Glitches . . .

[lookin]

Since the Great Malware Invasion of 2012, the following glitches seem to have been left behind:

1. If you click on the 'View New Content' button, every poster's name shows up as 'Array'. At first, I thought we had a prolific new poster, until I found even my own screen name morphing to 'Array' as soon as I selected 'View New Content'.

2. Formatting codes seem to be busted. I can change the font, I can change the font size, I can change the font color, and I can center images and fonts, but I can no longer do them all at the same time. If I get the text looking just like I want it to, and then try to center it underneath the image, one or more lines will revert back to the standard small black Verdana font and the image and/or text will no longer be centered. This happens whether I use the convenient formatting tools or manually enter HTML codes.

I'm not sure if these glitches are a result of the malware, or the attempts to clean it out, or something else. But I can say that they weren't there before the Invision invasion, and they are now.

Mac, Safari browser version 5.1.7.

[Lucky]

Lookin, please stop stirring the shit here! Can you just not accept things the way they are? Does the software have to be realigned to cater to your wishes? Go along to get along is the better way. heehee

[TotallyOz]

I'm not sure if these glitches are a result of the malware, or the attempts to clean it out, or something else. But I can say that they weren't there before the Invision invasion, and they are now.

Well, I am sure they are an attempt to clamp down on the server and make sure it is secure. We always had a secure environment and never any issues. These issues recently were because of the Invision Software for the forums and I told the programmers to make all changes needed in it to make it as "spam" proof as the rest of the site which we designed. It is not easy to do this with someone else code, but we are trying and it may cause of issues. When it does, tell us and we will put in a request to check it out. Thank you for your patience.

[lookin]

Believe me, I have the patience of Job and I'm not getting sore or anything. I just figured this would be a convenient thread to list anything I notice that's possibly related to the recent manifestation of malware.

It seems the centering button is grayed out on the Format palette. Nor will the HTML code for centering work. I think this corrected itself briefly over the past few days, as I was able to center a photo or two. So it seems intermittent. I guess as the programmers thrash the code over the next few weeks, such aberrations may come and go. I know I will.

(Just discovered that the centering function availability may be limited by image type. It seems to be there for .jpg images, but not for .gif images. I think it used to be available for both.)

The 'Array' poster is still with us in the View New Content screen. A poster's avatar will show up if s/he has one, but all posters now have the name 'Array'. An array of what is not made clear.

When browsing posts in the Forums, user names show up correctly. It's just the New Content view that seems to be affected.

This has made me wonder if I am the only one who uses the 'View New Content' button. I discovered it only recently and it's the quickest way for me to read the Board and make sure I'm not missing anything.

Do others use it as well? Or plod through each Forum? Or perhaps read selected Forums? Or maybe just wait to read about it in the funny papers?

[RA1]

I have two questions about glitches:

1. I am continuously logged in even though I log out every time I leave.

2. At least 75% of the time when I try to post (to include this time) it takes 2 or more tries before the post "takes".

Best regards,

RA1

[TotallyOz]

I have two questions about glitches:

1. I am continuously logged in even though I log out every time I leave.

2. At least 75% of the time when I try to post (to include this time) it takes 2 or more tries before the post "takes".

Best regards,

RA1

1. I can't replicate the first issue as I am logged out after every time I click log out. Are you logging out of forum (forum page) or the top log out? What browser are you using?

2. This has been happening to me as well and I am not sure the reason and have put in a bug to the Invision support. However, if you submit post and then refresh, it has been taking for me each time.

[Guest EXPAT]

I have had no issue posting anything. It happens for me instantly either on my iMac, MacBook or iPhone.

[lookin]

So glad to see all of you down here, one small step above the Sandbox.

For anyone who gives a shit, I still can't get the formatting codes to work right. It's been weeks since I've been able to center a picture, and don't think it isn't cramping my style.

And it seems that all posters are still named 'Array' in the 'View New Content' format. Avatars show up for the posters who have one, but no poster names, other than 'Array'.

And that leads me back to an earlier question about how you good folks read the Forums:

This has made me wonder if I am the only one who uses the 'View New Content' button. I discovered it only recently and it's the quickest way for me to read the Board and make sure I'm not missing anything.

Do others use it as well? Or plod through each Forum? Or perhaps read selected Forums? Or maybe just wait to read about it in the funny papers?

Especially now that there are so many posts, I can either flush them to the top by viewing new content, or I can skim through forum-by-forum and thread-by-thread hoping not to miss any of the gems. Does anyone else use the 'View New Content' button? If not, how do you make sure you see all the good stuff without spending several hours a day?

And for those who do spend several hours a day reading all the posts, do you find you have to give up any other important daily activities in order to find the time?

[AdamSmith]

I love the View New Content button. On my phone in the list of recent places visited, there's a link directly to that category.

And I find I can carry out most of my daily activities without even tearing my eyes away from here.

[RA1]

1. I can't replicate the first issue as I am logged out after every time I click log out. Are you logging out of forum (forum page) or the top log out? What browser are you using?

2. This has been happening to me as well and I am not sure the reason and have put in a bug to the Invision support. However, if you submit post and then refresh, it has been taking for me each time.

I log out on the line that says sign out and is right next to my name and next to notifications and next to messenger. I log out each time I leave.

I am using IE, version 8 I think.

Best regards,

RA1

[RA1]

lookin'-

I read most of the posts every day which does not take very long. What might take a while is posting.

Best regards,

RA1

[MsGuy]

And that leads me back to an earlier question about how you good folks read the Forums:

I tend to plod through selective fora and selective threads.

I've been eyeing the "View New Content" button for quite a while now but that would require a change in my habits and you all know how I feel about change.

Well, I did make a change in the order in which I read my daily newspaper comic strips a few weeks ago (swapped one comic's place-order from last to 4th and added a new strip 2nd to last), so maybe there's hope for me yet!

