PF Update to vB3.5 coming soon

[Lisa!]

Well, now I do have a question:

What is that message at the bottom of my signature column below the green light?

Warn: 0 (some boxes)?

That means you've not warned by Mentors yet!

 

[saltydog]

That means you've not warned by Mentors yet!

Hello Lisa . . . oh wait, I forgot the exclamation point. Here's a pretty one for you in LaTex:

$$\text{!}$$

Tried those collard greens yet? But I digress.

That's not helpful. What does a warning mean and why is it "public". Seems to me if the Mentors don't like someone's performance they should take it up personally at least first. That is the appropriate thing to do. Why is it on my signature in particular?

 

[honestrosewater]

I think only you and the staff can see your warnings. I can see mine but can't see yours.

 

[saltydog]

I think only you can see it. I can see mine but can't see yours.

Eh, did that make sense? X's warning is only viewable by X. I just like using this new edit thng.

Well I tell you what Honestrosewater, or HRW I think they call you, that's why an "Update Features" document would be helpful. I could have read it and known what you tell me now.

Why is this even necessary? How many warnings you get? Why do you get a warning? Am I about to get a warning? I mean, sometimes . . . well . . . I say . . . what do you call um' . . . "unique" things in here? Are any of those inappropriate? I'd expect Hurkyl or SelfAdjoint at least to tell me if so.

 

[honestrosewater]

Well I tell you what Honestrosewater, or HRW I think they call you,

Yeah, that's what they call me to my face. Why - what else have you heard?

Why is this even necessary? How many warnings you get? Why do you get a warning? Am I about to get a warning? I mean, sometimes . . . well . . . I say . . . what do you call um' . . . "unique" things in here? Are any of those inappropriate? I'd expect Hurkyl or SelfAdjoint at least to tell me if so.

I like the unique things you say. But they do sound like they mean business:

Disciplinary Action:
If a member violates forum guidelines, he or she may be issued a warning by an administrator or mentor. Warnings range from 2 to 7 "points," depending on the severity of the violation. If a member accrues 15 or more warning points, he or she will be banned from Physics Forums for a period of 21 days. If a member receives any warning after having returned from a temporary ban, that member will then be banned permanently. Obvious, incorrigible spamming or trouble making will be met with a permanent ban.
- [thread]5374[/thread]

 

[hypnagogue]

Well I tell you what Honestrosewater, or HRW I think they call you, that's why an "Update Features" document would be helpful. I could have read it and known what you tell me now.

I'm sure Greg will post something like this soon. Please be patient as the admins are working on getting everything back to full functionality.

Why is this even necessary? How many warnings you get? Why do you get a warning? Am I about to get a warning? I mean, sometimes . . . well . . . I say . . . what do you call um' . . . "unique" things in here? Are any of those inappropriate? I'd expect Hurkyl or SelfAdjoint at least to tell me if so.

Our warning policy is explained in the Physics Forums Guidelines, under the heading "Disciplinary action."

 

[saltydog]

I'm sure Greg will post something like this soon. Please be patient as the admins are working on getting everything back to full functionality.


Our warning policy is explained in the Physics Forums Guidelines, under the heading "Disciplinary action."

Thanks. I'll read it.

And I'm the type of person who usually reads the instruction manual. Like the time me and my son were putting together that wheelbarrow and he was having trouble getting going and I said: "Dawg, what is the first sentence on the first page of the instructions . . . next go to the second sentence . . . next go . . .". Well, you know what I mean.

Wait, I'm noticing more changes to the user-interface . . . what hacker wouldn't want to "go advanced". What's this?

 

[saltydog]

I'm sure Greg will post something like this soon. Please be patient as the admins are working on getting everything back to full functionality.


Our warning policy is explained in the Physics Forums Guidelines, under the heading "Disciplinary action."

Alright, I read it. Thank you. To be fair to me, I do recall "briefly" running through that at some time in the past and my son is very good at putting things together now. He's 20.

 

[Lisa!]

Hello Lisa . . . oh wait, I forgot the exclamation point. Here's a pretty one for you in LaTex:

$$\text{!}$$

Tried those collard greens yet?

You have a very good memory!

 

[Moonbear]

Wait, I'm noticing more changes to the user-interface . . . what hacker wouldn't want to "go advanced". What's this?

That's not new. Feel free to click on things and see what happens. I don't think you can break anything.

Warnings have always been around, now there's just an easily visible bar so folks know how many they've accumulated (the closer to "full" the bar indicates, the closer to getting a vacation from PF). This seems to be the most popular question with the upgrade...I guess it makes folks nervous to see that bar there.

When you "go advanced" that means you're taken to a new screen to type your reply where you'll find the toolbars to help you format your reply...if you haven't memorized all the smiley codes either, you can click on smilies from that screen to insert them too. If you hold your mouse over the different icons, a little pop-up balloon should appear to tell you what each one is for.

The one big change is you can manage attachments from the toolbar instead of scrolling down to the bottom of the screen to do that. That's the button to the right of the white smiley face, and to the left of the undo/redo arrows (I don't know what it's supposed to look like because the icon doesn't display right for me for some reason, but the feature works, so who cares about an icon, right?).

If you edit a reply, you no longer are automatically taken to a new page. Instead, clicking the "edit" button let's you edit right in the window you're already in, which is very convenient if you only needed to fix a typo or something simple. You still have the option to "go advanced" if you need to fix formatting and don't know the codes or tags to use for that.

Any other new features you need explained?

 

[Les Sleeth]

If you edit a reply, you no longer are automatically taken to a new page. Instead, clicking the "edit" button let's you edit right in the window you're already in, which is very convenient if you only needed to fix a typo or something simple. You still have the option to "go advanced" if you need to fix formatting and don't know the codes or tags to use for that.

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

 

[Moonbear]

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

It's not a Mac issue since I use a Mac too. Though, what OS and browser are you using? I just upgraded to Tiger (OS 10.4) before the upgrade, and use Safari, so I don't know if there could be an issue with older versions of Mac OS or other browsers (I used to have really funky problems on OS 10.2 when browsing, and it had nothing to do with the browser I chose since I ran into the same problems with Safari as I did with IE, and every computer I used running 10.2 had that problem...it was the very last update before 10.3 came out that screwed up everything).

Did you already try the more obvious things, like clearing your cache and restarting?

 

[loseyourname]

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

How long are you waiting? You're only able to edit posts for a limited amount of time. If it isn't working at all, I think you'll like the new interface when you do get it working. You can edit as a quick reply now, without having to open up the advanced interface.

 

[Les Sleeth]

How long are you waiting? You're only able to edit posts for a limited amount of time. If it isn't working at all, I think you'll like the new interface when you do get it working. You can edit as a quick reply now, without having to open up the advanced interface.

I am trying to edit within minutes of posting, and I am pretty sure you have 24 hours to edit (at least, that's how long the "Edit" button hangs around on my posts).

I hope it's not my system as Moonbear surmises (it's 9.2.2 for Mac). I don't want to upgrade to system 10 just now because I'm in the middle of a huge writing project using a version of MS Office and other software that are not straightforwardly compatible with system 10.

 

[Moonbear]

I am trying to edit within minutes of posting, and I am pretty sure you have 24 hours to edit (at least, that's how long the "Edit" button hangs around on my posts).

I hope it's not my system as Moonbear surmises (it's 9.2.2 for Mac). I don't want to upgrade to system 10 just now because I'm in the middle of a huge writing project using a version of MS Office and other software that are not straightforwardly compatible with system 10.

Two things:
1) Others have reported trouble with editing (mattmns has another thread here saying he had trouble, and I know he is not using a Mac). So I don't think it's your OS at this point.

2) If you upgrade to OS X, as long as you don't uninstall OS 9.2 in the process (don't reformat your drive, just "upgrade"), you can still use applications that only work in OS 9.2 in what is called the "Classic" environment. In other words, when you open those applications, if they aren't compatible with OS X, they'll open in OS 9 ("Classic"). It's nice, because it means when you first upgrade to OS X, you don't have to spend the money to immediately upgrade ALL of your software.

 

[Les Sleeth]

Two things:
1) Others have reported trouble with editing (mattmns has another thread here saying he had trouble, and I know he is not using a Mac). So I don't think it's your OS at this point.

So what could it be? I just tried to use the font, sizes, colors, etc. boxes on top of the message window and they don't work. I tried the "undo" button and it didn't undo the last word I wrote, it undid thirty minutes of work! GREG help!

