, but we’re high enough that we didn’t flood. From the river anyway!

No pillars…the housing development sits higher than any past flood problems, except those homes that sit right on the water’s edge. They sit on concealed pillars…we’re about 1/4 mile or so from the river

Jane at 22:33 (yesterday):

The two alternate colour schemes are in place now.

Thank you, pogge!! It’s a beautiful pale green now. Very nice, sigh, and less tense for me. Thanks!

pogge @ 11:55

All of my attempts were in Pandemic Dream V, probably 6–8+ times by now. I honestly just gave up after that one & didn’t bother trying any others except this one. (With four kids underfoot I’m lucky to find time to even read, let alone post, lol.)

After my post worked in this thread, I tried PDV a couple more times but still no luck.

I just posted to that thread without any problem. So far three of you have reported this (unless there are others who are just too annoyed to even talk to me anymore).

BB had the problem with one thread. If he’s had any problem since, he hasn’t mentioned it. Jane had the problem on two threads yesterday and if she’s had a recurrence she also hasn’t mentioned it. You’ve had the problem on one thread only. So I’d suggest the following:

1. If anyone is still having the problem please talk to me.

2. If you have the problem and you’re sure you typed the code in correctly, don’t just try again immediately because you’ll likely just get frustrated. Bail out of the thread and then go back in and try again.

Meanwhile I’m monitoring the user group for anything that might be helpful.

pogge - I was able to post right after you with no problem, twice even. Logged off and came back to try again and once again the posts won’t show. Sigh.

I’ll go see if I can post elsewhere then try that thread later. I appreciate your efforts with all of this!!

Testing.

we’re back!

Thanks pogge and DemFromCT good to see the site up and running.

bump

Uh oh: http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=Consequences.Raisingawareness

Spam…maybe ‘cuz it’s on the Wiki side?

Yes. That’s a different problem. Thanks.

The news thread ate my post. It took so long to write, too,sigh. Do you think I could save a post on a mac, without saving the entire page(s) before hitting post? I guess I should just try it, but I have to go out and shovel slushy snow now.

Jane? — 01 December 2006, 14:12 --- What I’ve taken to doing, whilst pogge works on this problem, is once I’ve written a post, I hilite and mouse-click to copy the text I’ve written. Then if I hit post and nothing shows up, I can just click in the comment box and mouse click “paste”, then try again. That’s on a PC…I don’t remember the commands to copy and paste on a Mac.

I take it from Bronco Bill’s post that he’s still seeing the problem. And so is Jane. But only three of you have reported it. So: browser and version, please.

I still can’t get new account at new site???

There’s no entry for a Rural Dweller. Or a RuralDweller. Have you registered under a different name? Or received an error when you tried to register?

I’m using Safari and Mac OS X 10.4.7

Firefox is here too since DD visited, but I haven’t clicked on it.

Since BB’s on a PC, it’s a pretty safe bet he’s not using Safari. So how come three people using at least two different browsers but only three people?

‘Tis a puzzle. I’m off to look at error logs.

Two disappearing acts in a row. I’m trying to create links using PMWiki markup to 5 closed threads (Solar Generators for Dummies, Parts 1, 3, 4, 7, & 9 due to side scroll.

Oh, and my PC? Winders XPsp2 w/ Internet ‘splorer v.7

Okay…that post worked. I’m wondering if the PMWiki markup language has changed the way we’re to do links here?

Test in next post…

This. Is a test.

