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DonRocks

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Two changes as of this afternoon:

1. In order to access the Dining Guides, you now must make at least one post. The reason for this is not obvious: Every single month, I go through and "prune" inactive users - people who have never posted, and who haven't signed on in over a year. This is very labor intensive, and having access to the Dining Guides will hopefully be an extra incentive for people to post at least once. Even something as simple as introducing yourself (click here for an example) is perfectly adequate.

2. To thank everyone with at least one post, I've increased the size of everyone's Personal Message box from 150 to 200 messages. (I'm not sure anyone actually cares, but I did it anyway).

Cheers,

Rocks.

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2. To thank everyone with at least one post, I've increased the size of everyone's Personal Message box from 150 to 200 messages. (I'm not sure anyone actually cares, but I did it anyway).
Thanks. I don't send or receive that many PMs, but, for some reason, my message box always seems close to full.
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The command to read last post is not working for me. Nothing happens. I have been having a problem with my browser (old version with a mac). I will check using another browser, but it might also be a problem for other people, so I'll post this. (I hope this is the right thread.)

ETA: This works okay on Safari. My firefox is 1.0.6 (I know, that's very old, but when I updated a while back, I had trouble with the new version). It may be a problem with me only.

Edited again to say it's working fine now. Don't know what that was about.

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When a project of mine isn’t bearing any fruit, I tend to keep at it, probably a lot longer than I should – my creative juices, pride, and – yes, I’ll admit it, my ego – sometimes blind me from seeing that my bright ideas sometimes don’t pan out.

Segway inventor Dean Kamen describes the dilemma perfectly: "You end up lying there saying, 'I'm not stopping. It would be an act of shallow cowardice. Or you decide to quit and you say, 'This is one of those ideas that just isn't going to work,'"

I come up with so many wonderful thoughts, one of which was the Membership Benefits program, a program that I KNOW could work if only I had the time and resources to put into it. But there’s no revenue at all generated from this website, so I can’t pay anyone to help me, and there are no remaining hours left in the day for me to do it myself. I simply cannot bring this project to fruition right now.

So for the time being, well … you’ll just have to roll your cursor over the following few inches of space, highlighting the fate of the Membership Benefits program:

FAIL!

Those of you with cards, please keep them as souvenirs. Maybe one day it will be revived, but for now, I think that forum is best left unplugged.

And yet the problem remains with the long-term viability of this website. From day one, I promised everyone that membership would always be free, and I intend to keep that promise. And yet, there’s no money coming in, from anywhere, and this website is becoming more-and-more costly to sustain as time goes by.

I saw some potential with the Membership Benefits program, but I didn’t throw enough resources into it for it to work. However, I’ve arrived at another solution to help stop the financial bloodletting that this website is incurring - a solution that will enable members to continue enjoying this community free of charge.

That solution is sponsorship – not “advertisements” per se, but sponsorship, not unlike what you might see on public television. The key factor (at least in my eyes) is to keep it understated, dignified, and well-delineated from the rest of the website, so as not to inundate our members with commercialism.

I’m announcing today a new forum – Our Daily Sponsor - which will hopefully enable this website to continue operations in the future. It might be a bit unsettling at first, but like the Membership Benefits program, it will remain separate from the “nuts and bolts” content that defines this community.

When I unveiled the Membership Benefits program, nearly a year ago, there was a shocking amount of pushback from our members, not unlike the protests that are going on over at Facebook right now. In order to maintain peace and continuity, I have decided there will be no further discussion until after the program begins, at which time suggestions will be taken for change and improvement.

The new Our Daily Sponsor feature of donrockwell.com will make its debut this Wednesday.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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Anyone having problems logging in? Got a message from Xochitl10 -- she's been getting an "access denied" message when attempting to log-in for the past two days. Told her I would check it out.
I have had sporadic problems of late: being told I was logged in only to be either kicked out or denied access to posting, messaging and the like.

Or, upon going through the motions of logging in, having to log in again, etc.

This kind of stuff has been going on for well over a month or two on an infrequent basis, but more frequently lately. Just logged in. Was about to post a reply, but was denied access, so I ended up logging in again to post this.

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Why don't you get on board with one of the Google ad programs? You get enough hits to make some money at it.

The current version of Invision doesn't support this very well. There's going to be a new release soon that will apparently support different types of "skins," and will hopefully be able to facilitate things like Google ads. I've thought about them in the past, but quite honestly I've been too busy to do anything about implementing them - probably penny-wise and pound-foolish, but that's just me. I also don't want anything that looks tacky.

