Window on Wildlife

This thread is for sharing other Technical issues than the Forum itself.


I have been having problems with the Maine Eagle Ustream cam continually buffering to the point that it's more often off than on. Actually it freezes and unfreezes, so I don't lose the picture, but I get 5 seconds on and then 5 seconds off, continually.

Someone suggested it might be a problem with my Flash version so I checked and it was the latest.. I then left a message on the Adobe Flash Forum and I was advised that my download speeds from my ISP might be at fault. They sell it as up to 10 Mbps, but it's rarely above 4 or at the most 5Mbps. Often when the internet is busy, it's down to about 2MBps which is not enough to watch the cam, it seems.

I thought I would just mention it here in case anyone else is having similar problems. You can find speed test websites on the internet to test your own broadband speeds.

I have a very strange problem with Photobucket  :crying: and can't resolve it. I've even tried re-installing Flash to no avail. I don't have the Pro version and up until recently (maybe it's a Windows 7 problem) never had a problem uploading my photos.

I put all my saved captures in different folders on my computer depending on which nest they are, so for example I have a folder called Pictures and a sub folder called Maine Eagles. I have a lot of other folders on my computer and lots of other folders too, for Access programming documents etc.

When I click on Upload to upload a picture, I get the dialog box pop up where I can search my computer for the pictures/photos which generally are .jpg files. For some strange reason I do not see all my folders, just some of them and I cannot figure out why Photobucket would filter out other folders than the Pictures one. I sometimes have a graphic in another folder that I want to add, but cannot see it. The "File Type" says "Media" but that should not stop me opening folders on my computer to search.

If I use the "bulk uploader" then yes, I can see all my folders and files on my computer.. so why can't I see them when doing just one picture?

The other odd thing is I have a movie to upload, it's .avi - it's in the folder that the uploader CAN see, but it tells me there are no files to upload. It doesn't see the .AVI file.. is that not a suitable filename for Photobucket?

Just opened an account with YouTube and am having the same problem, so it must be something to do with my computer. The dialog window for uploading files is not showing all my files and folders. It's a mystery.

Since I switched to Windows 7, I can see a "my documents" folder - but it's not the new Documents folder in the Library that Windows 7 expects me to use.  Depending how you switched to Windows 7, you might also have this "ghost" documents file - which is indeed either empty or non-existent.

Hi Judy, and thanks. I'm getting to the bottom of this, sort of, but don't have a resolution. I'm beginning to think it's an Internet Explorer 8 issue. I thought it might have been a Flash problem so uninstalled and reinstalled Flash, no luck. Then thought it was a Photobucket problem, but when I set up a YouTube account, same problem, when I try to upload files - I cannot see all my folders and files and no, not the hidden ones either. I'm looking in the My Documents folder where there are about 8 sub folders, only 2 of them are showing up, which is really strange. I then tried with Firefox and sure enough I CAN see all the folders, just as I should do.

Boohoo..  :crying: I just don't have the time to resolve this.. it takes too long. At least I am narrowing it down to IE, I think and have a workaround of using Firefox.

In the meantime I discovered you can use your own FTP program to upload to Photobucket.. went through the procedure of setting it up, but that won't work either - it keeps telling me the username or pasword or something else is not right.. this is so frustrating. All I wanted to do was upload a 5 minute video of an exciting sequence on the Maine nest yesterday. I ended up putting it on one of my own sites. Just tried to upload it to YouTube only to find the upload failed for some reason.

What's the best file format for uploading to YouTube and Photobucket? I'm trying .AVI.

Help help help!!!!!!!!!

Last night, on my home computer, I was installing an update for Quicktime.  In the midst of that a Windows Update popped up.... so, being my sleepy self at 12:00 A.M. I clicked 'install' without looking at what it was!!

It seems that I was updated from WindowsXP ... to Windows Vista ... ??????????

It changed my whole desktop ....... and ALL my Bookmarks are gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   :puzzled2: :rant2: :sosad:

I went back and did a System Restore but had to leave it and go to bed.  This morning, it still looks the same!  

I didn't think it was possible to have your whole system changed like that with a simple update.   :puzzled2: I'm lost now ... all my bookmarks. I don't know if it can be changed back!

Can you do a system restore back to a day or 2 ago before you were hijacked? That usualy works..

