Members Helping Members
 

Thought I'd start a specific thread for people who have basic questions that we can answer for one another.

E.G. "How do I post a picture in a visitor message?"

I thought it would be nice to have a home base thread where anyone could answer anyone's questions! And new members can also be directed here for asking and answering questions. I am hoping that with time it will have all the most commonly asked questions along with the answers provided by any member who has chosen to asnwer, kind of like a FAQ resource.

So please, anyone is welcome to ask or answer a question!

Excellent thread idea.

I hate having to bug Linus for little things I know lots of other folks do all the time.

FAQ no. 1: How do I post a picture?
 

In order to post a picture, whether the post is a stand-alone picture or a picture you want to include as an addition to a text-based post, you can follow the steps below, so a picture is visible in the post you wish to post.

Long Form Directions:

1) above the empty text box, you will see a row of formatting icons. The 4th icon is a picture of a postcard with a stamp on it, is the icon you will select when desiring to include a photo in your post.

2) On the web page of the photo you wish to include in your post, place your cursor over the internet address of the photo, right click on the address and then select "copy". Your cursor will now remember the internet address of the photo you wish to include in your post here.

3) Now, go to the row of icons above the text box here, select the post-card with a stamp" icon and another text box will appear. Inside the new text box, you will see the following highlighted: "http://". Clear this preloaded text from the box, so that the new box is empty.

4) Now that the photo stamp icon box is empty, place your cursor inside the box and right click again. Choose "Paste." The internet address for the picture you want to post will appear inside this box. Then click "Okay" in that box and your picture will appear inside the grey shaded text box that will appear in your forum board post or in the post you create on a personal message board on a friends page.

5) To post your photo, now click the "submit reply" button that appears at the bottom of the grey shaded text box and your post will appear on the forum board or as a photo in a message post on your friends page.


Short Form Directions:

1) Right click on the internet web address bar of the photo you wish to post and select "copy".

2) Return to the Planet in the forum you wish to make a photo post or on your friends personal message page and select the "post-card with a stamp" icon.

3) In the drop down menu, clear out the hyper link provided and insert the web address of the photo you wish to post by right clicking your cursor and choosing "paste" to insert the web address into the drop down menu box.

4) Click "okay" on the drop down menu box. Inside the grey shaded text box, your photo will appear.

5) To publish your photo post you will finish by selecting the "submit reply" button at the bottom of the grey shaded text box. Your photo is now published on the forum board thread or in the personal message box located on your friends page.

FAQ no. 2: How do I post a music video?
 

In order to post a music video, you will first need to select the "YouTube" icon which appears as the last icon in the row of icons provided in the text box provided to make a post.

1) Select the "YouTube" icon. It will appear as text inside the grey shaded text box and will look like this: [.youtube.][./youtube.]

Note: 'dots' were included in the illustration above so that the poster will know how the pre-loaded icon appears as text within the text box. There will be *NO* dots in your preloaded link.

2) Inside the youtube text, you will see a space between the bars. This is where you place part of the internet address of the link to the video post you wish to appear in your post. The portion of the video link that belongs in the space between the brackets is: everything that appears in the link after the "equal" sign.

I will use an internet link for a song by Sia, as an example
(except I removed the linking ability so you can see what I am talking about):

http:// www.youtube.com/watch? v = iRpzmAMsz90

3) Insert the characters that appear in bold lettering inside the brackets.
Click "submit reply" at the bottom of your text page and your video will now appear in published form.

FAQ no. 3: Sometimes the system logs me out when I'm making a post (....).
 

This was a question I recently asked because I was making a post and when I clicked the "submit reply" button at the bottom of the text box, I discovered that I was no longer logged into the website and I lost my post.

While I am not particularly skilled at simplifying answers to questions like these, this is what I found out about my situation.

The reason why I inadvertantly was logged out when I thought I was logged in, had to do with the "Browser" I was using and not the usual issue of needing to clear out the cache of cookies that your OS stores in the section of your OS called "history".

