Window on Wildlife

Please use this area to add comments, tips, tricks and general discussion about the Forum. Add any "wish lists" also for modifications, smileys or anything else. We can then discuss and see if things can be implemented. Sometimes the solutions and modifications are simple and sometimes they can take hours of research and implementation, so if your particular wish is not acted upon immediately, please be patient and we will look into it.  :bigsmile:

It has been suggested that our real names be added to our signatures. I think this is a great idea and have added mine already, not that it's very different from my username.  :mhihi: This is of course a matter of personal choice, like adding your location to your profile settings also.

We're happy to add smileys also, but to not increase the animated ones too much as they can be an irritant to a lot of people. We also want to keep them as small as possible and to ask that they are not repeated too much in a post other than in the friendly chat areas.

Laura, I added my signature at the bottom of the post.  I really enjoyed seeing where everyone comes from but if they don't want to disclose that, I understand.   :bigsmile:  You ladies have all done a wonderful job with this forum, thank you again.

I posted the following over on our old forum, in Moving the Forum:

When we were discussing the move I posted this and I still think it is a good idea.  If the unthinkable happened for any amount of time, the back up thread for most needed cams at that time could be quickly unlocked and used, and then the posts could be easily transfered to our new forum to keep the sequence going.  I know I'm assuming the administrators can lock and unlock at any time.

Part of my post from p. 5, Oct. 28, of the Moving the Forum thread:

I think the plan to make this our back-up forum makes a lot of sense.  We are up about 98.5% of the time now, so the chances of them being both down at once are negligible.  That way we don't have to contend with problems and the cumbersome nature of another forum system, or of losing it like we did our back-up...posts need to be made ...to keep us available...we...do that.

...I would think that when the closings happen, a new thread [designated back-up] for the individual cams would be appropriate at that time, and they could be locked... 

...then when a problem at the new forum occurred and we needed to come here, those locked [back-up] threads could be opened [quickly] for back-up temporarily by the administrators.  One of the three seem to...be available now, so as soon as there is a need, the first one on the site could do that.

Let me make sure I understand the suggestion - it's been one of those weeks!

Are you recommending that it this forum goes off-line for more than the 15-20 minutes once or twice a year that's been my experience with it, the plan would be that the first admin available would unlock the threads on the old forum for those nests with significant activity, so people could record activity there while waiting for the new forum to come back online?

If so, I think that makes a lot of sense - but I'm afraid I do have to mention that "and then the posts could be easily transferred to our new forum" isn't quite true.  Even if we were using the same software, there's no way I know to copy or move a post from one forum to another; they can only be moved within a forum, assuming the software allows that.  We would need to copy the posts one at a time from the old forum to the new forum.

Yes, Judy, that was my suggestion, when there is a long enough break to warrant it, opening those threads with "significant" activity makes sense to me.  As for copying it over, I understand what you mean, although it is easy for the original poster to do that.  And, if they chose to do that right away when the new forum came back, they could if it was left unlocked for a day.

Posting a link on the new forum to the intervening hours or days would then be useful, and a link back to the new forum also for a relatively seamless read. :bigsmile:  In the event of a long down time, of course, this would really be the only way.  Members can always being things of great significance over at any time for comment and discussion when appropriate.

I noticed today that 6 people have joined the old forum this week.  Is membership still open over there :?:

Doralyn, very observant of you, thanks for noticing and pointing it out. I have left a message for Judy about this - she is the one who has been accepting or rejecting members, so I am not sure what the situation is. They may have "registered" but she has to accept them as members before they can post.

 :puzzled2: OK I give up how do you get rid of the envelope next to your name on the members list  :rant2:   And I love the new smileys 

Hi jimmy - and welcome!  :bigsmile:

I'm 99.99% certain that only you and the admins (Judy, Laurad and me) can see the envelope beside your name.  It is confusing (and a bit silly because not many members will be sending themselves emails) - but everyone can see their own envelope - and not anyone else's, unless that person has gone into their profile and unchecked the "hide my email" box.

Hope this helps!

 :binocs:  :nono2: Jimmy your envelopes not showing.. :lol:

Ok and thanks :bigsmile:

You're welcome Jimmy and welcome to the Forum.

I feel stupid asking this, but how do you delete a post?  I posted something in the wrong thread the other day, and couldn't figure out how to delete it.   :puzzled2:

Could this smiley be added?   (http://www.ezboard.com/image/emoticons_classic/happy.gif)

The only way to delete is perhaps to edit/modify the post by removing the text and then just leaving a note asking an Admin to remove the post. Let me know where it is and I'll remove it.
:happy
 

Thanks, Laura.  It's in the National Zoo Panda Cam thread.  And thank you for adding this:   :happy

You're welcome and I removed the post.

Laura ..  I have been meaning to ask if we are going to get the option back to delete a post like we used to have on the old forum when we made a boo boo. Does this new software offer that?