With dr.com, I have come up with the perfect business model (except for one slight problem - there's no revenue. :D)

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If you were the second son living in eleventh-century Europe with a nasty elder brother who wasn't going to hand over any of the land he inherited after your father's death, or say you were out hunting, having a jolly good time with your boys what with the sleek grey and tawny hounds baying as they wove through the underbrush, your favorite steed looking resplendent and all, and before you knew it, you found yourself alone in the dark woods, having strayed from the path which you begin to realize represents the trajectory of your own life, and then, out of nowhere like, this white hart comes dashing, even more dashing--and by that I mean resplendent--than the stallion upon which you are astride, and so you thread your bow and pull back the string, but then, behold, something compels you to hesitate and so you do as that noble beast freezes just in front of you as if bracing for the piercing instrument of death, acceptingly, just as you note the crucifix rising between its antlers and reminded of the sacrifice made by the body central to your dear mother's faith, you weep, converted, and leave the forest guided by a gentle light, faint, soaring voices and the knowledge that you must start a new life as you follow the rocky path up the mountain side to knock on the door of the gate of a Benedictine monastery.

You pound and you pound and you pound, until finally, someone opens the little hatch only to say, "Go away!", but in Latin or some regional variation of medieval German or French, perhaps.

So you go back to your father's land or your castle and eat some grouse, sweetmeats slathered in grape must. You fall asleep in your comfy bed (except for the lice) and dream of giving the cloak off your back to beggars who return garbed in white, bearded and surrounded by angels, so you know what you must do and you go back to the monastery.

You pound and you pound and you pound, until finally, someone opens the little hatch only to say, "Go away!"

You become discouraged this time. You forget all about it. A little more grouse. Snogging with the pretty goatmaid who takes you to the river and drops you in the water and as you rise from the depths to which you have plunged a lightbulb the wick of a candle bursts into flame above your head, so you tear up the banks and do not stop running until you reach the monastery door where you pound, and you pound and you pound until finally, you hear the heavy bolt pulled back, and the door swings open to let you in.

* * *

Has this site adopted The Rule of Saint Benedict? I had to log in three times before succeeding today.

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Has this site adopted The Rule of Saint Benedict? I had to log in three times before succeeding today.

You're the only one who has reported this problem - maybe try clearing your browser of all internet-related files (cache, cookies, etc.)?

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You pound and you pound and you pound, until finally, someone opens the little hatch only to say, "Go away!", but in Latin or some regional variation of medieval German or French, perhaps.

...

You pound and you pound and you pound, until finally, someone opens the little hatch only to say, "Go away!"

...

Has this site adopted The Rule of Saint Benedict? I had to log in three times before succeeding today.

"A déjà vu is usually a glitch in The Matrix." - Trinity

I suspect we may have been experiencing some minor data errors lately. This weekend I logged in only to find my thread-viewing preferences had spontaneously changed to outline mode; a minute later while clicking on various topics, one or two failed with a database error. Nothing like this has happened to me in months, and I wonder if our hosting hardware isn't displaying early warning signs of an incipient failure?

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You pound and you pound and you pound, until finally, someone opens the little hatch only to say, "Go away!", but in Latin or some regional variation of medieval German or French, perhaps.
Et cetera. Let not your post go unremarked. It was remarkable.
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This weekend I logged in only to find my thread-viewing preferences had spontaneously changed to outline mode; a minute later while clicking on various topics, one or two failed with a database error. Nothing like this has happened to me in months, and I wonder if our hosting hardware isn't displaying early warning signs of an incipient failure?

The "Outline Mode" problem happens all the time when doing a Google search, then clicking on the result. It can be solved by clicking back into "Standard Mode."

It's interesting that people are having blips of problems - I've avoided upgrading to IPB 3.0 just because I didn't want to have unstable software. Dave, do you really think it's an incipient hardware failure? I can't imagine. Hardware failures are generally like light switches, and tend not to be fault-tolerant for very long.

Keep reporting things, please, as you encounter them.

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Help! Everything looks different and I can't find the view new posts link and the view new content link says there are 500 pages of new content (since Sunday?!) and I am so so confused.

ETA: Nevermind. Found the upgrade thread and all is now clear.

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This is an important announcement regarding the display of posts. Two users have reported a problem in the past day in the way posts are displayed. If things look really "weird" to you, try this:

1) Go to the home page of the website

2) On the top-right of the screen, you'll find your member name. Click on it, then click on "My Settings"

3) Under the "Your Options" section, click on the "Forums" tab

4) Down at the bottom, find "Topic Display Mode." This needs to be set to "Standard." If it's set to "Outline," that's why you're having problems.

5) After setting it to Standard, click on "Save Changes."

That will fix things.

In the past, Google has been a major culprit of kicking people into "Outline" mode; with the new version of Invision, search engines are forced to read the board in "Standard" mode, so it should not be a problem going forward.

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This isn't really an "announcement" so much as it is "taking a picture of myself holding today's newspaper."

Sometime in the future, this website will be implementing an idea that I thought of a few months ago. It's a good idea that I don't have time to put into place right now, but I want there to be no doubt that it was my own original thought. Therefore: TCBRHWCMWJ, to be deciphered sometime in the future. :(

Cheers,

Rocks.

