Introducing the PF Library

[cristo]

hoot may have them turned off: "electric units" v. electric units

 

[Hootenanny]

hoot may have them turned off: "electric units" v. electric units

I don't have them turned off, the auto link feature worked for me initially, but now the links are not showing:

electric units

 

[cristo]

I'm going to multi-post, but there's a valid reason.

This post, where the word is at the end and not on a new line invokes an autolink: electric units

 

[cristo]

This one, where the word is on a new line, doesn't

electric units

 

[cristo]

And this post, which was Hoot's above

No, perhaps it has something to do with the quotation marks:

"electric units" vs. electric units

Doesn't work if there is text in a new paragraph after the word.This is weird!

 

[Kurdt]

If I type electric units in the middle of a sentence will it work?

 

[Defennder]

Yes it does.

 

[G01]

I was having trouble with two auto-links in one post in a separate thread. Seemed I could only have one per post or something. I wonder if they'll work here:

I enjoy the SI electric units .
I also think that electric field s are cool.

EDIT: See, now I can't get any auto-links on my posts. What am I doing wrong?Edit by cristo: Can't have punctuation or letters after the autolinked word.

 

[tiny-tim]

… I like this game … !

This new game is great!

Perhaps it should be moved to "Brain Teasers"?

I guess it's a physical application of the "watched-pot" syndrome …

the autolinking will only work if the poster isn't expecting it to! ​

I think technically this is known as "Watts' uncertainty principle" … the auto-entanglement of two space-like separated words can be disturbed if someone thinks about reading one of them before he could have read the other. ​

 

[tiny-tim]

Autolinking is only working occasionally.

What is the point of contributing entries if nobody knows they are there?

Testing (this is the physics content list) :

Apoapsis
black hole radii
capacitor
centrifugal force
centripetal acceleration
Coriolis force
edge of the universe
elastic collision
electric displacement field
electric field
electric units
expansion postulate
field (physics)
First Law of Thermodynamics
free charge
free-body diagram
friction
Friedmann Equation
inelastic collision
inelastic collision (relativistic) (M)
inertial observer
Isodiasphere
Isotone
Kepler's Laws
Kirchhoff's rules
kirchoff
Lagrange point
Library FAQs
List of Quantum Mechanical Operators
Lorentz gauge
Lorentz Transformation
Maxwell's equations
moment of inertia
moments
momentum (non-relativistic)
Newton's second law
orbital eccentricity
Periapsis
Photoelectric Effect
Physics Forums Gurus
Physics Forums History
Physics Forums Medals
pressure
Radioactive Decay
reaction force
rotating frame
Second Law of Thermodynamics
SelfAdjoint
Sidereal
susceptibility
Synodic
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Trojan Object
twin paradox
uncertainty principle
vector triangle
wave function
Waves on a String
work done
zeroth law of thermodynamics

EDIT: 60 autolinks should have appeared, but none did.

 

[Astronuc]

Test of auto-linking - pressure

The above works as a single line, but if I add text like this line, auto-linking is disabled.

 

[Astronuc]

Test - vector triangle - uncertainty principle .

Hmmm. If punctuation follows a library entry, the auto-linker does not recognize it.

 

[Gokul43201]

Autolinking is only working occasionally.

What is the point of contributing entries if nobody knows they are there?

Testing (this is the physics content list) :

Apoapsis
black hole radii
capacitor
centrifugal force
centripetal acceleration
Coriolis force
edge of the universe
elastic collision
electric displacement field
electric field
electric units
expansion postulate
field (physics)
First Law of Thermodynamics
free charge
free-body diagram
friction
Friedmann Equation
inelastic collision
inelastic collision (relativistic) (M)
inertial observer
Isodiasphere
Isotone
Kepler's Laws
Kirchhoff's rules
kirchoff
Lagrange point
Library FAQs
List of Quantum Mechanical Operators
Lorentz gauge
Lorentz Transformation
Maxwell's equations
moment of inertia
moments
momentum (non-relativistic)
Newton's second law
orbital eccentricity
Periapsis
Photoelectric Effect
Physics Forums Gurus
Physics Forums History
Physics Forums Medals
pressure
Radioactive Decay
reaction force
rotating frame
Second Law of Thermodynamics
SelfAdjoint
Sidereal
susceptibility
Synodic
Third Law of Thermodynamics
Trojan Object
twin paradox
uncertainty principle
vector triangle
wave function
Waves on a String
work done
zeroth law of thermodynamics

EDIT: 60 autolinks should have appeared, but none did.