Patti that's terrible and I've never heard of an update actually updating your version of Windows like that. Often things like data and favourites would be kept intact. If you go to My Computer and clcik on the C: drive, then Documents and Settings - then look at the options - depending on the profiles you have set up - look at "all users/favourites" and see if they are in there. Or if you have your own profile, look in your profile folder for the Favourites folder. I'm not sure exactly how it will be set up - it could all be in the folder "Application Settings".

As Chris said though, try to do a system restore, it often corrects most problems. I think I was running Quicktime and Windows updates yesterday too, but I'm on Windows 7.

Whew ...... well, thanks Chris & Laura.  Luckily my husband tried a System Restore again and it worked.  Don't know what I did wrong when I did it.  Back to the way it was now ... thank goodness!!  While I was at work he was looking through the computer and EVERYTHING was gone ... all my pictures, documents ...... everything!!   :shock:  So it's a real good thing the restore worked or I'd have a big mess on my hands!!

I'm so glad you're back to your original state. Quite often with upgrades you do not lose your data - it's there somewhere, it's just a case of finding it. I'm happy for you that you didn't lose anything. It also demonstrates why it's so important to back things up. I've never come up with a perfect way of backing up, but I do have a 250 Gig external hard drive that I copy things to occasionally. I have quite often had to go back there to retrieve something because it became corrupted, or I had deleted it by mistake.

I used to always back up my documents onto a disc or a jump drive - but pictures are way too big for that and it just takes too much time to make cd's and what not.  I'm just glad it was all there!!

Glad that all worked, Patti!   :bigsmile:

I don't do it as often as I should, but like Laura I have a couple of large external drives (you can get fairly large ones for around $60 these days) - and I have a another external drive that we keep in a closet at Charlie's Mom's house, in case something happens to our house.  It's not something I like to think about - but because the drive at Charlie's Mom's was a complete backup of my files in one place, I lost very little data when my computer died this fall.  I did need to reinstall all my software (and upgrade a number of programs from XP to Win7) - but it could have been so much worse.

Another Photobucket issue...
I have a new one that just started recently and I can't for the life of me figure out how to turn it off. After I upload pictures, I always go into the editor to do stuff to them... autofix, resize etc.... Now all of a sudden, after each and every picture I edit, I get a pop up box that looks like this:
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q170/mainepatriotsgirl/Misc%20Pics/PBPUp4-22-11-007.png)

I have to wait for it to load and then I have to x out of it to go on to the next picture. It's aggravating the heck out of me. I used to be able to just hit the next button after each one and could get through my picture editing pretty quickly in the past. I've looked at all my settings and I can't find anything on this.
You would think PB would have a little box to tick to not show this box in the future but no........ :rant2:
Has anyone figured it out yet?

ETA--- I always use Firefox as my browser and have just discovered that in IE I don't get that pop up box so it's another Firefox issue with PB.  :puzzled2:  :rant2:

OK ... is someone playing around with the Forum????

I had a couple tabs open ... when I clicked back to the forum, this is what it looked like!

(http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/ab120/Patti119/capture_23042011_225324.jpg)

ETA - after browsing through a number of different threads ... and cams ... I clicked back to the forum and it was back to normal.

Following on from the Maine Eagle thread...


Computers!!  :rant2: Windows 7 is great, but unfortunately so many things are not compatible, printers, camera software, you need to check the small print on the software and devices. I have an old HP Deskjet Printer, not compatible, so I had to ditch it even though it works. I have a webcam - perfectly fine, had to ditch it because it's not compatible. It does make me mad that when they update/upgrade that they don't make it so everything works. The latest Internet Explorer is V9, but I think you should upgrade to at least Version 8

Laura ... I would think you would have been able to download a new driver or something for the printer.   :puzzled2:  Too late now I guess though.  I hate that they keep changing Windows.  I'm still on XP and will keep it that way as along as I can!

My printer is the only item where I phoned them and they walked me through a new download especially for windows 7. I have a high end Panasonic camera and a Sony Cyber-shot. The programs won't load. I can get the videos to load into windows 7 but after that I can't seem to do much else.

