Administrative Announcement - Use Email Address To Sign In

[DonRocks]

I went ahead and changed the default "skin" on mobile devices to CleanCut (from the previous LoFi). This will now occur for Blackberry, iPhone, and iTouch (if anyone else uses a different type of mobile device, and wants theirs included also, please send me a PM).

Has everyone gone into the Dining Guide main page (right here) on their iPhone browser, and then touched the "plus sign" (seen as +) at the bottom of the screen? Once you do that, select "Add To Home Screen" and the Dining Guide will have an icon right on the front page of your iPhone, and can be brought up with a single touch. Threads and websites are then only 1-2 clicks away for all restaurants.

I use this myself every single day, despite being its author. It is incredibly useful when trying to decide where to eat, or when trying to find a restaurant's webpage or address.

It's now 2:40 AM, and I guess I should stop working. God I work hard.

[SeanMike]

So when I logged in today I noticed some strange behavior. There were some "balloons" that I hadn't noticed before next to topics, so I was guessing there was an upgrade?

But in Firefox 3.6.3 I saw behavior like this:

[SeanMike]

I should say that the behavior I noticed yesterday seems to be fixed.

[DonRocks]

Is anyone experiencing case-sensitive problems when trying to sign in, i.e., if your member name or password has a capital letter in it, you're forced to type it as a capital letter?

[JPW]

All of the forums that I belong to (including this one) have case sensitive passwords.

However, a quick test shows that your user name does not appear to be case sensitive.

[DonRocks]

All of the forums that I belong to (including this one) have case sensitive passwords.

However, a quick test shows that your user name does not appear to be case sensitive.

Hmm, I suspect this is responsible for 80% of problems people have signing in.

[DonRocks]

Long story, but because of a technical snafu, we had to roll back the system to 4 AM Monday morning, and all posts made yesterday between 4 AM and late last night aren't there.

However, we've saved them in a text format, and will be PM'ing them to each member to re-post (and please, DO re-post them!). This is a big, manual PITA but it's something we've got to do. Sorry everyone.

[leleboo]

Long story, but because of a technical snafu, we had to roll back the system to 4 AM Monday morning, and all posts made yesterday between 4 AM and late last night aren't there.

However, we've saved them in a text format, and will be PM'ing them to each member to re-post (and please, DO re-post them!). This is a big, manual PITA but it's something we've got to do. Sorry everyone.

Many of you have already received PMs from me. However, there are two posts for which I failed to correctly copy the text: Someone posted in Five Guys about their training program, and someone posted in the Del Ray Market thread. If you did so, please repost; for whatever reason, these did not copy over correctly. My apologies.

[DonRocks]

Many of you have already received PMs from me. However, there are two posts for which I failed to correctly copy the text: Someone posted in Five Guys about their training program, and someone posted in the Del Ray Market thread. If you did so, please repost; for whatever reason, these did not copy over correctly. My apologies.

Everyone buy leleboo a drink when you see her - she (literally) saved the day yesterday.

[Pool Boy]

Everyone buy leleboo a drink when you see her - she (literally) saved the day yesterday.

Hey I never see anyone from here 'in person' -- aren't you all figments of my imagination? :-)

That said, I will at least raise a glass to leleboo. Great job! (and all of my stuff's been re-posted).

[lperry]

Hey I never see anyone from here 'in person' -- aren't you all figments of my imagination? :-)

That said, I will at least raise a glass to leleboo. Great job! (and all of my stuff's been re-posted).

Ditto. Thank you!

[Lola007]

Hey I never see anyone from here 'in person' -- aren't you all figments of my imagination? :-)

That said, I will at least raise a glass to leleboo. Great job! (and all of my stuff's been re-posted).

Yes! A big thanks to leleboo.. I kept wondering if my post had been removed (and if I had been booted from the system) for some unknown reason. Thanks for saving our posts!

[leleboo]

Yes! A big thanks to leleboo.. I kept wondering if my post had been removed (and if I had been booted from the system) for some unknown reason. Thanks for saving our posts!

No big, really! I have to give major props to everyone who who read the missive and reposted ... we have recovered basically 98% of all content lost. And as ol_ironstomach pointed out to me, although it's sort of as though the summer solstice just didn't exist on donrockwell.com (who needs the longest day of the year? not we die-hards!), it's a pretty impressive thing to have all our content saved. Well done, community. *hat tip*

[leleboo]

Many people are noticing that avatars are failing to show up. The problem isn't consistent, and seems to have started after the Monday rollback. I can't give anyone a time frame for when it will be resolved (although I'm sure it will be), but one trick in the meantime is to go ahead and re-upload your avatar; that seems to work.