Wow, this is bizarre! And 0 of 60 is hardly "occasionally"! I can't imagine you've possibly disabled autolinks in your posts.

As a test, can you copy (or quote and remove the quote tags from) Astronuc's last post? Let's see if the autolinks show up.

 

[tiny-tim]

Wow, this is bizarre! And 0 of 60 is hardly "occasionally"! I can't imagine you've possibly disabled autolinks in your posts.

As a test, can you copy (or quote and remove the quote tags from) Astronuc's last post? Let's see if the autolinks show up.

Hi Gokul!

And it's not only in my posts … I keep seeing other people's posts without autolinking.

Anyway, here goes:

Test - vector triangle - uncertainty principle .

Hmmm. If punctuation follows a library entry, the auto-linker does not recognize it.

EDIT: well, the autolinking did work.

Let's try:

pressure
Radioactive Decay
reaction force
rotating frame
Second Law of Thermodynamics
SelfAdjoint

And now:

Test - pressure - reaction force

And:

Test
pressure
reaction force

(hmm … reaction force 5 lines up got autolinked before I put the next 4 lines in)

(ooh … it got autolinked in the last line … I wonder if I get can get rid of that by adding:)

Test
pressure
reaction force

 

[Gokul43201]

Looks like it's the end of line marker <br />, that is behaving as "punctuation" following the word, and preventing autolinks when you hit the return key after a library term. That makes it a bug, not a feature.

PS: Take a look at the page source, if I wasn't terribly clear.

 

[cristo]

Looks like it's the end of line marker <br />, that is behaving as "punctuation" following the word, and preventing autolinks when you hit the return key after a library term. That makes it a bug, not a feature.

PS: Take a look at the page source, if I wasn't terribly clear.

That makes the most sense: good spot Gokul! Hopefully Greg can sort this...

 

[Astronuc]

Looks like it's the end of line marker <br />, that is behaving as "punctuation" following the word, and preventing autolinks when you hit the return key after a library term. That makes it a bug, not a feature.

PS: Take a look at the page source, if I wasn't terribly clear.

Yes, if I put a space before carriage return, autolinking works.

pressure
pressure

The second pressure has a space before and after the <br > < br />, so the html code affects the auto-linking.

 

[Astronuc]

Autolinking is only working occasionally.

What is the point of contributing entries if nobody knows they are there?

Testing (this is the physics content list) :

Apoapsis
black hole radii
capacitor
centrifugal force
centripetal acceleration
Coriolis force
edge of the universe
elastic collision
electric displacement field
electric field
electric units
expansion postulate
field (physics)
First Law of Thermodynamics

zeroth law of thermodynamics

The autolinks have spaces before and after the phrase/entry.

 

[tiny-tim]

zeroth law of thermodynamics

The autolinks have spaces before and after the phrase/entry.

ah … I think that's the answer …

all the instances of failures that I can find are where the word or phrase is followed immediately by . or ) or , or a line return or ; or a tag

Testing:

pressure. pressure) pressure, pressure

pressure; pressure pressure .

 

[Gokul43201]

Not to forget, pressure

 

[tiny-tim]

autolinking completely off now

Autolinking is completely off now …

at the time of posting, the autolinks previously visible in posts above have vanished.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The last few days we are being hammered with traffic spiking our server load. I've turned off the autolinker temporarily until things settle down.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Autolink is back online

 

[Redbelly98]

When I browse subtopics, it would be nice if my Search choices would remain intact. For example, I select "Physics", then select "Classical Optics", then select "Diffraction". Perhaps I would next like to look at other subtopics under Classical Optics, but I must reselect "Physics" and "Classical Optics" all over again before selecting my next subtopic. If "Physics" and "Classical Optics" stayed as the active selection, I could do this more quickly.

Just thought I'd bring this up again ... it would be nice to have some kind of clickable topic list or way to quickly browse among closely-related subtopics.

Of course if there is some reason why this is difficult/impossible to implement, I'll stop bringing it up.

 

[tiny-tim]

auolinking

If, in a post, you attach a link to a phrase which includes a library title, then the link (and its underlining) expires just before the title, eg …

See this thread: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=127262"

 

[tiny-tim]

"Search this Library"

Would it be possible to have a "Search this Library" tool as in the toolbar above any PF thread, so that we can search for a word or phrase even if it isn't a title?