I'm a self taught technology geek and my notebook is not the notebook is was when I bought it. My notebook now has two different platform browsers. One platform is "Firefox" and the other platform is "Flock".

In my case, I needed to be in FireFox browser mode.
Not the other. I'm still working with the other browser
and learning what I can and cannot do with my other browser.

So, if you're having a browser issue, you might need help other than the tiny bit of help I left here. I had to ask a tech geek friend of mine about my issue because I just wasn't 'getting it' until they sat down with me and showed me, on the twin OS I have on my notebook, what my specific issues were.

I am healed, for now.

:blueheels:

These are exactly the kinds of things everyone struggles with when getting started. I think it would be great if everyone subscribed to this thread so that when questions come up we can help each other as quickly as possible.

One issue that has happened to me, and without exception, everyone I have spoken to is the "disappearance" of a lengthy post and the frustration that comes with it. I wish I had a real answer, but some have said they thought it was a time issue, or like above, a mystery browser thing.

One habit I started after it happened to me was to just type up lengthy posts in some other text document and then copy and paste it over into the reply box. It can be a word processing document, or any note pad. I frequently use a draft in email and don't address it, just deleting it after it is posted. If I am out with just a phone, I use whatever default notepad app is handy.

*subscribed*

also subscribing.

For photos, I use photo bucket and find and store images there. I find it is less likely that a photo will be deleted if i do that.

Photobucket also has an add on feature if you are using firefox you can get the add on and then right click on any picture upload it to your photobucket and then get the link codes, it is the "direct" link code you want to use for posting pics here on the planet.

Visitor Message vs User Notes
 

What is the difference (if any) between Visitor Message and User Notes?
Someone posted a Visitor Message at my profile and I didn't know how to reply, so went to their profile and sent a User Note thinking it was the same thing :seeingstars:

It's according to how they have their settings set . If you can't post a visitor message it's because you aren't on their friends or contacts list. They will still get the message in their user notes however.

i dont think this is right. in your Settings under Edit Options there's a place for you to check some boxes about accepting messaging. you can choose to do things like accept Visitor Messages from your friends and contacts ONLY if that's what you want, so if you dont check that box you can get Visitor Messages from anyone. AND you can also turn your Visitor Messages off completely. people can only leave you User Messages or Private Messages after that. (i think there's also a User Option to only get PMs from Admins. might be wrong.)

Visitor MessagingThis forum features a visitor messaging system that allows members to send messages to one another publicly.

If you do not want to receive visitor messages, you may disable the visitor messaging system.
Enable Visitor Messaging

You may limit the usage of your visitor messages to just moderators and your contacts.
Limit usage of Visitor Messages to Contacts and Moderators

yep lol............

Chat ....
 

I know it's been a recurring issue for some, but I haven't seen any recent topics, so I'm starting this one -
I've tried Chrome (my default browser) and Explorer - both have the same result, a generic "error" page with a list of possibilities for the error (maintenance, server issue, etc). Both browsers are up to date and pop ups not blocked for this site.

Any ideas?

Where are you trying to access chat from: front page or from within the forum area (not front page)?

Within the forum area, mostly. Let me try from the front page.

Nope. Didn't work. Here's the Chrome message I get:

The website encountered an error while retrieving http://www.butchfemmeplanet.com/addonchat.php. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly.

No.. don't (it never works from the front page and is a known issue). I'm trying to determine what the possible error is. You say it's a generic error. Are there any details that you can give? It sounds like a java issue (since the Chat uses java), either with an incorrect/incomplete version installed or the side-effect of anti-virus blocking it from running.

Here is the message on the error page:
The website encountered an error while retrieving http://www.butchfemmeplanet.com/addonchat.php. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly.

I get this when I try to see who's chatting, float or enter.

I'll check my antivirus and make sure the page isn't blocked, however - it usually notifies me when it's blocking something. Maybe I'll check that Java is the most current version.