This windows 7 is a horrible mess anyway. Staples told me they would try to transfer the "stuff" from my broken xp to my new pc. The next day they called me into the service area to have a look. My new pc had appx 50 desk top short cuts. Well, they resemble the old ones but a lot of the short cuts got a new name :puzzled2: :!: The content could be anything from "the folder is empty" to something quite alien :lollol:

will ... you should try to find a 'private' computer person.  In my experience - they know much more than the folks who work at Staples and Best Buy.   :rolleyes2:

I agree with Patti, but it's not always easy to find someone with the right knowledge and skills who you can both trust and afford. Most of us have to learn the hard way, by trial and error, with a bit of advice along the way. It's not easy and what I have learned is that no one knows everything. I wish I could pop over and help you, Will, I know how frustrating and confusing it can be.

I too prefer Windows XP and wish we never had to change, but then again wild horses had to drag me away from MS DOS.

 Just keep posting here about issues you have and maybe one or another of us can come up with solutions.

Yes, I agree with both of you. I also mentioned private places to Staples. He said $500.00 would be the fee :!: I believe that because it is a very tedious job to move everything from one pc to another. Staples charged me $50.00 but because their job on mine did not work well. they took the 50.00 off.

Do you know of anyone you could ask  ... someone that could be recommended?  $500 is not always the case.  I have someone here - runs a legitimate computer business.  If you bring him a computer with a virus, he cleans it all up, fixes it, etc. for $150.00.

Interesting Patti :!: I will keep that in mind. Staples was probably exaggerating to make a point. Of course, moving all the data from an XP to a Windows 7 would use up a lot more hours. The systems are different and things tend to go haywire. Plus, my xp had some trojans and would not boot any more.

I just realized what is wiping out my pass words: Speedup My PC. Not supposed to but when it runs, it wipes out my cookies :rant2: I'll try to fix that.

This link  http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-import-videos-into-windows-live-movie-maker.navId-323836.html
is supposed to solve my problem of moving my videos from my camera to my pc. So far the video didn't move but "VR_MANGR.BUP" and "VR_MANGR.IFO" did, so I might be on the right track :puzzled2:

This SpeedyPC Pro is getting to be a pain. The card number for my bank was getting wiped out, so I contacted servicing. They pointed me to a topic but not to which ones to disable. I found cookies in two places and disabled those. That fixed the bank problem but this AM the password for this forum was gone :puzzled2: :sosad: What do you suppose I have to disable next :?:

Does anyone else have this SpeedyPC Pro or am I the only one who got stuck with it :rant2:

Hi Will,  :bigsmile:

Long time no talk too! Hope all is well with you!

I just had the dubious pleasure of tagging about 2,000 pics in Windows Media Gallery on my friends new computer.  My first time using Windows 7! The most annoying feature of W7 for me was if I moved a window that wasn't full size to the top of my monitor, it would go full screen and I would have to shrink it again!  (BTW, my friend's cam is a Panny and the pics uploaded okay.)

The Panasonic programs you are referring to - are they Photo Fun Studio and Silky pix???  (My two cams are both Panasonics!) I have been thinking of upgrading from Vista (which as you know can be iffy!) to Windows 7 but between my experience with the tagging and your findings, I'm beginning to think maybe I should hold off until the next version. 

Windows 7 is actually quite stable, but it's always confusing moving from one operating system to another. I think I remember being very annoyed about the fact that windows expanded full size when all I wanted to do was move them. I cannot remember how I resolved it, but somewhere in the settings there is an option. It could be in the Control Panel settings. I wish I could remember where. Almost everything is configurable one way or another. I hate tabs for example, and I choose to have new windows open each time rather than tabs.

Will, I don't know what SpeedyPC is, so cannot advise. I've been fortunate to have been able to migrate from one old computer, one operating system, to a new one before the old one died, so I could take my time setting up the new computer whilst still using the old one. In your case you were forced to move and you were not able to save all the settings and things you were used to. Added to that, you lost links, probably some programs AND you had to learn a whole new operating system.

As I said before, and I know it's not much help, but I wish I lived closer and could sit with you and try to resolve the issues you have. Each one is a big headache for you and I'm sure your frustration grows.

I still don't know why you keep losing the password for the Forum other than to say - if you delete cookies, then you delete all memory of passwords - they are linked to the cookies. As long as you don't delete cookies, the passwords should remain. Having said that, it is a good idea to delete cookies and temporary internet files from time to time, just to refresh your systems.

I hope you resolve things..

