Questions for a new sticky FAQ thread

Fri, 2009-01-02 12:32

#2

Unionist

Hyperlinks should be made visible as a courtesy to readers. For example, here are various ways of posting a hyperlink:

1. http://rabble.ca

Comment: Works, but not pretty.

2. [url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[/url]

Comment: Works, but not visibly a hyperlink.

3. [u][url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[/url][/u]

Comment: Looks more like a hyperlink.

4. [u][b][url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[/url][/b][/u]

Comment: If you want to highlight it even more.

5. [url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[/url]

Comment: This is supposed to appear in red, but it doesn't, because the coloured font feature is broken.

6. [url=http://rabble.ca][color=red]Rabble.ca[/color][/url]

Comment: You can do it using UBB codes.

None of the above was created using the little icons in the Comment box. Here is how it was done. NB: I've inserted spaces after the [ brackets which you will have to remove in order for things to work:

1. http://rabble.ca

2. [ url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[ /url]

3. [ u][ url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[ /url][ /u]

4. [ u][ b][ url=http://rabble.ca]Rabble.ca[ /url][ /b][ /u]

5. Irrelevant.

6. [ url=http://rabble.ca][ color=red]Rabble.ca[ /color][ /url]

Fri, 2009-01-02 12:40

#3

oldgoat

Here's a mod one Michelle. re: the mysterious prune/graft feature we have. How do you use it without screwing up?

This is a tagline. It has nothing to do with the comments posted above. Just a tagline...really. Please disregard.

Fri, 2009-01-02 12:42

#4

Unionist

P.S. There are numerous links on the internet explaining UBB codes.

[u][b][url=http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/ubbcode.html][color=red]Here's just one.[/color][/url][/b][/u]

Let me know if you need any more [size=40]hot tips[/size].

Fri, 2009-01-02 13:50

#5

Unionist

[font=Times New Roman][size=15]I didn't realize we could change the typeface.[/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=15]It could get annoying, I suppose.[/size][/font]

[font=Courier][size=15]But what the heck...[/size][/font]

[color=purple][font=Comic Sans MS][i][size=25]Happy New Year, everyone![/size][/i][/font][/color]

Sun, 2009-01-04 08:55

#6

Michelle

Thanks!

Sun, 2009-01-04 09:31

#7

Unionist

Michelle, from the FAQ thread wrote:

When you have your link text highlighted, instead of just inserting the
link, perhaps also click the underline icon, and then your link text
will be underlined as well. (Or you can change the colour to red, or
bold it, or whatever you like.)

Unfortunately Michelle, that is not accurate. That's why I posted instructions above as to how to code [u]underlining[/u] and [color=blue]colour[/color]. Those icons in the Comment box don't work.

Summary:

The following icons [b][i]do not work[/i][/b] and never have, at least for me:

The following icons [b][i]do[/i][/b] work:

As for , I don't know - haven't tested it, because I haven't needed to. Perhaps someone else can comment.

In short, your lengthy post in the FAQ thread needs to be revised to clarify underlining and colour (at least), in order to avoid user frustration.

Sun, 2009-01-04 09:49

#8

Michelle

That's weird. They work for me.

Sun, 2009-01-04 09:53

#9

Michelle

Hey, actually, you're right, the colour and the strikethrough doesn't work. But for me, the underlining works.

Sun, 2009-01-04 10:11

#10

Unionist

Underlining.

The above word shows as underlined in my Comment box, but neither in the Preview nor the final post.

I've viewed it using both my usual browser (Firefox 3.0.5) and Internet Explorer - and I can't see underlining in either.

When you look at the HTML coding [b]before hitting "Post Comment"[/b], it looks correct. But it seems as if the underline code gets stripped off as soon as you hit "Post". I will experiment some more.

[b][i]Michelle (or anyone), does the first word in this post appear as underlined to you?[/i][/b]

Sun, 2009-01-04 12:00

#11

Michelle

Maybe it's because I have moderator permissions that underlining works in my posts? I'll find out.

Sun, 2009-01-04 12:11

#12

Unionist

[s][font=Arial Narrow][size=20]If that's the case, then [/font][b]I [i][color=blue]want[/color] [u][color=green]moderator's[/color][/u][/i] [font=Courier][color=red]privileges[/color][/font][font=Times New Roman][color=brown]TOO!!![/color][/size][/font][/b][/s]

Scratch that.

Thu, 2009-01-08 21:31

#13

Taa Daaaa

I am wondering how do you know who is the mods here? I have been lurking, but only just signed up, and I know the old babble had a spot that said "moderated by" and I think that it was also maybe under their name? I know Michelle and Oldgoat are moderators, and JRose - but I am unsure of anyone else. Fill me in?

Thu, 2009-01-08 21:35

#14

Maysie

Me! I'm a mod!

And I can't do any formatting.

Fri, 2009-01-09 20:14

#15

clersal

Is there anyway of doing a search for someone?

Sat, 2009-01-10 00:30

#16

Unionist

clersal wrote:
Is there anyway of doing a search for someone?

Yeah. In "Your Menu" (upper right of page), click on "My Inbox", then click on the "Compose" tab, then start typing the person's name in the "To" box - wait a second, and all names starting with those letters will appear.

Sat, 2009-01-10 00:35

#17

Unionist

[font=script][size=40]This is a test. Just want to see how good my penmanship is.[/size][/font]

Sat, 2009-01-10 00:46

#18

Wilf Day

Unionist wrote:

Underlining.

The above word shows as underlined in my Comment box, but neither in the Preview nor the final post.

[b][i]Michelle (or anyone), does the first word in this post appear as underlined to you?[/i][/b]

Not to me.

Sat, 2009-01-10 00:51

#19

Unionist

[font=times new roman][size=30]Thanks, Wilf. Just as I suspected.[/size][/font]

Mon, 2009-01-12 13:10

#20

contrarianna

Unionist wrote:

Hyperlinks should be made visible as a courtesy to readers.

Yes, yet more than a courtesy. It is an extremely basic webpage functionality issue.
The onus should NOT be on the poster to find a way to draw attention to the existence and whereabouts of an otherwise invisible link--and NOT on the reader to waste time dragging their mouse around the page in the quest for the possible existence of a referring link.

I know the mindset of too many webpage design artists who would rather opt for "elegance" or "the clean look" over information sharing--which they sometimes see as an irritating imposition on their creation.
Well, the most "clean" look, of course, is a blank page.

http://www.meted.ucar.edu/resource/soo/graphics/#LINKS

Fri, 2009-01-16 10:40

#21

It's Me D

Hey this is a silly question but, um, I'm get kinda tired of being classified as a "recent"-rabble-rouser... How long is this supposed to take to wear off? I know it reset with the new Babble and I can no longer view my post count (I don't think?) to check how many posts I've made since the relaunch but its certainly been more than a few... I notice some other posters have "graduated" but many regular posters still seem to be stuck in the "recent" category? So could someone tell me a) if it is possible to track the number of posts you make anymore? b) what the target number of posts for graduating from "recent" is? or better yet, c) if Michelle or another mod can adjust this setting for those of us who are hardly recent anymore? I know some posters who've been here far longer than me are also stuck as "recent" members...

Thu, 2009-01-22 08:34

#22

It's Me D

Well I better just accept it, no matter how much I participate, I'll always just be a "recent-rabble-rouser" in the eyes of babble I suppose

Thu, 2009-01-29 15:08

#23

Peter3

I'm curious what this means as well. If it's going to be on the header, an explanation of what it means would be nice.

Sat, 2009-01-31 10:04

#24

Michelle

I hate the recent rabble rouser tag too. It's kind of ridiculous. But here's why - this new software apparently doesn't count your POSTS. It counts the number of FIRST posts, so new threads that you post. And I think you become just a plain old rabble-rouser after you've posted 30 or something like that.

It's annoying, but not at the top of our list of priorities to fix right now, considering that we still don't even have visible links.

contrarianna, I totally agree with you re: links. It's ridiculous to have to manually underline them ourselves - especially when everyone except moderators have to actually type in the underline tags in order to do it!

Apparently the new version of the editor is coming soon. I know, I know. I keep saying that. But that's what I'm hearing.

Sat, 2009-01-31 10:37

#25

Unionist

People shouldn't underline links (IMHO). They should colour them red, which is the old and new standard for babble.

[url=http://www.unionbook.org/][color=red]Here is an example of a link pointing to "Unionbook", a social networking site for trade unionists.[/color][/url]

And here is how it was coded (inserting spaces to make the coding visible):

[ url=http: //www.unionbook.org/][ color=red]Here is an example of a link pointing to "Unionbook", a social networking site for trade unionists.[/ color][/ url]

Sat, 2009-01-31 10:46

#26

Refuge

Test to see if you can use a [color=red] Link to an Aricle [/color] using just the colour html with the babble link feature

Sigh, that is a no, you need the full coding.

Sat, 2009-01-31 20:11

#27

Peter3

So you become a bona fide rabble rouser by proliferating threads; it's a bonus for being annoying.

Cool.

It sort of gives the whole 'rabble-rouser' thing some street cred.

Sat, 2009-01-31 22:09

#28

Michelle

TELL ME ABOUT IT. Sigh. :)

I've asked the tech folks to add a new thing to the list - just making everyone except the moderators "rabble-rousers" and the moderators "Moderator".

Tue, 2009-02-03 12:37

#29

Michelle

Yes, it's very annoying. Usually it happens when people cut and paste text without using that clipboard icon in the formatting thing.

I have no idea why it does that, but apparently the new editor (which is coming any day now, apparently) will take care of this and other issues.

The cure right now is that if you're cutting and pasting, then use this icon:

Wed, 2009-02-04 21:48

#30

triciamarie

BTW how the hell long do I have to be a recent-rabble-rouser???!

ETA: Sorry, never mind... (I read the thread.)

Tue, 2009-03-17 10:45

#31

triciamarie

Just out of curiousity, how is it that posts are sometimes anticipated on the hotlink on rabble before they show up on TAT or in the actual thread? Last night I noticed this with Boom Boom's post in the Chrysler mugging thread in Labour and Consumption. And now I have been waiting for over ten minutes to see martin dufresne's response in the apostasy thread in Body and Soul.

Ghost in the machine...

Tue, 2009-03-17 10:55

#32

Michelle

Actually, the name beside threads in the hotlinks to babble on rabble's front page are the second posters to the thread (or the first "commenter"). Apparently it's really hard to change that to the last person who posted in the thread with this software.

I've asked them to just take the name out altogether since we can't get the last poster to the thread as the name next to the thread, but it's further down the priority list to change that.

Tue, 2009-03-17 15:47

#33

triciamarie

Ah.

Boom Boom, you deked me out there!

Tue, 2009-03-17 15:55

#34

Unionist

Michelle wrote:

I've asked them to just take the name out altogether since we can't get the last poster to the thread as the name next to the thread, but it's further down the priority list to change that.

Putting the opening poster's name would make much more sense to my feeble brain - can't they do that as easily as the second poster's? Neither one changes, after all...

Fri, 2009-04-24 00:39

#35

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

Can we request or change our username? I'd like to change to EvolutionPlease. Thanks for the self-help Unionist. It's a better attitude but can I switch back and forth?

Mon, 2009-05-25 10:21

#36

Peter3

I'm trying to get my head around the editor and am wondering about a couple of things. How does the permalink feature work? Can it be used to fix the sequence of an entry if I discover a typo aned want to edit the entry without changing its sequence in the thread? Can anybody suggest a useful resource for this kind of stuff?

Mon, 2009-05-25 10:38

#37

Unionist

RevolutionPlease wrote:

Can we request or change our username? I'd like to change to EvolutionPlease. Thanks for the self-help Unionist. It's a better attitude but can I switch back and forth?