Actually, if I try to not float and go straight into the room, I also get this: HTTP Error 500 (Internal Server Error): An unexpected condition was encountered while the server was attempting to fulfill the request.

If I try to see who's chatting: The requested URL /addonchat_who.php was not found on this server.

I I try to "float" I get "ClassNotFound" - when I click on a link to see error details, I get this:
Java Plug-in 10.9.2.05
Using JRE version 1.7.0_09-b05 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
User home directory = C:\Users\Moses
----------------------------------------------------
c: clear console window
f: finalize objects on finalization queue
g: garbage collect
h: display this help message
l: dump classloader list
m: print memory usage
o: trigger logging
q: hide console
r: reload policy configuration
s: dump system and deployment properties
t: dump thread list
v: dump thread stack
x: clear classloader cache
0-5: set trace level to <n>
------------------------------------

Hrmm.. download this version of Java (find the one for Windows): http://www.java.com/en/download/manual_v6.jsp and see if that helps. I'm wondering if Java 7 is the culprit in this case.

Trying now - thank you

Well, I can now see who is chatting - but same messages as before if I try to go in. Will continue to tinker with Java when I feel like it - thank you.

I see, thank you.
This is about User Notes from the vBulletin document:

This feature is intended to allow staff members to discuss members and keep the information organized rather then having a variety of threads in a staff forum.

Maybe I shouldn't have replied that way, oops.

Thank you for this thread! It lets me ask stoopid newbie questions when I'm not sure who to bug.

:D think they put this thread up so we didn't have to continually bug Linus or Medusa and the rest of the tech geniuses all the time. Anything major they are the ones to ask ,if your fellow members can't explain it here.

Where'd you find that? (link?)

That's for version 5 (we're not there yet). And it's a user group setting in 5. In earlier versions it was something that users can use to leave notes for each other.

Ah, all right. I was curious about the difference between Visitor messages, User notes, and Private messages. I didn't know what was the proper way to reply to a Visitor message when I couldn't post a Visitor message at the person's profile. /n00b

I am not caught up on this thread so forgive if some or all of these have been mentioned but here's my .02: When I try to write someone a visitor message and see that their messages are closed, I take a look at their user notes. If they have a lot of user notes, then I get the gist that that's where that person doesn't mind receiving messages, so I leave what would have been a visitor message there. If the user notes are also empty, I get the sense that they are a private person and back off or PM them instead. Not saying this is "right," just saying this is how I think of it.

Also, just a general reminder to all (not to you), for those that respond to visitor messages from someone on their own page, it is not as effective as going to the other person's page and responding. The person will get it quicker. If you (again, not Samurai, just general you) respond to the visitor message on your own page, it might get buried and the person will have no idea to check back. I sometimes see new people do that, so I thought I'd mention it in this post.

Or...

Upload the picture to hosting site of your choice, ie. Photobucket, and they have their own resizing options.

Simples!

:chaplin:

Or, I use photobucket and have never gotten the sizing tool to work for me. Even the newest version that came out yesterday. I will still try to work with it a bit for the all in one option, but in the mean time I will definitely try pic resize.

Thanks Parker for the step by step, the visuals really help me.

Another thing I have found on sizing, if I take a photo with my iPhone I can email it direct to photobucket and I asks me what size I want to send and it works perfectly. But if I take a screen shot on the phone and send it the size options are not available and it is too big. Will try the Parker option for that too.

One other thing, If you find am image in google images, mouse over it and at the very bottom there is a link for 'more sizes'. That will usually bring up a page with a ton of different sizes of that one image. I just grab the image code for the size I want. If it is for a post I try to make sure the larger of the two dimensions is 300 or less so as to not disrupt the flow to much.

Hello
 

I am a new member and I wanted to tell the 3 ppl in the chatroom I really, really was attempting to respond to your "Hi", but alas! I fell short in finding the chatbox. So.....didn't want you thinking I was being rude and unresponsive. Will figure this new site out soon.:rrose: