Posting Restrictions

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Ron AKA Posted: Mon, Dec 22 2008 9:34 PM

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Earlier it was not even possible to access this forum. Now we can make posts here, but it seems you cannot make responses to the posts. Further I found you cannot even edit the posts you make...

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Eric replied on Tue, Dec 23 2008 9:58 AM

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Ron -

You should be all set now.

~Eric

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Ron AKA replied on Tue, Dec 23 2008 10:22 AM

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I see I can now post a response, but it does not let me edit my own post...

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DavidGeorge replied on Tue, Dec 23 2008 10:41 AM

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I'm beginning to find this new board system more than a little discouraging.  Not only is it very counter-intuitive and confusing in its presentation of the most used features but it includes lots and lots of features which are not documented in any useful way.

Early in the game I asked what the "OpenID" feature in the setup (where it asks for an html link) was all about and I never got any sort of answer from either the Help screens or from the admins.

Lately, I've seen references to how the "Healthy Recipe" group has so many postings that it's necessary to use the "Tags" feature if one wants to find anything.  Now I'm a member of that group and I haven't been able to find ANY postings, nor have I any idea about how I would go about co-ordinating my "Tags" with anybody elses.

Has anybody tried to use the "Conversations" feature?  I tried using it to tell the admins about a mis-spelling and to ask about the "OpenID" feature, and to ask for details about the operations of the "RSS" feed feature.  No response to any of those questions but I see they are still sitting there waiting for somebody to notice them.

In my humble opinion we ought to go back to the old BBS system.

--

David George (Murphy)

former Corporate Manager of Computer Platform Development

for McGraw-Hill Corporation and author of various computer email and bbs systems.

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Spirit replied on Tue, Dec 23 2008 10:41 AM

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Plus I couldn't post (got a just a couple of days ago that access was denied) and then (again!) that the moderator would have to vet the post.  Never saw that one again.  Kinda frustrating.  I will look to see if this post appears.  And not in my email box! 

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Eric replied on Tue, Dec 23 2008 12:04 PM

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David,

Let me see if I can help you here. To start, what is OpenID? OpenId is a way you can use one sign on across multiple websites. This discussion board supports the OpenID service. For more information please see OpenID.net.

Next, The Healthy Recipe group. A search of the discussion boards would turn up the answer you are looking for. I am linking to the post where I explained the Group vs. the Meal Planning message board here.

Tagging and searching - I disagree that tags need to be used to find anything because there are so many postings. In fact, there are very few posts currently on this discussion board. there is a search box at the top of the page, to the left of your username. Typing in your search criteria in there will search the forums and is how I found the link above. About tagging - tagging is a way to add keywords to a post. So, if your post is about insulin and you tag it with the keyword insulin, it will show up in the tag cloud. The more people use the same tag the bigger and bolder that keyword will become. It's a way to see what topics are being discussed and is also a feature you will begin to see, if you haven't already, across other discussion boards and blogs. Its a neat feature when you get used to it. I posted about tagging here.

Conversations - These do work, but the admin account here is not really used. If you have a question or suggestion for the discussion boards it is best to post in the feedback forum. The conversations are for private threads with your firends.

Lastly, you mentioned the RSS feed. This is a feature you probably see on many many websites. These feeds allow you to use an RSS reader to read your posts. Many news sites have RSS feeds for the top news of the day and many of the igoogle widgets are based on RSS. In our case each thread has it's own RSS feed. You can subscribe to these feeds with your favorite RSS reader to read any posts in that thread.

If you need more info on the OpenID, tagging or RSS I suggest you google the topics. There is a wealth of information available.

~Eric

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DavidGeorge replied on Tue, Dec 23 2008 1:52 PM

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Eric,

Thanks very much for your reply and for the new information it brought to me.

I will research OpenID by going to their web site as you suggest.  This is the first time I've ever heard of it.  If the "Groups" aren't yet implemented and active I wish they weren't along for the ride.  They confuse the issue.  I don't understand how the Healthy Recipe group and the Meal Planning message board relate to one another.  Would they in any way complement one another or would they just divide our attention?  I suppose it won't matter until the Groups are able to be used...

I can't find the post where I read that business about the tags being necessary because of the large number of postings but I'll keep looking.  When I followed your "here" link I found another link that reads "See all tags in the site"  It is useful and informative to be able to see the existing tags because knowing which tags are being used would allow us to co-ordinate our efforts. I just finally realized that the button at the bottom of the composition screen that reads "Select Tags..." opens a window with existing tags rather than either requiring or allowing me to select from whatever tags I might have entered in the text box.  Not clear, and very counter-intuitive.

If the admin account in "Conversations" isn't really used why was the admin listed as my only friend when I registered? In the future I will post to the feedback forum but the "Conversations" thing is a really confusing red herring...

I know about what RSS feeds are and have indeed seen them on many websites.  Nevertheless, I would like some explanation and/or instructions before initiating a subscription to the RSS feeds, as I suspect will many or most of the other bbs users.

Again, thanks for the information.  I wish there were more of it available by clicking on the "Help" button...