Always happy to be of surface!

Mon, 2009-05-25 10:39

#38

Unionist

What about the mysterious variable line spacing in posts? Sometimes it looks like a half-space between lines, for no discernible reason. You've all noticed this I'm sure - I tested it in both Firefox and IE, same problem.

Here is an [url=http://rabble.ca/comment/981540/MartinThis-event-has-happen][color=red]e... chosen at random[/color][/url].

This really makes the page look amateurish.

Any explanation - or better yet, any cure?

Mon, 2009-05-25 10:42

#39

Unionist

Peter3, I just did an experiment. I edited my post #36 directly, and I edited my post #28 via permalink. Both ended up with a new date (today's), but the sequence within the thread remained the same.

The only use I know for the "permalink" is the ability to link back to a specific post within a thread. That was possible in the old Babble as well, but you had to splice in the post number into the url. If there's another use to the permalink, I can't imagine what it might be.

There is no "useful resource for this kind of stuff", other than posting questions and tips here, as you have done.

Mon, 2009-05-25 11:22

#40

Peter3

Unionist wrote:

Peter3, I just did an experiment. I edited my post #36 directly, and I edited my post #28 via permalink. Both ended up with a new date (today's), but the sequence within the thread remained the same.

The only use I know for the "permalink" is the ability to link back to a specific post within a thread. That was possible in the old Babble as well, but you had to splice in the post number into the url. If there's another use to the permalink, I can't imagine what it might be.

There is no "useful resource for this kind of stuff", other than posting questions and tips here, as you have done.

Thanks. I'll try it and see what happens. Last time out (a while ago, I confess) I ended up with the revised copy below comments responding to it.

Sat, 2021-11-27 16:50

#41

jfb

.

Tue, 2009-09-01 00:07

#42

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

janfromthebruce wrote:

I have a question - I have a old tag line I want to get rid of but do not know how. It comes up at the end of all my posts.

HOW DO I REMOVE IT OR CHANGE IT?

It seems that when the pimply-faced IT geniuses at rabble killed the tag line function they managed to grandfather the existing ones, so that they remain forever and can never be changed or deleted. I have to delete mine every time I post a reply.

Tue, 2009-09-01 00:15

#43

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Unionist wrote:

The only use I know for the "permalink" is the ability to link back to a specific post within a thread.

I hardly ever use the permalink to link to a specific post. I prefer to use the link embedded in the post number beside it, which takes you to the specific post, but keeps the context of the whole thread as well. Try it.

Tue, 2009-09-01 00:35

#44

Unionist

Brilliant! Thanks for that.

Tue, 2009-09-01 00:41

#45

martin dufresne

If any of you is under the impression that he has explained the "Permalink" feature in any comprehensible manner, let he be forever disabused. This thread ought to be renamed "Questions and haphazard, elliptical answers..."

Sat, 2021-11-27 16:51

#46

jfb

.

Sat, 2021-11-27 16:51

#47

jfb

.

Tue, 2009-09-01 11:51

#48

N.Beltov

I want to present some information in the form of a table and I want the columns to line up. Can this be done? Thx.

Tue, 2009-09-01 13:06

#49

N.Beltov

ahem. Anyone?

Edited to add: OK, I've figured that if I create a table in MS Excel (or Open Office), highlight the cells I want, press the shift key down and click on the edit button, I can save a bitmap that can be pasted into something like Windows Paint and then saved as a .jpg file.

Then I can paste a table onto babble as an image.

Tue, 2009-09-01 13:25

#50

Unionist

But first you'd have to upload it somewhere (like photobucket or wherever) and link to it, right?

Easier than the Paint thing is simply to select it in Excel (or Open Office Spreadsheet, which is what I use) and print to PDF (using any number of free drivers...). But you'd still need to upload it somewhere. I have no idea if you can create a table, line it up, and simply paste it here. Doubt that that would be easy.

Tue, 2009-09-01 13:31

#51

N.Beltov

You're right ... I have to upload it. But the rest is done.

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