I don't know why you couldn't find it, Laura - she said with tongue firmly in cheek!  It' under

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Ease of Access Center\Make the mouse easier to use

and you need to put a check in the box before "Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen"

I did find things like that quite frustrating when I first started using Windows 7 - but there are some things I really like - such as "Recent Places" which shows the last folders I've visited - very useful when I accidentally put a picture in the wrong folder and then can't find it.  :mhihi:

I was forced to switch when my old computer died - and wouldn't switch back even if it was possible!   (Reminder - do back up everything of value; thank goodness we'd just done a backup so I only lost a couple of days' data; external hard drives are getting cheaper all the time - and we store ours in a relative's house, just in case something happens to our house.)

It's the program that came with the camera, Gemini. "DVD Palmcorder Software". VideoCam Suite 1.0. The camera is a model VDR-D50P. BTW, the videos will not load and the program will not load.

I have a Sony CyberShot. The program will not load but the pictures will provided I use Windows Movie Maker Photo (Something).

Time to walk Koby.

I didn't say I couldnt find it Judyb, just that I could not remember where it was, too lazy to look and knew someone so smart, clever, intuitive, kind, thoughtful like you would come along and point us in the right direction  :innocent: thank you. I love XP and could probably I easily go back to it, but then I would realise all the amazing things about Windows 7.

I agree also about the importance of backing up. I bought a 2 terabyte external USBhard drive recently which cost me about the same as as 250Mb memory stick which I bought when they first came out. Yes they are expensive, but vital to back up photos, data and videos.

Will, if possible, just stick with Windows Moviemaker... If you can. It does just about everything you might need.

Laura,
Yes, I understand clearly that if I uncheck(disable) deleting passwords, then passwords will not be deleted. I found cookies in two places and disabled them. My bank card stayed put this time when I ran SpeedyPC Pro but my name and password went out of here :!:

One of two things has happened:
1. There is another cookies somewhere.
2. My forum name and password are under something else besides cookies.

Servicing was no help to point me in the right direction. Guess I will have to do some trial and error.

ETA. Cookies, cookies, cookies :!: I just found four more cookies, each under a different topic, so I disabled those for a total of six cookies. My XP had one. Anyway, this time I stayed logged in here :nod2:

Those SpeedyPC Pro people need to design the thing better so that one control switches all the cookies off or on at once. I am not going to search for six cookies everytime I want to clear them :!:

And if I leave them all enabled, every time I run Speedy..., I will have to replace profiles all over the place :rant2:
The best thing is: Get rid of SpeedyPC Pro(A big headache :!:)

What a lot of hassle, Will. I didn't even know there were different areas for cookies - I thought they were all stored in one place. Computers and how they operate will always be a mystery, I guess. Just as we become proficient at one opertating system, like XP, they go and "upgrade" it and everything changes. No one "expert" is going to have all the answers for you either and a lot of what you do is trial and error and you learn a lot on the way. I hope you've resolved the problems for now.

I keep a little text file on my text top (I use notepad) and in it I write down the date and nature of whatever problem I have with the computer or printer and how it's resolved. It has proved very useful. I have two issues no one seems to be able to fix for me, so I have to just live with them. I am still on an old version of Office and my email password in Outlook WILL NOT save - I have to enter it every time I open Outlook. I use Windows Live Messenger and that won't log me in automatically as I wish it to and as it used to. I have been trying to resolve this for about a year. It used to work and then stopped and no one seems to know why - so every time I start the computer I have to manually start Messenger and log in, username and passoword. Annoying.  :nod2:

I had issues with accessing the forum late this evening ... glad to see I can get on now :thumbsup1:

Thanks for letting us know Chris. I guess if several people have a problem then it's the Forum or hosting problems, but if it's just you, then it could just be your own ISP. I'm glad it resolved itself.

I haven't been able to access the old forum today  (http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/GIF%203/Smileythinkingscratchhead_zpsd3b809c2.gif) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/GIF%203/Smileythinkingscratchhead_zpsd3b809c2.gif.html)

There is something wrong with the old Forum, Chris, none of us have been able to get on. I sent them a message, but no one has replied yet.

Thanks Laura   :flower.... I just wanted to one of the Administrators to be aware.

I realize that the old forum has been having issues. It has now been a couple of weeks. I am concerned that we are going to lose everything over there. Have any of the administrators been successful in making contact with them? It doesn't load at all today. 

Chris, yes, I have been in contact with some random person in some random country, maybe Asia, I have no idea who he is. Sometimes he responds immediately and did so a couple of weeks ago when we couldn't access any of the threads, it was fixed, but the Forum is incredibly slow. I have sent this person 4 or 5 emails now asking if they know what's wrong and can deal with it, but he is not replying.

