Ask a moderator about the forum and the rules

[Rebel Man 431]

Can you Please Change the Topic Description for this therad:

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=65578

Its "Helping with Config.cpp" Can you make it "Need a Config maker" , Thank you.

[shadow 6]

Please send a PM next time. I took care of it this time.

[wex-q 0]

Hi, I'm wondering if vBulletin is CGI or PHP (their site didn't make to much sense, and I'm tired)?

If it is CGI, why are you going to use it for the new forums instead of PHP, which is both safer and faster.

And also, when are the new forums coming?

Just curios

[raedor 8]

Hi, I'm wondering if vBulletin is CGI or PHP (their site didn't make to much sense, and I'm tired)?

If it is CGI, why are you going to use it for the new forums instead of PHP, which is both safer and faster.

And also, when are the new forums coming?

Just curios

It is CGI.

We can't update it, that's BI's job. That's also why we can't say when you'll see the new forums.

[wex-q 0]

Ah ok.

Well, tell them to use PHP, safer and faster. Any good webhost should support later (if not latest) versions of PHP and mySQL.

A joke is that CGI = Can't Go Instantly - which is according to some, a bit correct.

So conclusion -> PHP is faster, safer, and less hogging on resources (depending on optimization).

Upto BI though, but I guess you with the power as a moderator should be able to fwd it to some BI teccie.

Cheers

Edit: And also, a forum installation takes like 5 minutes, and some redesigning should not take longer then a week if you put your back into it.

Wouldn't it be better for the forums to have arrived at the same time as ArmA?

[shinRaiden 0]

Incorrect on several accounts, there's a fundamental misunderstanding on what CGI is. CGI is not a rendering or scripting system like PHP, CGI is merely an interface to processing systems outside of the webhosting system. It defines an API for the web server to pass and receive data with the scripting system.

A CGI processor can be a shell script, perl, python, php, or any number of other systems. You can use it for a wide variety of applications, and is far more extensible than an integrated module such as direct php rendering from the httpd configuration. As a result, the security implications are more immediately critical for implementing CGI projects, but are not necessarily any more complicated than embedded systems, just different.

Vulnerabilities with embedded systems often center on the fact that the multiple layers can make it more difficult to catch malformed data that may not affect one layer, but will another layer. CGI system vulnerabilities target different vectors, in that exploitation may result in comprised system as opposed to data exploits.

Apples and Oranges, to each their own.

[Major Fubar 0]

The BIS guys are pretty switched on with regards to all matters IT - I'm sure if and when we get a forum upgrade, they'll chose intelligently.

[USMC NEEDER 0]

Hi Mods,

I was wondering what the star means in between my PR's and my avatar.

Thanks

[raedor 8]

Hi Mods,

I was wondering what the star means in between my PR's and my avatar.

Thanks

The star stands for how many posts you made. The more posts, the more stars. Dunno about the exact limits, though.

[Major Fubar 0]

It's amazing how often this question comes up:

5 stars = 4000+

4 stars = 1500+

3 stars = 800+

2 stars = 400+

1 star = 0+

0 stars = 0-

[Marinecqc 0]

Hi all,

I would like to know how write something in between your avatar and your name, like Major Fubar's says Back to basics.

Thanks and have a nice day!

[JdB 151]

I would like to know how write something in between your avatar and your name, like Major Fubar's says Back to basics.

That is also something that has been asked before alot. Send a moderator a personal message, requesting he changes it. First observe the moderators in the way they moderate/post on the forum, to see which moderator is more likely to give you a humiliating display name, and avoid PM'ing them. Sometimes the outcome is anything but nice

[Major Fubar 0]

JdB is correct.

[man_in_black_pajamas 0]

i'm new to the forum and just have a few questions

1. when downloading mods I understand that .pbo files go in the addons folder, but I don't understand .rar files or the mirror thing. Also, when you download a new weapon does it come equipped on a certain soldier or does it appear in a weapons box.

2. where should I go as new guy to ask or find the answer to simple questions (like how do you use the seagull, or has anyone made the M2A3 bradley), with so many topics in the forum its a little daunting, and don't want to be asking questions in the wrong places, especially if the question has probably been asked.

Thanks

my name is reference to the movie the Big Lebowski

[Infam0us 10]

Why is it that when anyone types the word "new" it automatically goes red?

[kronzky 5]

1. when downloading mods I understand that .pbo files go in the addons folder, but I don't understand .rar files or the mirror thing. Also, when you download a new weapon does it come equipped on a certain soldier or does it appear in a weapons box.

You should ask this in either the Arma - GENERAL or ArmA - ADDONS & MODS: DISCUSSION forum.

2. where should I go as new guy to ask or find the answer to simple questions (like how do you use the seagull, or has anyone made the M2A3 bradley), with so many topics in the forum its a little daunting, and don't want to be asking questions in the wrong places, especially if the question has probably been asked.

Search for those keywords, and you will most likely find some previous discussions on those topics. This will also give you a good idea of what's an appropriate place to ask specific questions.

When it comes to mission editing and addons, these are the main forums you should look at:

[*]ArmA - ADDONS & MODS: DISCUSSION: Unfinished, and general, addon questions

[*]ArmA - ADDONS & MODS: COMPLETE: Completed addons

[*]ARMA : CONFIGS AND SCRIPTING (addons): Scripting for, and configuring, addons

[*]ARMA - MISSION EDITING & SCRIPTING: Scripting for missions

[raedor 8]

Why is it that when anyone types the word "new" it automatically goes red?

