[nyraghu]

Originally Posted by Nick-H

An FAQ for using the site would be a very good idea!

I'm sure that many of the people who eventually find that link, want to know about IndiaMike, not vBulletin

Actually, the FAQ I suggested was not for using the site, which, as I understand, would deal with things like how to use the search engine, or how to contact people through PMs; these questions are, to some extent, dealt with by the current forum software FAQ. What I meant was a document answering questions which crop up often in individual forums. For instance, some of the FAQs coming up in the trekking forum are like:

How do you take small children on a trek?

What medicines do you carry on a trek?

What accommodation facilities are available in PLACE_NAME?

What are good Web resources for maps?

I guess in other forums also, there are similar FAQs, on topics such as Indian visa issues for foreign nationals. The FAQ I am thinking of would be a compendium of all such forum FAQs, with a section corresponding to each category. (The Usenet physics FAQ, mentioned in my previous posting, is a good example of what I have in mind.) Once such an FAQ is created, people who still post these questions can be just told to RTFM. thus avoiding unnecessary traffic on the forums.

Raghu.

[machadinha]

Yes. The thing is you'd need a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions, to non-geeks) to explain to look for the ff'ing FAQ (As in RTFM = Read The FF'ing Manual, ditto.)

Like many forums we try to do it by stickies (threads "stuck" on top of a forum so they'll always be on top, ditto) when we notice something particularly helpful, but it's the same issue: You can't force people to read them (the idea gets toyed with though )

But yes, more stickies and/or FAQ's is a good idea. I guess it depends on who's willing to compile them, it's a lot of work, as evidenced by some outstanding sticky threads.

I think the existing FAQ covers technical forum usage quite well, but I agree it could deal with do's and don'ts and general netiquette a little more extensively. It's just someone needs to do it; the basics of the latter are also covered in the site's Forum Rules btw. But who reads them?

UseNet (so-called NewsGroups, ditto) has been around for what, 30 years by now btw, hence those extensive FAQ's I guess, often an extension of each other (I have trouble opening this particular one right now).

btw There's arguably a use to leaving some room for stuff to get covered all over again, by way of making new members and visitors feel at home. Yelling at people all the time to do their homework first doesn't make for a very good community atmosphere -- although it's hard to avoid sometimes Anyway it's something that thankfully seems to be kept to a minimum on this forum by all members.

[Nick-H]

We really have tried to address this in certain areas... for instance there is a Visa FAQ which I try to keep up todate.

The India for Beginners Forum should mean that all basic questions can be answered by taking a look at the sticky posts at the top of just a few threads in that forum.

[nyraghu]

Originally Posted by machadinha

Like many forums we try to do it by stickies

Originally Posted by Nick-H

The India for Beginners Forum should mean that all basic questions can be answered by taking a look at the sticky posts at the top of just a few threads in that forum.

Okay, so sticky threads is the way to go. Luddite that I am, almost all my community interactions on the Net occur through mailing lists and the Usenet, so I don't know much about forums. Thanks for the responses.

Raghu.

[machadinha]

Raghu, thanks for your input (and Luddites always welcome ).

I think I know what you mean; my first steps on the web were "text-only" environments (including MOO's even, do those even exist still? I suppose they do in some quarters).

I guess forums, while being mostly text-oriented, offer a third dimension, namely that of site structure. So while not exactly 3-dimensional the logic becomes a little different yes. UseNet and mailing lists (the way the web originated) do indeed have an internal logic of their own.

Anyway, it's always something to ponder. Like we're doing now

[Nick-H]

All this (apart from the photos, of course) could be done in text. It's only boxes, which even the dumbest terminal could do with hyphens and |s and most could even do proper corners.

Maybe one of you Linux users out there might like to try this site in Lynx (is that the Linux text-based browser?) and let us know if it works at all. That would be interesting!

[nyraghu]

Originally Posted by Nick-H

Maybe one of you Linux users out there might like to try this site in Lynx (is that the Linux text-based browser?) and let us know if it works at all. That would be interesting!

Well, you asked for it :-) I use FreeBSD, not Linux, but Lynx is available there too. Most IM pages don't display comprehensibly with Lynx, because much of the page layout appears to be done using tables, and Lynx doesn't do tables properly. Another text-based browser, `w3m', which understands tables, displays IM pages reasonably well on a virtual console; on an `xterm', OTOH, `w3m' displays the IM pages quite well, along with "avatars" next to postings, etc. Similarly with `Emacs-w3m', the Emacs interface to `w3m'.

Raghu.

[Nick-H]

Wow!

What about the stuff that I used to be familiar with in my working days, stuff like Wyse60 (was it?... my memory is dim). Never much used X; so you might be talking about the same kind of stuff....