That Forum is hosted for free and they have no obligation to help us. It is very out of date software and is no longer hosted by hostingphpbb who must have passed it on to another organisation. Judyb and I have repeatedly asked if we can buy the data, but we get no response from them. The idea was to buy it, set it up on the same server as this Forum and then we would own it for posterity and safety. At one time they were giving the data away, but we asked too late and then they quoted a price, but we dithered and now they're not responsive.

We should have upgraded/updated the Forum software a long time ago, but it's quite a big and time consuming job and I don't have the time or energy to spend on a Forum which is being kept for information purposes only. I would be happy to do it if we were going to own the Forum data, but not if it's on a free hosting site where we are dependent on them.

I hope this explains. I was able to get on the Forum today, but it's slow, so I get on with other things while the pages load. It's boring though. I wrote again to the people, but again, they have not replied.

Thanks Laura for the explanation :flower

... I know you have been working on it for several weeks now. Is there any means of recontacting the original contact link? ... sometimes these individuals are contracted ... they quit and the host doesn't assign their workload to anyone ... then you are contacting someone who really doesn't have anything to do with the forum any longer.

I've tried loading the old forum 3-4 times a day at different times of the day for 2 weeks .... leave it up, giving it every opportunity to load ... but it never does (http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/GIF%203/Smileysigh3_zps5a2f5eb7.gif) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/GIF%203/Smileysigh3_zps5a2f5eb7.gif.html)

If there is ever an opportunity to buy the information again .... we need to jump on it ... I am definitely in on that if it becomes an option again ... at this point I am getting really concerned that all that data is going into oblivion  (http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/GIF%203/Smileysigh2_zps9912b9af.gif) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/GIF%203/Smileysigh2_zps9912b9af.gif.html)

I know you have been working hard on this matter ... I'm just trying to brainstorm to see if there is a means at this point to secure the data in that forum if we cannot bring it up ....

  (http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/GIF%203/Smileythinkingwalking_zps98bad001.gif) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/GIF%203/Smileythinkingwalking_zps98bad001.gif.html)

ETA: 9:10 PM, ET ..... I just tried again to load the old board ... it DID load .... whew, an optimistic sign :thumbsup1: .... it did take a few dozen attempts over the past two weeks ... but glad I was finally able to get in :nod2:

One other item .... not sure if everyone who does manage to bring up the old forum sees the Exclamation Point note on their screen ... the one to click and update your Media Player? ....

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/380c020e-cc31-4ed0-ba48-33e1d052a53b_zps213520e6.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/380c020e-cc31-4ed0-ba48-33e1d052a53b_zps213520e6.jpg.html)


... I would be very careful with this. Give it some thought before proceeding. It could download items that may be harmful to your computer ... just a thought ...


... and one more reason to find someway to contact this company and get ownership of our data. Maybe our Administrators could consult with some of our tech savvy members or Administrators of other boards to figure out how to make that a reality. With this recent slow access to the board and potentially harmful notices being displayed .... I think we would have the financial support from our members to pay whatever fee might be required.

Thanks for the warning, Chris - and I completely agree that clicking anything like that is almost always not a good idea.  

Unfortunately the problem isn't technical or financial - it's that the folks who own the servers have not responded when we've asked to purchase a copy of our data.  If I'm remembering correctly, they initially said that they weren't set up to do that yet.  Then later, they said something else that involved waiting a while.  I didn't get any response the last few times I've contacted them (generally using an online contact form), even though I was asking questions like "what form of payment works best for you - credit card, PayPal, something else?" - which usually will get a response, as most people like the idea of being paid.

If we actually get our hands on a copy of the data, we might be looking for help converting it to something we can install in a subdirectory under WOW - and we might be asking for donations to help with the cost.  But for now the primary stumbling block is reaching someone.  I just tried again - they advise people to use the support forum, but the link to it doesn't work for me.  There's also a chat button, but it has a "currently offline" banner, and pops up a box where I can leave my email address and a brief message - which I've done in the past without success.

I know that sounds a bit outrageous, given the level of customer service we expect (though don't always get) from tech companies - but the fact of the matter is that the original forum was and is completely free to us as users - and to some extent, you get what you pay for.  The hosting company makes their money from the ads that run at the top and bottom of each page - and they've probably realized that not many people are looking at our forum, so not many people are seeing their ads - which makes us not very valuable.  

