Samrc

The SMF forum is an installed script running ON my own website at TCH. Posts can only be made by MEMBERS. The forum is new (January 2007). The shout box is on the right side of the home page and is open to ANYONE that visits the site, for any reason. There is no way to tie it to a member base. (Until January, I never considered having a member list!) I have had it up for years and rarely had problems with spam. I get an email notification when a post is made and I can see what URL they put in. If it is one I do not like I simply remove the post, but have only had to do that a handfull of times. Of course the service allows for banning users and IPS for up to 1000 days at a time if necessary but so far it has not been an issue. Truthfully, I expected more problems with this feature as I have seen many sites with trash in their shout boxes. That's part of the reason I went with a 3rd party service instead of installed script. If it became insecure, I did not want to have my whole site frozen. But my experience with it has been totally positive for years. Guess it depends on the type of site and the kind of visitor (mine are looking for help/assistance) and are not usually bored kids or people looking for free advertising.

I have a shout box on the home page of my TCH hosted site: samisite.com After looking into many available scripts, I chose to NOT use a script/database on my own site to create a shout box. Instead, an iframe pulls in a 3rd party blabber board. For years, I have paid $10 a year to zonkboard.com to host the board. If the form becomes a target for spam, is insecure, draws too many resources, my full site will not go down as nothing on TCH is at risk. The formatting of board perfectly fits the content of the site with full customization. Though there is additional cost in this option, in the long run, it provided a level of insulation from major problems that could not be found by running the same type script on my own site. Less upkeep. Less hassle. More safety. This friendly feature on the home page that invites visitors to say hi is quite popular and yet doesn't add potential threat to the site!

Way to GO!!! So glad you have a vet that knows Guinea Pigs well. It makes all the difference in the world! That and the close special care and notice that you give her. Your quick notice of changes is important. Looking forward to that 7th birthday party!!

SMF forum is a lovely open-source forum that has just been a pleasure to work on. Never tried phpBB so I couldn't tell you how it compares.

Many of the levels require you to LOOP your color. ------- ----- | Like Andy says, keep the blue in the center, LOOP the red all the way around and your colors will not cross. Level 16 is the worst!

http://www.wildstyledesign.com/dots/ Highest I can get to is 8,060 14,465 16,230 so far. Total time waster....It's FAST so watch out!

Thanks!

Congratulations Thomas!!! Nice to see your new addition. She's really cute. Can't wait to hear the name!

Hadn't seen THAT tool....gotta get it.

You can do it! Come on......You CAN do it! Surefire, that's just funny!

Played again tonight and made it to 15!! The only ones I miss on lately are in the 2.8-3.8 range. Just can't get that timing right! Tried to upload image...failed. And my ftp is busy elsewhere so can't throw it to my website....maybe later....

Nah....looked for the off button but never found it. Just got into a good round one time. Haven't gotten past 9 since then.

Oh...didn't mean to stir anything here. I am someone that likes to know HOW to do it manually. I like to tweak code and learn from each project. I customize and tear apart and find that FUN, pure play time when I have time for it. I understand HTML and am learning CSS and PHP. I CAN write web pages from scratch if I must. I don't enjoy that and choose to use tools (HTML editors and generators) to assist me to speed the process. I see Fantastico as such a tool. There are times that having Fantastico do the install for me, set up a database for me, etc is VERY NICE and a time saver. Even when I install that way, I check immediately to make sure I have the most current version and don't take it for granted. I respectfully disagree. It can actually encourage growth. Some people will never TRY to install a script on their own. Too scary. These folks would not have a forum, chat, poll, or other fun feature on their site if it were not for that easy interface. Once they do install they find they must keep up to date and need to stretch their abilities to keep up. With that their confidence goes up and might actually try to put in a form script or something small on their own! Have seen it happen. I am thankful that TCH offers such a tool for everyone, experienced or not.

Just wanted to say how easy it was to install and setup a forum using the Fantastico SMF installation on one of my TCH sites. The forum software was up-to-date and took just minutes to tweak. A week to customize but only minutes to install! Thanks BILL for giving us this goodie!

Many of us that started before the mouse learned keyboard shortcuts and prefer those over the mouse. Keeping the hands on the keyboard and not having to use the mouse for things is often faster. Watching this thread...if someone comes up with a solution I would like it!

Many people with glasses or older eyes are getting newer larger monitors but staying with 800x600 or only goin up to 1024x768 so the font and icons are large enough to read without squinting. Consider that older eyes have different needs than the young ones, and some types of businesses are slower to upgrade equipment than others. Knowing WHO your site is trying to reach, and what your average visitor is like will help you to design your site for them. The one site that I work on is designed at 800x600 because the contractors that use it generally do NOT upgrade hardware until the old stuff physically dies. I still have some people access with 600x400 settings! I won't go that far though...let them get scroll bars!

How close are the usernames/passwords? Are you allowing the lowest grade password (4 digit) instead of boosting it up a notch? Within SMF, you can do a repair on the databases. I would try that. Maybe your indexes have gotten out of sync.

I live in Florida but remember being in weather like that WITH chains on the car. Didn't notice that it said PORTLAND. OOOPS.

Have you recently installed any software? Some software is packaged with adware tag-alongs. You might also check in your ADD/REMOVE software panel for any software that has recently been added to the list (with or without your knowledge). Ex: a popular FTP software that is free comes with adware. If you read the license VERY CLOSELY it mentions the additional benefit of xyz service (I don't remember the name now) and you are agreeing to install that software WITH the FTP software. A client of mine added that software and within 3 weeks it began serving ads. Both the legitimate software and the nasty tag-along showed in the ADD and REMOVE panel. In that particular case AdAware and others did not detect it as adware. But once the tag-along was uninstalled, popups stopped. ALSO...what browser are you using? Are you using an "accelerator" or a NAV Bar from anyone? All CAN cause your problem. Ex: some of the low cost ISP's are low cost because they have adware in their browsers, "feeding you the information you need for better and faster service".

Would HATE to be in one of those vehicles! Frightening to know you have little or no control over it. But why are they driving without chains on at least?

HOLY COW! How did I miss that! Thank you!

When the announcement was made, many servers were listed as already on the new service. Will the other servers be added to the backup system over the next month or two? And should we watch our server threads or this one for the notice they are now included? Two of my accounts is on a server with, another account is on a server without So excited to have all of them on the schedule!!!

If it's really nothing...tell us the other channel so we can listen too.

Just checked it at home....just FINE! Still in USA. (Yes Thomas, my trip to Germany cost far more and took far more time than my detour to the Netherlands!