If a tool isn't possible, could there be a box or link to enable a google site-search, in the form "word site:www.physicsforums.com/library"?

 

[DuncanM]

Nice, Greg!

I have a couple questions. I would like to edit some content, but not submit an entirely new entry. How is this done? Is a PM to you the best way? Still not clear on the process.

For example, consider the "quadratic equation" entry.
I considered submitting an "Add Content" submission to change the title to "Quadratic Equation" (I admit it: I am anal); however, I thought I might end up creating a brand-new entry titled "Quadratic Equation" in addition to the "quadratic equation" entry. I didn't want to do that, so I backed out.

I would have also liked to edit the entry in the "See Also" section. I would like to change "Mathworld" to "MathWorld: Quadratic Equation".

I am also considering submitting a few other links for an editor's consideration for listing in the "See Also" section:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratic_equation"

and/or

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Quadratic_equation"

as well as a link to an online solver:

http://www.akiti.ca/Quad2Deg.html"

Alternately, are simple errors like typos, grammatical errors, duplicate words, etc. handled via the "Report item" link?

 

[Hootenanny]

Nice, Greg!

I have a couple questions. I would like to edit some content, but not submit an entirely new entry. How is this done? Is a PM to you the best way? Still not clear on the process.

Hi Duncan,

Currently, only PF staff (Administrators, Mentors, Homework Helpers and Science Advisers) can edit items, this helps maintain the integrity of the library articles.

The best way to submit editions to library articles is to use the Report Item feature in the library. Your report will then be submitted to the Science Advisor's forum where it will be discussed and any necessary changes made.

 

[tiny-tim]

how to edit?

Hi DuncanM!

Titles have small initial letters because the autolinking facility would irritatingly change "quadratic equation" to "Quadratic Equation" wherever it occurred in a post if the title were in capitals.

(only exception is real names, like "Newton's" or "Hermitian")

For "See Also" suggestions, write a comment … then ordinary members can discuss whether they like it or not.

In fact, if it's in a comment (which accepts links and smilies just like an ordinary post), that's just as good as being in the official "See Also" … so long as it stays on the first page, of course!

I would like to edit some content, but not submit an entirely new entry. How is this done? Is a PM to you the best way?

As Hootenanny says, you can use "Report item". And please submit the actual code (preview it on any thread reply preview page )

Alternately, are simple errors like typos, grammatical errors, duplicate words, etc. handled via the "Report item" link?

For simple errors, (basically anything that doesn't need a discussion), I think "Report item" would be a nuisance … just draw attention to them in "Commentary", or PM any Homework Helper or Science Adviser you think would be interested.

 

[Redbelly98]

Are there any guidelines for what gets posted in the Commentary section of a library entry? Occasionally I see questions that IMHO would better be posted as a thread in the main forums, questions (homework or non HW) that are related to the library entry's subject.

My thinking is that library comments should specifically address that entry, for example: pointing out errors, suggesting or asking for clarification within the entry, or suggesting additions to the entry.

But that's just my opinion, I am unable to find any official PF policy on this.

 

[Kurdt]

Comments shouldn't really be used for asking questions. If you see any more report the item and tell us that it is the comment you want looking at. The mentors can then send a message to the user and tell them to post in the appropriate forum. It might be a good idea to state this explicitly somewhere, perhaps at the start of this thread.

 

[Redbelly98]

Understood, thanks Kurdt.

 

[Cleonis]

Question:
How does the autolinking feature handle cases such as:
- 'momentum' and 'angular momentum'
- 'mechanics' and 'statistical mechanics'

The reason for my question:
Tiny-tim has informed me that the autolinking feature interferes with creating an entry 'inertia' in the PF library. When a PF editor is writing about 'moment of inertia' the autolinking feature will link the entry 'inertia' instead.

This is a general question; the issue does not affect me directly, for in my editing options I have disabled the autolinking for my posts.

Cleonis

 

[Redbelly98]

I have found the library's Image feature to be quite cumbersome. However ...

Normal image-tagging works in the Extended Explanation and Scientists section of a library entry. It does not work in the Definition/Summary or Equations sections. The format for image tagging is [noparse][/noparse][I]url-of-image-to-be-posted[/I] , just as in a normal forum post. This may be preferable to using the designated Image section of the entry, as it allows multiple images to be viewed quickly and simultaneously with the text of the entry.