[DonRocks]

There's currently about a one-week backlog for new members to get validated. I'm trying to catch up, I promise, but won't be fully armed with time until this coming weekend.

And then I get to prune 100+ people from last year's Washington Post article who registered and never signed back in. Sometimes I wonder if this is all just a fool's game I'm playing trying to keep the roster current - does anyone even care other than me?

<frogs chirping>

Sigh... off to work I go.

[Mrs. B]

There's currently about a one-week backlog for new members to get validated. I'm trying to catch up, I promise, but won't be fully armed with time until this coming weekend.

And then I get to prune 100+ people from last year's Washington Post article who registered and never signed back in. Sometimes I wonder if this is all just a fool's game I'm playing trying to keep the roster current - does anyone even care other than me?

<frogs chirping>

Sigh... off to work I go.

I care. But only because you care. I wish I could care more. Then I could care less. I guess this means I couldn't care less, but that goes against my first statement.

[Anna Blume]

Careful...

[leleboo]

does anyone even care other than me?

I care.

Han Solo: [to Leia] Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money.

Princess Leia Organa: You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive! [to Luke] Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything...or anybody. [leaves]

Luke Skywalker: I care.

[hillvalley]

You could always, you know, ask for help.

(From someone who cares )

[ol_ironstomach]

- does anyone even care other than me?

"Put this man in cell number one, and give him a drink."

[SeanMike]

Maybe the pruning is why when I see this thread I always read it as "violating new members".

[DonRocks]

Many people are noticing that avatars are failing to show up. The problem isn't consistent, and seems to have started after the Monday rollback. I can't give anyone a time frame for when it will be resolved (although I'm sure it will be), but one trick in the meantime is to go ahead and re-upload your avatar; that seems to work.

Invision technical support has gone through several iterations trying to fix this, and it appears now to be much better than it was a week ago. I notice dinwiddie, e.g., still has the dreaded "blue question mark" for his personal photo, but either folks here have re-uploaded their photos, or Invision has fixed something; perhaps a combination of both.

Can anyone chime in with an opinion? I'll say one thing for Invision: They may not be perfect, but they're extremely responsive when problems arise.

[leleboo]

Invision technical support has gone through several iterations trying to fix this, and it appears now to be much better than it was a week ago. I notice dinwiddie, e.g., still has the dreaded "blue question mark" for his personal photo, but either folks here have re-uploaded their photos, or Invision has fixed something; perhaps a combination of both.

Can anyone chime in with an opinion? I'll say one thing for Invision: They may not be perfect, but they're extremely responsive when problems arise.

Some additions: weirdly, dinwiddie doesn't actually show up in the "members with a photo" filter, but must have one (or have had) to be getting that response ... but overall the number of members with a "lost" photo has dropped dramatically.

NB: This problem seems to pertain predominantly to avatars, i.e., the photo that accompanies your posts. It also applies to profile pictures, which can be the same as your avatar or different, but at a much lower frequency. Go into your profile to check this out if you think you've had a problem over the last week (I have at least a partial list if you are curious -- PM me and I'll tell you if you are/were on it) and see if both your profile picture and your avatar are showing up correctly.

[dcs]

I right clicked on my "dead" avatar and saved the picture to my desktop and uploaded it again as my "new" avatar and it seemed to have corrected the problem. The picture was still there, but for some reason stopped displaying.

[DonRocks]

How to stop bots from artificially driving up the hit counts of a topic?

Delete the topic until the bots get the hell off of the website.

Guest ( 97.10.122.248 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 76.111.93.169 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 69.250.209.192 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 141.156.174.207 ) Viewing Topic: Shopping for Jerky 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 68.50.169.191 ) Viewing Board Index 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 68.80.219.245 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 69.143.4.77 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Bags ( 173.79.111.160 ) Viewing Topic: Saran Indian Cuisine, Lee Highway in Arlington 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM

Guest ( 76.188.99.196 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 76.124.94.184 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 76.104.101.201 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:23 PM No options available

Guest ( 173.79.6.118 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 71.178.58.191 ) Viewing Board Index 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 68.115.76.169 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 208.58.204.171 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 71.240.66.143 ) Viewing Topic: Mouli Graters 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 76.21.199.20 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 98.218.219.204 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 69.143.51.186 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 67.83.101.188 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Fmezick ( 98.169.124.44 ) Viewing Board Index 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM

Guest ( 208.59.172.228 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

Guest ( 174.57.18.200 ) Viewing Topic: We, The Pizza, To Open on Southeast Capitol Hill 07 July 2010 - 09:22 PM No options available

[leleboo]

How to stop bots from artificially driving up the hit counts of a topic?