I had hoped that they would like a lump sum payment for the data - but apparently they're not interested.  And I'm not actually sure how much work it would be for them to make a copy, or how they would be able to package it so we could download it or whatever.  They should know that - but it may not be a priority for them, or something their other clients want.

Judyb thanks for adding to my own explanations. I did think I had covered most of what Chris was asking again. It is complicated and we have tried and tried, but as Judyb said, we get little or no response. I have had email contact and sometimes this person called Sophian replies, but I have no idea where he/she is and then he/she stops replying. There is nothing we can do except to keep trying.

We are not going to go through the process of upgrading the old Forum, too much effort will be needed for something we're not using any more other than for historical purposes. We would like to purchase it, but many requests have been ignored. We will keep trying.

Thank you JudyB and Laura ...... it seems that the immediate problem is getting their attention. Would it help to put a request out on the more popular threads of the current forum requesting that members sign into the old board regularly ... let's say at least every other day so that you as Administrators might better win the attention of the host? It might be worth it ... to get a chance at securing our archived data on the old board. I personally will make a point of attempting to sign in there on a daily basis moving forward..

... the data is worth it ... thank you and please keep trying :flower :flower

It has occurred to me now why I was not able to sign in at all for days..... it is because I was using FF (which does not allow ad pop ups such as their download options)... once I tried loading it with IE ... it did load ... very slowly ... but it did load.

They are definitely in the business of trying to get individuals to download spyware from their alert notice which changes each time you try to log in or view a thread ....

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB4_zpsc69a266f.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB4_zpsc69a266f.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB1_zps022cdd47.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB1_zps022cdd47.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB2_zps14bde6ca.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB2_zps14bde6ca.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB3_zpsebf3dca9.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB3_zpsebf3dca9.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB5_zps95462efc.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB5_zps95462efc.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB7_zps0316b27c.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB7_zps0316b27c.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB6_zpsa3d6041c.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB6_zpsa3d6041c.jpg.html)

(http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB8_zpsf7100b7e.jpg) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/nightengale%20III/WOW090313OB8_zpsf7100b7e.jpg.html)

... they are in the spyware business ... only using the forum as a vehicle to that end (http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z199/nightengale14072/GIF%203/SmileyNoNobigsm_zps8456ea49.gif) (http://s190.photobucket.com/user/nightengale14072/media/GIF%203/SmileyNoNobigsm_zps8456ea49.gif.html)

I bet if we could get our visits up to 20-30 a day ... they may pay your requests more attention ... but we would need to alert our members to go over there frequently .... AND .... not to click on their download options.

Thanks for your input Chris and good point about the Forum being slow because of the AdBlock on FireFox. It hadn't occurred to me.

Personally I never click on any kind of advertising, but have to admit that I have been tricked into it once or twice, so yes, we need to be careful.

As for encouraging more people to log in and use the Forum, Judyb and I think that the fewer people who use it, the less revenue they will get from their horrible advertising and perhaps then they will be more willing to let it go. They have never been clear about why they don't want to part with it, it seems impossible to enter into any real dialogue with them. The only way to communicate is by email or the message option on their website. They sometimes reply and sometimes not and when they do reply, it's very curt. I think they are in Asia or the far east.

I came up with the idea of asking them to simply enable the backup option, which has been permanently disabled due to the fact that it's a freely hosted site and they don't want to lose their revenue. They may or may not comply. If they do, it may be possible to take a backup and restore it somewhere else, but no promises - whatever we do, it's not going to be quick or easy.

Laura .... I will proceed in whatever way you think might be best ... it you think that posting over there is problematic ... I won't do it.

I know it is a horrendous task .... but would it help to at least try and start to bring posts over here and place them into a special archived thread? If a member had an interest in a specific thread .... they would bring over the posts from that thread and place them in a new 'archive thread over here?

Give it some though. For an active thread like the Daily Chat Thread or Maine Nest Thread it would need to be a work in progress done over a longer period of time.

I would volunteer for the Daily Chat Thread and the Panda Thread if you think it would be a good idea. It may take months ... but at least we would have the data.

It may be the only means to retrieve the information if the new host won't communicate whatsoever.

I don't think it's a problem if a few of us post there, in fact some of us post every day, just to keep the Forum active, but I would not recommend a lot of people posting - I don't think it will actually achieve anything. I could be wrong, of course. We just don't know.