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{I can't seem to hyperlink bc when I click on the Insert Link button, something pops up but is 75% out of view of the screen if that makes any sense.)

Me too -- very annoying and no one seems to have a fix for it. :(

[You mean on this website? I think Invision fixed this in the latest version (which contains only bug fixes and patches). Let me go ahead and see if upgrading solves the problem - it might take a day or so.]

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Zee boss man has made a funny label at the bottom for the current bubble IP Board viewing format. If you pull-down that menu, you can choose other formats. It is super-weird in the "CleanCut" format, but interesting. Btw, the "CleanCut" version has the old "Back to the top" button in each frame like the pre-upgraded versions. Neato.

Edited by goodeats
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[You mean on this website? I think Invision fixed this in the latest version (which contains only bug fixes and patches). Let me go ahead and see if upgrading solves the problem - it might take a day or so.]

Yes, on this website, still. Same problem that I told you about a while ago. Not a big deal, but if there's a fix that would be nice. Doesn't occur on my MacBook at home.
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{I can't seem to hyperlink bc when I click on the Insert Link button, something pops up but is 75% out of view of the screen if that makes any sense.)

Me too -- very annoying and no one seems to have a fix for it. :(

[You mean on this website? I think Invision fixed this in the latest version (which contains only bug fixes and patches). Let me go ahead and see if upgrading solves the problem - it might take a day or so.]

[i'm trying to get this "links" problem resolved. It doesn't happen to me on Safari - Invision thinks it might be browser-specific. Can a few people that are experiencing this chime in here with what browser / operating system they're using? Thank you.]

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[i'm trying to get this "links" problem resolved. It doesn't happen to me on Safari - Invision thinks it might be browser-specific. Can a few people that are experiencing this chime in here with what browser / operating system they're using? Thank you.]

This happens to me, but I'm on IE 6 :( here at the office so I don't expect anything to work correctly. For what its worth Firefox 3 (at home) everything works fairly smoothly.

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[i'm trying to get this "links" problem resolved. It doesn't happen to me on Safari - Invision thinks it might be browser-specific. Can a few people that are experiencing this chime in here with what browser / operating system they're using? Thank you.]

I can't insert any kind of link or emoticon automatically using Firefox, but my browser is very old and needs to be updated. All of the formatting is messed up for the buttons above the reply window. I either have to remember the code to enter or use Safari, which does work.
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Is there a way to clear large numbers of personal conversations/messages without clicking on every single box?

According to the Help page:

Empty PM Folders

This option provides you with a quick and easy way to clear out all of your PM folders.

If you check the little box in the top (header) row, it will select all. Then you could unselect any you want to keep (if any) and delete the rest.

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When reading a topic, at the very very bottom of the page is the "Fast Reply" box. Very little formatting available, but if you just have a couple of sentences to write, you don't have to click the reply button for a new page.

I even have that option with my crappy Firefox interface that doesn't have a lot of features working.
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According to the Help page:

Empty PM Folders

This option provides you with a quick and easy way to clear out all of your PM folders.

Thanks. But did you know that there is no function labeled "Empty PM Folders" that one can choose? :( Nonetheless my tech guru was able to figure it out.

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How come I get Facebook cookies when I log in?

There's a Facebook Connect app. You can manage it in the Edit My Profile area, although some browsers don't seem to have the "Manage Facebook Connect" tab that lets you do so (I can see that tab in Safari and Firefox but not Chrome).

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Have I gone blind?

Where are all of the old chef chats?

They show up in searches, but I can't find them directly and when I try to access them through a search I get an error.

[sorry, that was a mistake on my part - will have them back online as soon as I get a free moment.]

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44 members pruned, including some who I went out of my way to contact, asking them not to leave.

(Recall that I only prune people who have never posted, and who have not signed on for longer than a year.)

My response to them after ignoring my requests to simply sign on, and then sign back off? Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em all. And you know who you are. Goodbye. You're gone. We don't need you here.

New members, PLEASE do not sign up for this website if you're not going to contribute to it, or at least show me the courtesy of signing on once a year.

This is as good a time as any to say that in July, 2010, we will almost surely be experiencing our first-ever year-over-year decline in members. This is due to Candy Sagon's article which came out in June, 2009. Many of the new users that month have never posted, and we will be deleting their memberships after one year if they don't sign in. So don't panic if you see a noticeable reduction in membership this coming July - there isn't much I can do to stop it.

And this is also as good a time as anyway to say THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, to members who post - just one time. You are the ones who make this website what it is, and it's nothing without you.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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You feel like This?

Thanks Don,

You cool, I'm out.

Those 44 members took about 15 minutes EACH of my life (about 10 to approve their registration, and about 5 to prune), and contributed nothing to the website. That's 11 hours. And that's how much time I waste every month on these people.

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