Still that took a couple of weeks of contemplation before I tried it out & I had a compelling reason to make the change. You can't be too careful about this change stuff lest things get out of hand.

[AdamSmith]

You and David Souter. When he was nominated to the Court, PBS I think did a bio documentary on him. Some former law partners were interviewed; one, recalling Souter's (supposed) conservatism, said they had chosen as Souter's motto something first uttered by the Earl of Cambridge:

"Any Change, of any Kind, in any Thing, is to be Deplored."

[lookin]

I tend to plod through selective fora and selective threads.

Thanks. I do that over at Daddy's but here I try to read everything. I like to read all your posts, which can show up almost anywhere, and Lucky, when he's in town, is all over like a rash. And now that there are sixteen forums (!), peckering through them piecemeal for new posts would leave me clicking like a cheap pair of dentures.

So the 'New Content' button seems to be my only option for now.

Well, I did make a change in the order in which I read my daily newspaper comic strips a few weeks ago . . .

I knew we were separated at birth! What made you change, if you don't mind my asking? When I was a kid, I always read from my least favorite to my most favorite. Sometimes a strip would head downhill, so it would get read earlier. It would take a long time until it got dropped from the list altogether. But I always ended with Peanuts in the Inquirer and Li'l Abner in the Bulletin.

Also, just noticed that the formatting tools seem to be working again! One glitch down and one to go!

[RA1]

I just read the comic strips as the good Lord intended, left to right and top to bottom. And, they are the last thing I read in the paper. After reading the so called news and then the editorials and op-ed pieces and finally the letters to the editor, I am in need of some comic relief. In other words I wish to leave the "news delivery outlet" with a good attitude.

Best regards,

RA1

[lookin]

Also, just noticed that the formatting tools seem to be working again! One glitch down and one to go!

Well, I take it back. Just finished a post with everything looking just the way I wanted in 'Preview', made one small edit to the text, and all the formatting blew up. Centering no longer available, except for one line, and extra carriage returns inserted between all lines of text. If I tried to remove them manually, I lost font color in most lines. Tried fixing that, and lost centering entirely.

And, as the 'Array' name is still with us in the 'New Content' view, it seems the recent bout with malware has left behind some fairly intractable collateral damage.

I'll check back in a week or so and see if the programmers have managed to bandage the software's 'skin'.

Without doing anything rash of course.

[MsGuy]

I knew we were separated at birth! What made you change, if you don't mind my asking? When I was a kid, I always read from my least favorite to my most favorite. Sometimes a strip would head downhill, so it would get read earlier. It would take a long time until it got dropped from the list altogether. But I always ended with Peanuts in the Inquirer and Li'l Abner in the Bulletin.

As we have no metro papers delivered in my hometown anymore, I get my funnies fix online from the Washington Post. I read three of the four featured strips (but not in the order presented), then skip to the bottom of the list and read in reverse alphabetical order the stips on my reading list.

For some reason, the Post forced me to sit through a 60 second commercial when I clicked on my last strip. Now I don't mind the 15 second commercial that pops up before the third comix but waiting out 60 seconds when I only have one more strip to finish was making me crazy. I got to wondering if I could dodge the commercial if I moved the order in which I viewed the strip.

Now that seemed a totally absurd possibility to me but in the spirit of my method of learning how to do stuff on the net (try out everything that pops in my head until somehow something makes the damned thing do what I want it to do), I switched the order I clicked on it and presto, no more commercial (why didn't it pop up on the new last strip?? I was clicking on the exact same number of strips.).

Unfortunately that left me with a set of three strips that were often duds to finish up with, so I poked around the neglected comix until I found one to add next to last that usually satisfied. Win/ win!

I am sorely tempted now to drop the 3rd to last strip as a hopeless dud (I only included it as a kind of filler in the first place), but that would be just too much change for the nonce.

LOL, too much information?

[MsGuy]

I just read the comic strips as the good Lord intended, left to right and top to bottom. And, they are the last thing I read in the paper.

Well, unless I'm looking at Japanese manga, I also read from left to right. But I always read the funny pages first, probably because that's how I started back when I was in the 1st grade.

And similarly to lookin, I read the Sunday comix pages from back to front because my two favorites were on the front page and I wanted to save them for last. Come to think of it, that's probably why I currently read the Post comixs in reverse order online.

LOL, old behaviorial traits rarely die a clean death, even when their reasons for coming into existance are long gone. They just morph a bit to fit new circumstances.

[RA1]

Do you also go to the last page of a book and read it first?

Best regards,

RA1

[MsGuy]

Do you also go to the last page of a book and read it first?

OK, now you're just being difficult.

but the answer is yes, if it's manga.

[AdamSmith]

In fact I read books from the inside out.

Somehow authors find beginnings so tedious. So do I. In bookstores I flop a book open to the middle to see if I like it. Then at home I keep reading that way, then go back and start it once I've finished it.

This is the case with what little fiction I read as well as all the history & biography. Makes it easier to "throw the nerves in patterns on a screen."

Goes to show what comes of having long ago adjusted to finding lyric poetry the thing really worth the trouble of trying to read.

[RA1]

I agree that the beginnings of books, especially with an author new to oneself, can be tedious but, if they grab you right away, very likely you are in for a real treat and one continuous reading session.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

That is true about the rare 'grab.' That happened I recall with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which I read straight through in one sitting. Likewise Naked Lunch.

What a thing, when it strikes.

[RA1]

For whatever it is worth, now, when I sign out I seem to stay signed out. In other words, seemingly the site software is working as advertised on this aspect anyway.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

Another thing that has gotten fixed: For several days now the reply-with-quote function has been working correctly in the mobile version of the site.

Array!