Solar Generators For Dummies

pogge---it looks like when we are creating more than one PMWiki markup link per post, or add colors, the post disappears…

Single links seem to be okay…

Rural Dweller, I will create an account for you if you email me (so i know who to send the password to).

demfromct@earthlink.net

Bronco Bill @ 17:00:

As you’ll see in this thread, I didn’t have any problem with colours. But I definitely had a problem with more than one link to outside sites. The reason my last post in that thread has two links is because I linked to other pages here and was able to get them through this way:

[[TestForDisappearingPosts|Test For Disappearing Posts]]

That gives you: Test For Disappearing Posts

When you’re linking to other pages within the Forum group on this server, you don’t need the whole URL. The page name alone is enough. When you’re linking to other pages on this server but in different groups you still don’t need the whole URL. The following is a valid link:

[[Main.HomePage|The home page on this server]]

That results in: The home page on this server

So the upshot of all this for now is: no more than one off-site link in a post, at least for now. I have no idea why this is the case but I’ll see what I can find out.

And having said all that, I’ve now found out what’s going on. Go here and tell me if five links per post is enough.

I just created side scroll on the thread about schools closing. Think I had a space in front of the sentence when I edited and added returns for paragraph breaks. Don’t know why else it looks so odd. Sorry.

Not a problem, NEMO, we’ll attend to it… ;-P

Sidescroll in ‘Backyard Poultry’

gharris, thanks.

Having a lot of trouble getting the buttons work in the new forum… I can read but not reply. Don’t know if it’s me or the forum! It’s been wacky all afternoon, but everything is working fine for me all afternoon.

I meant, fine for me over here on this one. (s)

it’s been working okay for me all day (the new one).

I now have Internet Explorer 7, Netscape 8.2, and FireFox 2.o installed on my PC. I still cannot view the Full Topic List, except for the left sidebar. In IE, I get nothing but a golden “Old Yeller” background, ‘cept the left side bar shows up. In Netscape and Firefox, the separator lines under each heading in the left side bar extend ad infinitum to the right, making it impossible to see anything that might be “way out in right field”.

I’ve reinstalled and updated IEv.7, I’ve rebooted and cleared files, etc…all the stuff that I tell others to do when there are problems. Is anyone else having trouble viewing the Full Topic Listing page?

Any suggestions (besides “buy a Mac)?

I have to defer to pogge. it all looks clean and neat here, tighht lines, full left sidebar.

Anyone else besides BB with the issue?

I don’t dismiss it.

This isn’t a flu question so I will understand if you do not answer. When I go to some websites I find LOCAL advertisements. I am computer ignorant and did not know every site you went to showed your computer number and local internet provider. How can I safely and EASILY cloak my computer. I also do not want a company from outside of the US to provide this service.

~mous — 03 December 2006, 10:02 --- Go out and buy a D-link or LinkSys router to put between your broadband modem and your PC (or Mac). Set it up as a NAT translator with WEP encryption and firewall. It’s not a perfect cloak, but it will protect your computer…

Bronco No problems with my connections with IE on 6 computers, provided the wick and my ISP stay upright.

03 dec at 10:02 Check out anonymizer.com. Don’t know if it is an approved device for this wiki, but you can certainly use it otherwise. Mods?

Bronco Bill — 03 December 2006, 08:50

Hi BB just tryed your link and it appears differently on my CPU than the one that I use. Try this one instead. http://tinyurl.com/jpmoo

Second try.

Bronco Bill, is the Full Topic Listing any different from Forum Index? They look the same to me from glancing at them. Does the Forum index load? (Not that I know how to fix anything, I’m just curious.)

I mean Forum.Forum (as it’s titled)

Sailor — 03 December 2006, 11:13 --- That’s the 250 Last Topics last. I’m trying to get into the full list of all threads dating back to around May of this year, but thanks.

Jane? — 03 December 2006, 12:28 --- Yes, it is different. The Forum Index links to the individual threads, but the Full Topic List shows the entire list of all threads that exist and are viewable on FluWikie2.

That’s the 250 Last Topics last List. 250 Recent Topics LIST! ;-)

Still stumped by this one, BB. It works for me in all three browsers I have installed. Try this. It’s a listing of one thousand topics.

a listing of one thousand topics.

That one works. It’s bee-you-tee-full! It goes back to Oct. 14, so the only ones I’m missing (that are still open) are from about Sept 25 on up.