We have looked into different ways of "archiving" and I think at one time Judy and/or Judyb found a way to save whole threads, but it was a tediously long job and the format in which they were saved was not easy to display and read. We did a lot of work years ago trying to find ways of copying the data. How would you suggest copying it over here? Post by post, copy and paste? It would take a huge amount of time and it would be difficult to put it into a chronological order, but feel free to try and save things if you're worried, even if it's just to your computer. I'm not sure what I would recommend, but understand your concern. This is why some of us post daily, to keep it active.

Just FYI ... Did not read through all your posts yet ... but when I saw it mentioned the other day I did get on the forum and posted.

Laura ...unless anyone has the technical expertise to import the threads in ... in bulk .... as a thread ... I guess the only option would be to bring them in through the arduous task of post by post. I was thinking of trying that here in a special archive thread under each site.... but if you are pretty sure that the old board will survive and/or there is little collective interest in the old data and not much worth to safeguarding it .... I will think about saving what might be of interest to me on my own system ... nostalgic fool that I am. There appears to be a greater and greater risk that we might lose access to the old board .... but it might not be as valuable to one person as another ... I understand that.

Yep Patti .... comes up slow in IE ... doesn't come up at all in FF ... why? ... most likely because FF will not allow the host's spyware download ads.

Chris, I don't think I ever said that there is little collective interest in the old data, perhaps you misunderstood me. The reason several of us post almost every day there is to ensure the Forum is ACTIVE for the very reason that we think it is worth safeguarding and of value.

You said you thought it might be better to make it appear as if the Forum is busy, I was saying that I didn't think that would achieve anything other than increasing revenue in the advertising in which case they may get more reluctant to part with the data.

We really do not know what's going on and are just guessing all the time. Is the Forum safe? Your guess is as good as mine.

As I said before, methods were looked into years ago at ways of making our own backups of threads and data and Judy (not Judyb) did manage to copy a lot down to her computer, but not in a format that is easy to search through. Doing it post by post, thread by thread - well, look into it if you can and see how laborious it might be and whether it's worth doing. None of us wants to lose it and I have been battling for 3 years now to try and find a way to save the Forum data in a format which we can then "restore" into our own personal copy of the phpBB2 software on our server. I don't know what else to say at this time.

Thanks for your thoughts an input, though - we are a little on edge as to the safety of the data. We are keeping an eye on it and trying very hard to communicate with them.

Laura ..... it is a bit of a concern that you can't get a hold of the host and that the forum is now essentially being used by the host as a spyware snag ... that's why I posted with a time is of essence tone. The reason I suggested posting more frequently was JudyB's post ...


I thought if we posted more frequently, we would be seen as more 'valuable' by the host and they might take you communication attempts more seriously.

I could be wrong .... maybe the data will stay there forever and is of little or no concern whatsoever. I just thought that with the flashing spyware invitations and the extremely slow load time, the host might not be trusted at this point and it would serve us well to retrieve our data sooner rather than later.... one way or the other. Sorry for the expression of concern.    

Chris, we are worried too.  I totally agree that "it would serve us well to retrieve our data sooner rather than later" - it's the "how" that's a bit daunting.

Laura and I are trying everything we can to get a copy of the data from the hosting company - that would probably be the easiest to manage going forward - but does require them to communicate with us.

I'm thinking there are a dozen - maybe two dozen - people who post here on a somewhat regular basis.  I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that even if 24 of us made a dozen posts a day on the old forum - it would be a very tiny drop in the bucket in terms of add revenue.  And with the forum going so slowly, it would be time that most of us really don't have - especially with no real reason to believe we'd get something back.

Moving on to your second proposal - I have changed the configuration on the old forum so there are now 50 posts per page rather than 15, and I copied the Carolina Raptor Center thread (one of the smallest with only 256 posts) to Word, one page at a time.  256 posts is 6 pages, and it took me about 15 minutes.  The resulting Word document is 184 pages and about 45 MB. 

I need to close out of the computer now - Charlie and I have plans for the evening - but will post my document somewhere that people can see either tonight or tomorrow.  I will note that the Maine Eagle threads are around 15,000 posts - so potentially 60 times bigger - perhaps 10-12,000 pages in Word, and maybe 2-3 GB (they might be less - we had a lot of pictures on the Carolina thread, and they take up more space and memory than words.