I'm sure you used the "New Posts"-Button? That causes it.

[wex-q 0]

Delete the highlight argument: hl=new;

Quote[/b] ]http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=11;t=57689;hl=new;st=585

if it bothers to much

[echo1 0]

Hey, any ideas why the Pound sign comes up as "£" when I use I post it in a message?

I have seen it in other people's posts at different stages too. Not a major issue, thought I should point it out though.

[Major Fubar 0]

I think it's just a glitch in the Ikonboard software - hopefully will be fixed when the forum upgrades (whenever that might be).

[shadow 6]

Hey, any ideas why the Pound sign comes up as "£" when I use I post  it in a message?

Its the character-set used by this board, in order to show cyrillic letters (CZ-section).

I looked into it once but didnt find a more suitable character-set.

[Major Fubar 0]

A humble request to members: please remember to search and check stickies before posting new threads.

This seems to be especially true of hardware/software type threads lately. Instead of posting a new topic, please check exisitng topics to see if your question or comment has already been posted, and if it hasn't, add it to the existing topic.

Too many people lately seem to think that their topics are "too important" to go into an existing thread. This is simply not the case. Your question or comment is no more (or less) important than the ones that already exist in those threads.

The excuse "But the thread is too long!" is really no excuse at all. One large thread is infinitely preferrable to a dozen or more smaller threads which will inevitably drop off the front page.

Instead of getting offended and throwing a tantrum at having your thread locked, take 5 minutes to search and check first. Chances are quite high that your question has already been asked and answered.

Here are the stickied topics in question:

-If it relates specifically to ArmA, one of these two-

Hardware Issues: Tips/Tricks/Solutions

Hardware and settings for ArmA

-If it is any other PC, IT or tech related topic-

PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

Cheers - Fubar

[Trapper 0]

The excuse "But the thread is too long!" is really no excuse at all. One large thread is infinitely preferrable to a dozen or more smaller threads which will inevitably drop off the front page.

So the main goal of today's moderators is to keep all information squeezed into the frontpage because every user is too lazy to read the following pages, but has to be willing to read through dozen of pages in a sticky thread???

You guys are working against the practical ideas of this board system with your new <s>rules</s> system of organization. Look how many complaints about too long stickys are already showing.

There are two ways to search for infos about a common/repeatedly posted problem.

With a long sticky post:

At first you try the the board search function. Sooner or later it will always show sticky posts in the results, it doesn't matter what keyword you were searching, on hundreds of pages full of words you'll always score a hit.

Then you'll open the sticky thread because there's no other thread left with a promising title.

Either you're a noob and you'll give up reading after page 35 or you've got to know unknown expert resources to get hold of all the mixed up informations.

You can add the hl/highlight to the board link and turn page by page, or you hit the print button and scan all posts on one screen with highlight or the search functions of your Internet browser.

With stickys the search becomes a joke.

Now tell me, is that the way anyone at Iconboards programmed this former user friendly message board for?

With many posts about the same subject:

You do the search and it probably returns a max of 10 pages of results. All thread titles seem to read the same...

So you use common sense and select the topics with a decent title and many replies first. When they show up, your keywords are already automatically highlighted and you're easily able to scan read the 1 or 3 pages if they've got what you were looking for.

Sure at a high count repeatedly posted topics are bad in the general idea of this board design, too. But as long as the search results are useful it will slow down the appearance of repetitions.

Squeezing everything onto the front page reminds me of all those "organized" lazy guys with their one hundred and then some desktop shortcuts.

My solution would be a board rules sticky in every single sub category. Right now it's almost impossible to find the board rules.

Then after everybody knows the rules, delete every repeating thread without hesitation. Well, maybe an automatic PM referring to the rules could do.

[baddo 0]

My solution would be a board rules sticky in every single sub category. Right now it's almost impossible to find the board rules.

Then after everybody knows the rules, delete every repeating thread without hesitation. Well, maybe an automatic PM referring to the rules could do.

After I complained about the difficultiness of finding the forum rules, they added a link pointing to the forum rules to the 'Help' page of the forum. You can find the 'Help' button from the top of the page.

I have to disagree with your idea of putting the rules under each individual subcategory. Think about the maintenance hell it creates. You only want to have one single place for the rules. It is both easier for the people who want to read the rules, and for the people who want to modify them. I think even putting just a link to the forum rules page under each subcategory is not worth it. What could be done to further improve the visibility of the forum rules compared to how they are now, could be to put a button with big red letters to the top of the page, saying "FORUM RULES", so it would become much faster for us to know where the forum rules are. The button would be in a "base-class" of the forum template so that it would appear in every forum page you can possibly go to, and you would always have a link to the forum rules within one mouse click.

About the difficultiness of finding what you want to read from long threads. Yes I agree, the way it has to be done in this forum is far from ideal. For sure reading through tens of pages just to find the one single post with the information you want, from the middle of the 200-page thread, is a very daunting task. The "Print, then search with browser" is best at the moment for long threads but not ideal. I think the forum software would be better if it had an option in the search options to show each of the individual posts where the searched keyword is. A link which takes you right to the post in the actual thread is needed also. To go even further, you could select the specific thread from search results, or have a "quick search from this thread" button in thread view pages, which would allow you to show the individual posts where the keyword is in specific thread(s).

[Trapper 0]

That "rules button" would be good. Help isn't the first place I would look at for restricting rules, though they belong there, too.

Adding more functionality is a nice idea but I don't believe there will be a change in the board engine soon, as everything seems to be about money for BIS now.