This is good, though…I can start closing some of the October threads and get the server cleaned up again…

I honestly don’t know what’s going on…this happened immediately after the upgrade. I haven’t d/l’d anything new to the browser, and I just installed FireFox last night, with the same results. Went to Microsoft to see if there were any updates to the IE browser, but nothing.

And what’s weird is that I can still access the Full List from work on IE 6.xx…dunno. Very weird…must be the ghost moved into my machine!

Oh…and Thanks pogge. I can work again! ;-)

I made it 1,300 which takes you back to around mid-September. If that causes a problem, let me know.

That’s perfect. You, sir, are a joy to work with…

pogge---do you want a list of threads that have sidescroll as I close them?

.

.

Hello! I tried to log into the new Flu Wiki site and it said that my user name and password did not exist. I then tried to register and it would not accept my user name and password (said it was invalid). Granted I am considered the computer magnet by my husband, I didn’t think my range to screw up computer databases/processes was this good! Any thoughts about what you would like me to do?

You can email me using the email account that you want used for your membership and I’ll set you up and get back to you. Assuming you want the same nickname, I can’t find any evidence that you’re already registered.

I have to go out to a meeting shortly so I may not get back to you immediately but we’ll get this sorted out.

Please put the link back on the main page that was in the center of the page that said something like “Old Forum Here” since some of us are still directign people to THIS site….we’re not gone yet.

Personally I don’t necessarily want people I direct here to be led over to a new site right away. I want them to see what’s here & discuss what’s here with a few folks before being led into the Promised Land of the new forum.

I’m-workin’-on-it — 05 December 2006, 09:53 --- Are you talking about the Main FluWikie page? If so, have your guests go there and then click on Discussion Forum over on the left side bar. That’ll take them to the Forum.Forum page

BB, that’s how I’ve been getting here forever. But now that there’s this billboard type message directing everyone over to the NEW forum, there’s no real indication that you can ALSO stay here. Last night there was a link there, why did it get removed?

If they scroll down on www.fluwikie2.com’s main page, they’ll see “Feedback and Discussion”. In that group is the link to the Last 50 Changes (this) page.

In all honesty, it would be better that people get used to the new Forum as soon as possible. This forum won’t be here forever…we’d like to see more people come over to the new site and jump in with both feet.

And once your guests get to the Last 50 Changes page, they can bookmark it to get back to it again.

But also, point them to the Main Wiki side…there’s a ton more information there, in a less “frenzied” format.

So are you planning on dumping this site in the next few days?

Not at all…I didn’t say that. This site will be up and running for quite some time. But people need to realize that even if this site runs for 6 or 12 or 18 more months, eventually it will have to be closed down and folks will need to move over to the new forum.

BB,

Great.

In the meantime, until the powers that be shut this place up tight, please just put the link that WAS there last night (or night before) back up so that we here have EQUAL footing with our (see, I’m taking ownership) newer forum — don’t make our new people we bring here have to work to find out they’re ‘here’ already. It was fine for that link to be there before, it should be fine for it to be there in the future.

New people will figure out quickly enough there is yet another site to visit, there’s enough people popping over here to remind everyone, and you have the printing for the new forum in pretty colors & this forum’s link was a skinny black font — honestly, do you not see why we feel like we’re being treated like ugly stepchildren over here that need to be hidden from sight now?

And while I’m at the business of complaining, why are more than half the state threads missing? Were that many inactive for over a month & they got dropped?

Please leave us some threads open here —the forum seems to be running fine but plugs are being pulled on what I’d consider good threads. I’m trying to go down the list and bump up at least the state threads so they can be seen and so many of them are missing!

If you’re going to close some threads, close all but one discussing the new forum-we’ll go over there when we need information - heck we have so many links leading us there in posts here, how could we miss it??

If you’re wondering, yes, I’m in a bad mood today—sorry. Our water is out — doesn’t bother me, but it’s ticking off the 12 neighbors on our waterline who don’t have water to “wash their hair”. They won’t have to worry about that after I finish snatching ‘em bald while telling them AGAIN to store some blasted water in their house.