I am a member on another forum with this same software. On that forum there is a "X Remove" button next to "Quote" and "Modify".  :nod2: On this forum you can see that same button in your PMs.. :bigsmile:

Lori and Chris, I'm still learning my way around the software, but it looks as if Delete is part of the moderator toolkit.  This is something we're looking into, but for now, if you need to remove a post, you can edit out the contents and leave the word "delete" there in its place and let one of us know.

Members can't delete posts on the Hancock forum (and can only edit them for five days), and I just checked and members can't delete posts on the CHIL forum.  I don't have time to look at the other forums where I'm a member right now, but we're certainly not alone in this.  :bigsmile:

On almost any forum I come, the users can not remove their posts, only edit or modify and sometimes not even that.
One should always be careful with editing or deleting the contents of the posted message, especially when others have already responded to it.

This tip came from Chris/CLC over on the other forum a couple of years ago.  Thanks, Chris :nod2:  I'm posting it here so we will all have this easy formula at our fingertips :bigsmile:

Chris's button formula for a hyperlink

Chris's instructions:
 
I placed an asterisk * in the first set of brackets so you could see it, otherwise it would be a link. If you replace the word LINK with your link and the word button with what you want it to say, you now have a button. The first one will be bold print and the second normal.
 
[*url=LINK][*b]BUTTON[/b][/url]

[*url=LINK]BUTTON[/url]
 
But take out the *'s
 
Example:
[*url=http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=greencashew&p=r][*b]My Youtube Videos[/b][/url]

Adding to Chris's instructions:
If you don't want the button to be in bold, leave out the [*b][*/b].
If you want the button to be in another color use [*color=blue][*/color]

Here is a button I created for a post this morning, first with *'s to make it visible, and then a true link:

[*url=http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/checklist][*color=teal]this link[/color][/url]

this link (http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/checklist)

ETA:  After reading DEF's tip below, this is how I could have shown the button hyperlink without changing it or adding the *'s, by using the # attribute (roll over it and it says "Insert Code") from the menu above the Reply/message screen :bigsmile:


Thank you, Ingrid :nod2:

Another tip:
If you want to show how a certain code is used, put it inside the code-tag. It's the button with the #, second row, third from the right.

ok .. i'm new ... and stupid it appears .. but when i post a reply, how do i refresh the page to see additional replies before the message gets sent .. if you would please message me an answer it would help me remember ... many thanks!!

Hello diane in ohio. You can scroll down the page to see previous posts that were there before you created your post, but the only way to see any replies that were posted in the meantime, while you were creating your post is if and when you get a message appear above your post saying that there have been one or more posts since you created your post. This message will only appear when you click on the "post" button, not before. Your own message will not be posted until you have had a chance to scroll down once more, in which case this time you will see posts that were entered since you began yours, and you can then decide whether to continue to post your message or amend it before posting it.

Once you have finally decided and provided no one posted again in the meantime, the "post" button will ensure your message gets posted to the Forum.

I hope this makes sense. If you were to try and refresh the page when you were in the middle of creating a post, you will lose what you have written, so be careful.

Question, if you stay logged in forever does it look like you are logged in forever or when you are no longer on here does my name disappear till I come back?

Staying logged in forever means that you don't have to keep entering your username and password each time you visit the Forum and wish to post. We are not quite sure of the exact time that you will remain on the "online" list once you close your browser windows, even if you don't sign out, but we thought it might have been 10 or 15 minutes. We're not sure though - you would have to experiment with another user to get them to see if you appear on the list once you close the window or once you log out.

Thanks................I will simply stay logged in forever :mhihi:

Something new has just been added to YouTube. On my videos it now recognizes our forum as the place where the video can be found. Just noticed it today. It's not on all of them though. Can't figure it out.  :puzzled2:

(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q170/mainepatriotsgirl/Forum%20Pics-Tutorials/6-16-11.png)

Wow, that's very interesting!

Lori, does it make a difference if you use the "YouTube" button to embed the video as opposed to using a link the way you would on forums that don't have that option?  I'm thinking the button might write back to the YouTube site to say where the video is.

Easy come, easy go!  :lollol: It's gone now. :puzzled2:
Glad I grabbed a s'cap of it or you all would have thought I was wacky (which I sorta am)   :biggergrin2:

JudyB .. I was thinking that too since I do always use the YT button and embed the videos on here. I think the time that I got that was when I clicked on the video link from Shoebutton's post on the Norfolk blog. She has my 3 videos posted on there right now.
I just tried it again though and it's not there now. No idea.... It was fun while it lasted. :lollol:

I clicked on one of my videos in the Eagle thread and didn't see that link. I wonder if it appears if you are not signed into the YouTube site. I am permanently signed in.

Embedding a YouTube video

The way to share a YouTube video is:

1. Open the YouTube page where you have uploaded the video.
2. Bottom left under the image, click on "share"
3. Under all the options for sharing there will be a hyperlink, e.g., "https: // youtube/...." (without spaces). All you want from that link is the last set of numbers and letters. Copy it (or copy the whole link and delete the rest).
4. Paste into your message and then surround the letters and numbers with the YouTube tag. [ YouTube]... [ /YouTube] (without the spaces).