Delete the topic until the bots get the hell off of the website.

Well there's a soft opening tonight but HOLY HOT DAMN. That's perverse.

(Delete.)

[DonRocks]

Well there's a soft opening tonight but HOLY HOT DAMN. That's perverse.

(Delete.)

Unless the soft opening was announced on World News Tonight, I'm calling B.S. We're popular, but we're not that popular.

[hillvalley]

Not the World News, but close enough in the food media world: Top Chef. Spike was on tonight and introduced as the owner of We the Pizza around 9:20pm.

[DonRocks]

Not the World News, but close enough in the food media world: Top Chef. Spike was on tonight and introduced as the owner of We the Pizza around 9:20pm.

Well ... maybe we are that popular. I'll restore the thread now.

[JPW]

Not the World News, but close enough in the food media world: Top Chef. Spike was on tonight and introduced as the owner of We the Pizza around 9:20pm.

And if you google "We the pizza" + Spike dr.com comes in as the 8th link.

[DonRocks]

I wrote this last night, then deleted it this morning because it was just too sappy. But you know what? I meant what I wrote, so I'm going to put it back. For all its flaws, for all the time and money it has cost me, I love this website. And a conversation I had this evening with a long-time member only reaffirms why it exists.

My message to our members: Anytime, anyplace. I'm here for you when the chips are down.

As I'm winding down late at night, I'll often send online members "thank you" notes for being part of this website. Please take these for what they are - my sincere appreciation for being an integral part of the dr.com community. Without you, we're nothing. I've never forgotten that, and I don't mind saying it over-and-over again. I'm happy to be a figurehead here, but you, our members, are the engine that runs this machine; I merely steer the ship.

I believe humility and kindness are two of the great, underrated virtues in this world, and these are more important to me than anything resembling fame, wealth, power, or influence (probably why I'll never be rich, but will always be happy). The ability to help people in need means more to me than just about anything. I love every member here, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[qwertyy]

My message to our members: Anytime, anyplace. I'm here for you when the chips are down.

Despite the fact that I've never met Don, I can confirm that this is totally true.

Signed,

Nonsmoker

[Jeff White]

Don,

Thank you for the sincere words of kindness and for ALL that you do for this site. You and I have also never met and I look favorably to that occasion some day soon. Thanks again for allowing me to share a little of my world with the DR.com world.

Jeff

[Arcturus]

Despite the fact that I've never met Don, I can confirm that this is totally true.

Signed,

Nonsmoker

Same here.

[B.A.R.]

Same here.

I am as appreciative of this forum as I was blown away by Rock's magnanimous gesture of bequeething me his wine cellar, despite the fact we have never met.

You are a wonderful moderator, man, and pseudo-online friend.

Cheers- Brian

[leleboo]

Seems Invision released/updated a free iPhone/iPod/iPad app for IP.Boards. (Mobile web, or at least Safari on an iPhone, looks different, too -- same gui as the new app.) You can log in multiple accounts if you are a member of other IP.Board communities, too, and it says it has push notifications. It appears to have a heavier focus on "status updates" than we generally seem to use here at dr.com, though.

It's a decent interface, perhaps slightly easier to read than reading the board on a mobile web browser was before ... although I'm not committed to that analysis yet.

Looks like the web-wide "share" features are now incorporated into this site as well -- I see buttons for Twitter, Facebook, digg, Google Buzz, del.icio.us., Reddit, Stumbleupon, and to email, print, and download -- but they're at the bottom of an entire page of a topic, so I'm unclear as to what they'd grab. Anyone tried yet?*

(No idea if this has anything to do with last night's over-bandwidth shut-down, either.)

*ETA: Tried the Twitter one. Looks like it grabs the whole topic URL but not a specific page or post. Huh.

[bookluvingbabe]

Seems Invision released/updated a free iPhone/iPod/iPad app for IP.Boards. (Mobile web, or at least Safari on an iPhone, looks different, too -- same gui as the new app.) You can log in multiple accounts if you are a member of other IP.Board communities, too, and it says it has push notifications. It appears to have a heavier focus on "status updates" than we generally seem to use here at dr.com, though.