There was never a link in the billboard. It was a message that ‘the old forum was down’ and then ‘the old forum is up’ as a message to those trying to get there.

I can put a link. ;-)

Alrighty then….

First, IWIT, I didn’t remove any links…I don’t have that authority. DemFromCT, pogge, Anon_22 and Melanie are the only ones. I’m just trying to help you get your guests here.

Second, there are no state or country threads “missing”. Nothing regarding regional preppers has been deleted, as far as I know. I’ve tried to make it a point NOT to close any of the preppers threads, no matter how old they were.

I’m not closing ALL the threads…I’m only closing those that haven’t had any activity on them for a certain amount of time. You’ve seen what happens to the speed here when too many threads are left open on the server…that’s why I do what I do. If threads are current, meaning there is viable activity on them (not just bumped every couple of hours), I leave them open.

do you not see why we feel like we’re being treated like ugly stepchildren…

Well, I spend as much time here as I do on the new forum. I know Dem and pogge spend a lot of time here still…it’s not like we’ve abandoned the place. In fact, “this place” is ripe for some internal house-cleaning, and that’s why you see so many OLD threads being closed. I’ve even been trying to keep the Forum Index on this server updated with the latest threads here.

Sorry your water is out…

It’s there now, ready for inspection and direction.

why are more than half the state threads missing?

Area prepper threads are never removed from the server. I’m well aware that I’d have a revolution on my hands if I did that. But some threads must be archived from time to time. If I allow too many threads to build up this place grinds to a halt even with reduced traffic.

If you’re looking for something and can’t find it, are you sure you’ve checked the the complete topic listing? The main Discussion Forum page only lists 250 threads but there are currently almost nineteen hundred on the server.

There is a great discussion on the new forum that I would love to see copied to this site. It is “Average Concerned Mom Needs Nutrition Help.” Is that possible, or do I need to start a new thread here?

Debbie in Ala? — 05 December 2006, 13:04 --- Start a new thread here, and then copy bits and pieces from the New Forum diary. At this point, might be difficult to copy the entire diary over here. Make a link in the new thread so folks can go over and see the original in it’s entirety…

there is a thread already… I’ll bump it…

Deb I believe Average Concerned Mom did start that thread here already — take a look through to see if you can find it then copy and paste stuff from there here.

Thanks! I did try looking first because it looked familiar, but must have missed it somehow. Thanks again.

Thanks Dem…

I didn’t see an Ask the Mods thread (diary) on the new wiki, so I’m here to ask What’s an RSS feed? The items on it look like posts, but there aren’t many of them. and

Should I be posting, in the News diary, non-birdflu articles that I stumble across while searching for bf stuff? (like antibiotic-resistant typhoid spreading from Asia to Africa)

Good questions, Jane. At the new site, we use the community sandbox (open thread) for the ask the mods purpose. Any and all questions are entertained. there’s always one on the front page.

Non-bird flu should go in Not Bird Flu But Close News II

RSS is a special kind of post. Read by an RSS reader, It can rapidly tell you which posts are new. many news servies use them, so the NY times or WSJ has them. On a Mac, I use NetNewsWire, and here’s a pic of how the RSS feed from the new Forum looks.

for those who want a simple list of main posts, get yourself an RSS reader, and look at flu wiki forum or any other news source and rapidly scan the headlines.

the selected post appears in the bottom to read it; clicking on it opens it up the way it appears on the original source.

I added a “Post non-bird flu news here.” link to the news summary.

Is Earthlink a trustworthy site to register with? Their RSS reader is free.

I’m not familiar with Earthlink’s service but if you want a free web-based RSS service, Bloglines is quite popular. The name might suggest that it focuses specifically on blogs but you can subscribe to any RSS feed with it. I used it for a while before I found the Sage extension which integrates with Firefox, the browser I use.