Hints for browsing

check at the bottom of the topic section you are browing to see how far back your topic listing is going -- I don't know what the default is but I noticed some of mine were showing threads for only the last 100 days. Since much of the information regarding exotic locations, etc. is pretty well timeless, and the board has been going for over a year, I suggest you set the choice as 'from the beginning' in threads where this is appropriate. Apparently each section can be set individually, and will 'stick'.

mike

Very useful post -m2-. A lot of information has indeed built up on this board since August last year. As far as I can see it's all still there. I've tried resetting the time period in the past but I think it will only "stick" while people are on a particular topic. Once you move to another topic section the previous topic reverts to the original setting. This isn't a problem though, people can just reset if they want to return to a previous topic.

i need instructions - i need help
and forgive
me if the answer is already in another thread -


for the masala c$c forum
how does one track a topic
which is not india news / religion / politics?

for example:
the 'inauguration'
the 'african' topic etc
i hit 'africa' in search - no do

it must be simple
but like i said
i'm search challenged


thank you
much appreciated



:brishti

Hi Brishti ,

We touched on this in private and so I suspect you have the answer which you seemed to have found yourself now, but anyway:

The Masala Chai and Chat (formerly Off-Topic) forum, including its sub-forums, isn't searchable. It's a side-effect of it not showing up on any search engines I think (nor on the front page; nor being open or even visible to very new members); and hence not being an open invitation to people possibly browsing the web for contentious topics to sign up and stick their noses in & cause a fuss.

It's a drawback, but as far as I've been made to understand there isn't much to do about it.

For "tracking" any topics there as such, you'll just have to subscribe to them I guess. (Under "Thread Tools" button on top of any thread; hit "subscribe" in the menu there.)

[Oh ps to others, the other posts above before Brishti's date to 2002 & so to the site's very begginings (! Hurray! ), I'm not sure they're very pertinent any longer today.]

Useful info; thanks Mach

thanks mach
found what i was looking for by backtracking on all the threads i'd visited in the forum.

subscribe
nay not i
threads clutter
backtrack better



we had touched on this in private eh?
:brishti

Yes; if you automatically subscribe to threads you've contributed to, you should be able to find such threads in either your subscriptions or post history I think (the latter even if you have contributed and don't subscribe to them), perhaps with a little ado. (I think your own post history is in fact the one exception that is searchable to include OT threads. Not sure, it can be a bit of a hassle sometimes to find them back.)

Consider that the alternative of course would be to have no such forum at all, and so no remotely or potentially contentious stuff. Most web forums therefore feature a similar and restricted Off-Topic section to accommodate established members and let them get into each other's hairs if they want, within reason; IndiaMike isn't unique in this, it's a common solution rather.

The drop down menus ...thread tools ect and the search box and quick links down drop down for me when I click them is there any reason why?

Did you mean to write they don't drop down for you?

This would probably be because (in your browser settings, where you could change it) you don't allow for Active Scripting to be carried out. Or at least I know for a fact it is a side-effect of not doing so, those menus require it.

It is in fact safer to not allow it, but it will interfere with many many sites' operation. You could set it to be prompted whenever it's called for (giving you the option to allow it or not), however since it's so commonly used you will get prompted all the time (as on this site alone, every time you open a page that calls for it). So this is really impractical, I just have it on. It does pose a potential, if minor, risk.

What you could do if you're fussy about it is not allow it under your standard settings; then add sites such as these, or wherever you want to allow it, to your "trusted sites" zone or whatever it may be called in various browsers, where security settings will be lower/have been made lower by you. Take good note of what you're doing here though, or how well you trust those sites: They will get other non-standard permissions as well. So I normally reserve this for my ISP's trusted webmail servers and the likes (trusted bank sites; perhaps some web management pages of your own if applicable, etc., and all of them only if they do in fact require it); with vaguer sites, it will open up still other security issues of its own, that could prove far more harmful.

(And again, it's so commonly used you'd need to add a lot of sites there for them to properly work, which for the reasons mentioned you really shouldn't. So not much of a solution then, all in all )

Well ok then thanks for that

Does the "confused" smiley mean you didn't get it? I could try and explain again.

Well I am confused as I cant find how to alter browser settings just to see if that helps.
also if I click on it then move the cursr down a little then left click and holdit, the box does appear so I can type in the box but if I do that wrong it wont work again.

The reason I want to do this is so I can click which threads I want to subscribe to. and I also want to get emails when I get a reply I turned this off when I went holiday so I didnt come home to tons of emails but now I cant seem to get it back on.

Foget that its working now...thanks

Hi Me again...I followed a link from an outside website to here and got this Message


Ali-Monbeam, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1.Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2.If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

Any one know why?

Ali, while trying to find the same article that you are looking for, I got the same message. Maybe it was deleted?

Shame, but I hope not.