2) If you upgrade to OS X, as long as you don't uninstall OS 9.2 in the process (don't reformat your drive, just "upgrade"), you can still use applications that only work in OS 9.2 in what is called the "Classic" environment. In other words, when you open those applications, if they aren't compatible with OS X, they'll open in OS 9 ("Classic"). It's nice, because it means when you first upgrade to OS X, you don't have to spend the money to immediately upgrade ALL of your software.

Yeah, I tried to work that way with the early versions of 10, and found it awkward and slow. Maybe the latest version handles it better. I know I am gradually getting outdated with new software that's being developed for the net.

 

[Lisa!]

So what could it be? I just tried to use the font, sizes, colors, etc. boxes on top of the message window and they don't work. I tried the "undo" button and it didn't undo the last word I wrote, it undid thirty minutes of work! GREG help

I have the same problem, nothing is clickable whenever I want to reply. But luckily I can edit my post.
I don't know what's the problem, we had the same in
http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/index.php , and I even didn't notice that upgrading's happened. I even didn't need to clear cache.

 

[Moonbear]

So what could it be? I just tried to use the font, sizes, colors, etc. boxes on top of the message window and they don't work. I tried the "undo" button and it didn't undo the last word I wrote, it undid thirty minutes of work! GREG help!

I don't know. Since you seem to be having more problems than others with that, maybe it is the OS or browser you're using. It just might not be current enough to be fully compatible anymore.

Yeah, I tried to work that way with the early versions of 10, and found it awkward and slow. Maybe the latest version handles it better. I know I am gradually getting outdated with new software that's being developed for the net.

I haven't needed to use that in a while, so I'm not sure if it's any faster now. I don't remember it being that slow, but maybe I just thought Classic was always slow. Yes, it's always so tough deciding when to update. I'm always in the middle of something I'm deathly afraid to lose or not be able to open again after an upgrade, but at some point, you just have to bite the bullet and do it.

 

[loseyourname]

Hmm . . . I was going to suggest that you use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable copy of your entire hard drive before you update (that way you can be certain that you do not lose anything), but Carbon Copy apparently only runs on 10.2 and higher.

However, Moonbear, in the future, when you run updates, you should use it. You'll need a Mac compatible piece of hardware or a DVD to backup to, though.

 

[Moonbear]

However, Moonbear, in the future, when you run updates, you should use it. You'll need a Mac compatible piece of hardware or a DVD to backup to, though.

Well, that would be the problem. I have neither a DVD writer, nor anything else around these parts that's mac compatible (*grumbles about crummy department server*). Heh heh, the contents of my hard drive wouldn't fit on a DVD anyway. I'm really going to have to start grumbling to our IT folks really soon about getting their servers to talk to macs since I'll soon be generating some massive data files that I'm going to need to get off their servers and onto my computer somehow (I've never been in a university that was so incapable of functioning with multiple platforms before).

 

[Lisa!]

I can't edit my posts at all. I don't know if it's because I work on a Mac or what. Before these changes, I couldn't write in my journal. I didn't have much to say there, so it wasn't a problem, but I don't think I've ever written a perfect post the first time, so not being able to edit is a disaster.

If it was me, I'd never let anyone to edit his posts.

1. People would think more for the first time they want to reply.
2. It's more fun when no one can't edit/delet his posts. You get to see their offensive potst too.

 

[loseyourname]

Well, that would be the problem. I have neither a DVD writer, nor anything else around these parts that's mac compatible (*grumbles about crummy department server*). Heh heh, the contents of my hard drive wouldn't fit on a DVD anyway. I'm really going to have to start grumbling to our IT folks really soon about getting their servers to talk to macs since I'll soon be generating some massive data files that I'm going to need to get off their servers and onto my computer somehow (I've never been in a university that was so incapable of functioning with multiple platforms before).

If you have access to an iPod with enough free space to hold the contents of your hard drive, you can copy to that and your old system will boot from the iPod.

 

[Moonbear]

If you have access to an iPod with enough free space to hold the contents of your hard drive, you can copy to that and your old system will boot from the iPod.

Don't have one of those either. I already have nearly 40 GB on my hard drive! It is backed up, but a little at a time (before I left Cincinnati, I got my paws on a DVD burner and backed up everything work related...anything else is there for convenience and doesn't need backing up...like music files; I can always reload my CDs). Looking into buying a desktop for home, so then that will be an option.