Hah! I noticed my termcap/terminfo text book on the shelf only yesterday --- and remembered some of the ridiculous stuff I had to do to get an Informix application ribbon menu to display properly, including when selected, on different dumb terminals and windows telnet software. It was difficult and complex, and incomprehensble afterwards

Happy days? Kept me off the street, I suppose

have to admit that I was a vi lover, and ran a mile from the word emacs!

[tacita]

nad, i just noticed that, when not logged in, clicking on "quick links" twice lists "today's posts" (rather than "latest posts", perhaps? no redundancy after logging in. (forgive my redundancy if this issue has already been flagged.)

[Nick-H]

What redundancy?

I'm never not logged in to IM.

[dhans]

Originally Posted by Nick-H

I'm never not logged in to IM.

Correction, with 16000+ posts you've never logged out!

Hans

[Dilliwala]

Originally Posted by dzibead

What happened to the Members list? If it's still here, I can't find it. The other day I wanted to find a post by a certain member (any post) because his signature had a link to a website that I wanted to use. I had to keep searching through various threads till I found one - he doesn't post constantly, but fortunately he posts often enough that it didn't take me all that long before I stumbled on one - but what a pain.

An easy way to find a member and/or their posts is thru the Search function. Click on Search (the drop-down arrow) at the top-right of any page, then click on Advanced Search. On the new page, under Advanced Search Forums, u will see 'Search by User Name' in the right-half of the page. Under that, in the 'User Name' box, type in any member's ID, full or partial (at least the first 3 letters), and it will then show u as many ID's that match, fully or partially. E.g., typing in "nick" (well, everyone picks on him for different stuff, so am I) will show 14 IDs starting with nick, including member no. 4386, if he is the "object of desire" . After that it's fairly simple to find posts by the OOD.

PS. Funny thing though with the above example - typing in "nic" shud reveal all the above 14, plus others with IDs starting with 'nic'. It only shows those where the fourth letter is not 'k'.
nadreg - what gives?

[Dilliwala]

I wud REALLY like to see the addition of a 'Save Draft' function, like with regular email programs. It is a REAL pain after having written 100 words e.g., to have a glitch/fatal error/whatever that will cause your system/browser to shut-down/restart/hang/whatever for any reason under the sun and lose all u typed. Or if u've done something stupid like clicking on 'Submit Reply' while not being connected to the net, or accidentally close the page. Or say I want to write a long(ish)post, and do the rest tomorrow or next week for that matter, even from a net-cafe 300 km away, but do not want to post it as a Part 1 today, and Part 2 tomorrow or next week. In such cases a 'Save Draft' function wud really help.
I realise maybe this is not possible or it wud have been offered already, but I thought it's worth asking. Maybe some kind of add-on software is available which cud allow a member to click 'Save Draft' and it wud save in his/her PM page in a separate folder?

Also, previously the following was possible, if I remember correctly - when reading a particular thread, it was possible to go to the start/first page by clicking on the name of the thread towards the top of the page, at the end of the string announcing the forum, sub-forum, etc. E.g. this thread displays near the top as:
IndiaMike.com » India Travel Forum » Forum Help and Announcements » Forum Changes and Additions
wherein all 'segments' are clickable except the last one which is the same as this thread's name (Forum Changes and Additions). If I'm not mistaken, previously the last 'segment' was clickable too? It is even now if u are in the 'Reply to Topic' mode. Just thought it wud be nice to have it (again?) in the 'regular' mode. I know I can do this by clicking on the '1' in the page number list, but - u know, easier to hit the side of a barn with a stone than the knob on the front-door?
Thanks in advance.

[Nick-H]

The Members List is accessible on the Quick Links drop down from the menu bar.

Yes, it's an extra click away, but I bet you guys don't use it as often as us mods do... and if we don't mind ...

Save as draft? Well, that's for Nadreg to answer, but I wouldn't think so. The server'll get full up of orphan posts that people have forgotten about, and hundreds of copies of the same message where some idiot has decided that 'save as draft' must mean 'post to the forum'. And if you don't believe me, mods see the number of times people post again after seeing a 'your post is being moderated, please be patient' message.

Saving a draft.... copy and paste into notepad and save as a file. OK, I know that doesn't help if you are away from home .

Protecting yourself from vagaries of connections, etc... Save your message to the clipboard... Ctrl-A Ctrl-C.

[Dilliwala]

Save as draft? Well, that's for Nadreg to answer, but I wouldn't think so. The server'll get full up of orphan posts that people have forgotten about, and hundreds of copies of the same message where some idiot has decided that 'save as draft' must mean 'post to the forum'. .

No doubt, but there cud be a time limit by when all drafts get automatically deleted.

Protecting yourself from vagaries of connections, etc... Save your message to the clipboard... Ctrl-A Ctrl-C

Thank you, but I'm not exactly a Luddite. I use this sometimes, but it's not half as convenient as 'Save Draft'. Plus u haven't addressed what happens to this clipboard-save if your system hangs and/or has an UNscheduled shut-down/restart. I'll tell u - it's gone.