Bye!

Against my better judgement to just drop this discussion (I seem to be upsetting people and that certainly was not my intent) .... I did try a test .... brought over a Decorah Thread post from the old forum and placed on the Blair Thread to see if came over ok ... it did (I used the Blair Thread as testing ground as it is just Emily and I over there and will provide the least potential disruption) ...
http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?topic=124.msg70372#msg70372

This is what I meant to bringing over the posts from the old forum to the new ... except we would create a new sub thread for the archived files under the main thread for that particular thread.

No pressure .... don't have to do this .... just a thought ... it would save the material ... better than saving it to Word  ... I would volunteer for a thread or two .... again no pressure.

Chris - I'm happy to set up an archive area if folks would like to try copying the 200,000 posts from the old forum over here.  If you and others want to do this - all I need to know is which threads you're ready to copy, so I can make sure the archive area has a similar tree structure to the old forum so there's a home for the new threads.  I'd recommend that only one person copy posts from any particular thread, to make sure the posts stay in order - though you can take turns as long as two people aren't doing it at once.

I don't mean to seem upset or negative - but am very much overwhelmed at the prospect.  But that's my issue - and if you'd like to give the copying thing a try, I'll do my best to help with the Admin parts of setting it up. And hey - if enough of us chip in, maybe we can copy at least those threads that seem most important.

It's now 1 am, all the cams are down on the other forum where I'm an Admin, and I still haven't posted my panda pictures, to say nothing of the pictures of the local eagles and osprey. 

Oops - I really am past functioning - I now see that you want to set up a series of new archive threads under our current tree structure - which doesn't need any admin support.  I'd recommend having a first post in each new thread that explains that the thread contains posts copied from the old forum - but whatever works for you is fine with me.  Once you've set up a test thread and copied some posts, I think we'll all have a better idea of how it will work.

Thanks and  :zz

Another option might be to take screenshots of all the posts on the old forum and post the images here in an archive.
This would also ensure that the images included in the old messages are saved. Sometimes people delete old Photobucket albums, an account is cancelled or a host stops with it's services.

JudyB .... thanks for the go ahead to start a new thread. I would not have done that without an ok from an Administrator. We have had people start threads on their own ... some are pertinent ... but some are just junk containing a post or two from someone we never hear from again on a topic of little interest. Personally, I wouldn't start a thread without some type of collaboration with an Administrator.

Let me give it some thought on what thread to start with (that is an ambitious statement :mhihi:) I might bring over 'Highlights' from the old forum for a particular thread.

DEF ... your idea is very good ... you are right about the possibility of member's captures no longer being available if a post is merely cut and pasted from a quote. It would involve several more steps to process a screen cap ... but for a more important post ... it would be worth it... thank you!

I thought about screenshots, DEF - but I only see 2-3 posts at a time, so even for my modest 256-post test thread, that might be 100 screenshots.  The observation thread for the Maine cam from August 2006 through April 2007 is 15,333 posts - even if we could fit 5 posts in a screenshot, it would be 5000 screenshots that would have to be saved somewhere and then posted here - and that's just one of our primary threads.

I just made the following page - http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/archive/archive_index.html (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/archive/archive_index.html) - and uploaded a PDF version of the word document I mentioned earlier, of the cam at the Carolina Raptor Center.  I signed out before copying it which removed some of the buttons (like edit and delete, which may only be visible to admins), and optimized the PDF for minimum size, but the 256-post thread is still 7 MB.  It does include all the pictures, though the GIFs convert to a still shot, and links to videos and slideshows seem to work (assuming they're still posted on YouTube or PhotoBucket or some such place).

I have made a couple of changes to the old forum - there are now 100 posts on a page, instead of 15, which might make the pages open a bit slower (though they're slow enough now that I didn't notice a change).  I also disabled email and PMs on the old forum in the hopes that those buttons wouldn't show up in every post - that didn't work, but maybe there's a delay, so if they eventually disappear, I did that.

Chris, I just saw your post as I was typing this - I think some sort of "highlights" thread is a great idea.  It may take longer than my "grab everything and make it as small as possible" suggestion - but will include the things we're most likely to want to review.  And it's possible that some combination of the two will be the way to go.

I'm not sure I totally understand yet how to do this ... but I would be most willing to help!  Winter is coming!   :lollol:  I'll be back at my computer more.