It's a decent interface, perhaps slightly easier to read than reading the board on a mobile web browser was before ... although I'm not committed to that analysis yet.

Looks like the web-wide "share" features are now incorporated into this site as well -- I see buttons for Twitter, Facebook, digg, Google Buzz, del.icio.us., Reddit, Stumbleupon, and to email, print, and download -- but they're at the bottom of an entire page of a topic, so I'm unclear as to what they'd grab. Anyone tried yet?*

(No idea if this has anything to do with last night's over-bandwidth shut-down, either.)

*ETA: Tried the Twitter one. Looks like it grabs the whole topic URL but not a specific page or post. Huh.

I'm not crazy about the switch to a mobile browser. It is now an extra step to get to the main screen. Showing me the names of the forums and the number of posts doesn't really tell me if a thread I'm interested in has been updated!

But I HATE change. Always have.

Jennifer

PS: And while I may gripe, I am still thankful for this forum every day and for the incredible work that Don and the unsung moderators put into it.

[leleboo]

I'm not crazy about the switch to a mobile browser. It is now an extra step to get to the main screen. Showing me the names of the forums and the number of posts doesn't really tell me if a thread I'm interested in has been updated!

But I HATE change. Always have.

BLB and others: It's actually fairly easy to revert to the full site, either via the drop-down menu at the bottom left of the page (choose CleanCut 3.1.1.) or by hitting "Full Board" or something like that -- I can't find that link now, alas, as I'm looking for it for you. However, it does seem that Invision set something so that our mobile browsers default to the mobile style -- which is updated from the truly ugly form it had a while ago -- because I always have my browser set to view the board in full, and yesterday, all of a sudden, it didn't.

Yeah, I don't love change so much, either.

[goodeats]

Yeah, I don't love change so much, either.

I can tell you the first change I have noticed that I don't like so much -- underlined links appear black instead of blue, so you don't know it's a hyperlink until your mouse hovers over it to turn it blue. Ick.

[tentimesodds]

Am I the only one for whom unread topics are no longer showing up in bold?

[leleboo]

Am I the only one for whom unread topics are no longer showing up in bold?

Nope.

The little icon will be darkened, but the topic title isn't bold. Boo-urns.

[ol_ironstomach]

I was using the retro blue skin, but that seems to have disappeared yesterday

[leleboo]

I was using the retro blue skin, but that seems to have disappeared yesterday

I knew there was something that had disappeared! Just couldn't figure it out. Yes. It's gone. Hrm.

(It's like that TNG episode where Beverly's caught in the warp bubble and she's the only one who remembers the people who are disappearing and ...

... I'll go over to the corner now.)

[DonRocks]

From Invision (after we upgraded to version 3.1.2 this weekend):

The existing "Classic Blue" skin is not fully compatible with Board 3.1.2 so I've disabled it, and moved people that were using it to the new Clean Cut skin, which I went ahead and installed (old one was removed). If you view that Classic Blue skin, you'll see that times and dates are being displayed as UNIX time stamps rather than being formatted. You'll need to contact the skin author for resolution of that.

So you can actually switch back to Classic Blue (bottom left of the main page), but the dates will be messed up - the perils of not using an "official" Invision skin.

[leleboo]

So you can actually switch back to Classic Blue (bottom left of the main page), but the dates will be messed up - the perils of not using an "official" Invision skin.

In my dropdown at the bottom left, "Homely Default" is there but "Classic Blue" is not (on the main page). Is it somewhere not in that dropdown?

[DonRocks]

In my dropdown at the bottom left, "Homely Default" is there but "Classic Blue" is not (on the main page). Is it somewhere not in that dropdown?

Maybe it's only me that can access it, but it's not worth it because the dates are messed up.

[goodeats]

<rant>: ruckus of a notification button! </rant>

[RaisaB]

Can someone direct me to my mail? I haven't seen it in months. Can't find how to get to it.

[goodeats]

Can someone direct me to my mail? I haven't seen it in months. Can't find how to get to it.

Not sure if this will work. If you enlarge the attachment, you can see a little arrow -- that is the pull-down menu to click on.

Then go to "messenger."

I hope this is what you mean RaisaB.

[goodeats]

Is the "topic preview" button a new feature?

I just noticed it when waving the mouse next to a topic and an icon of a document with an UP green arrow appears. When you click on it, it's like the "quick info" buttons seen on many online shop sites. Interesting.