Webmaster

There have been a number of questions regarding avatars here on the boards lately. I'm going to try to answer as many as I can remember off hand in this thread to help clear up any remaining issues. If you have any questions regarding Avatars, please post them in this topic. Any questions asked in other topics will not be answered and may be possibly deleted for being off-topic.

Question: I had an Avatar before we moved to the new board and now it's gone! Where did it go?

Answer: When I moved the Avatar database over from the old board, there were several images uploaded that were absolutely HUGE. Before the board would simply just resize the avatar, even though it's still loading an image that is sometimes up to half a megabyte in size. As you can imagine, this is not very effective. It's something that has been changed. So for the new system to work, I had to wipe all Avatars that were previously on the server.

Now when Avatars are uploaded, they're automatically resized upon upload. The board also now does a better job of enforcing size limits on the images. (See later question for more details.)

Also, if you do not have a copy of your Avatar still, and REALLY REALLY REALLY need it again... I can send it to you since I have an offline copy of all files that were on the old server.

Question: Can I still have an Avatar?

Answer: Absolutely! Here's what you do:

• Click on the MY CONTROLS link found at the top, right hand side of the board.
  
• Find the PERSONAL PROFILE section on the left hand side of the page.
  
• Click on EDIT AVATAR SETTINGS.
  
• Choose your Avatar. (You can upload an Avatar or browse the existing library to pick one.)
  
• Click on the UPDATE AVATAR button when you are happy with your choice.
  

You will notice there is now an Avatar Gallary. This helps me organize Avatars in a little more efficient manner. You will notice there is a "Base Gallary", a "Trek Gallary", and a "Smiley Gallary". Given this is a Trek forum, I'm personally betting you will like the starter images I have placed in there for your use.

Question: Can I UPLOAD an Avatar?

Answer: Yes, you can. Follow the steps above until you get to the part asking to you choose your Avatar. Then find YOUR IMAGE AVATARS towards the bottom of the page. You will be able to link to an Avatar already uploaded somewhere online, or you can click on the BROWSE button and upload an Avatar to our server. All images must be less than 40k in size.

Question: What is the largest size Avatar I can have?

Answer: We are now limiting all Avatar sizes to 125x125 pixals. If you attempt to upload an image larger than that, the board will say you are not allowed to upload it. Try resizing the image, and then uploading it again.

I've done some major work to the board's skin. Hopefully it's a little more visually appealing. I've still got quite a bit more work to do with it, but at least now you should be able to look at the board without needing to cry afterwards from your eyes hurting.

There is no way that I have time to update pips on the board for anyone who has gotten a promotion. LOL. That's something that has to be totally managed by a human. hehe. This one is just way too busy as it is. Plus that's what signatures are for. :rolleyes:

If you wish to talk about a promotion or ran, thats why you have a space to do so. lol

And regarding the warning system.... for the most part... 99% of you can ignore it. It's nothing major. It's just a way for the GMs on the boards to have additional control when we have disruptions on the boards. If you are warned, your warning level is raised a notch. If you reach a warning level of 5, the board removes your posting permissions.

Since no one is even close to that, don't worry about the warning levels. Other members can't see your warning level. Just you and the GM team since they're the ones who would actually increase it.

The question was answered by folks already in other various threads. They were pips based off the number of posts made by a member. Once you reached certain posting milestones, you recieved another "pip".

It's nothing major. Just something not really needed here. :rolleyes:

Hi folks...

I've said this in several posts... the boards are nowhere near complete. lol

The look and feel is still being worked on. Graphics are going to be changed, the color scheme is going to be edited, the smileys replaced, the buttons replaced, blah blah blah.

In real life, I'm the Customer Support Manager for a web hosting company. So that means I spend my day trying to help other people all day with THEY'RE websites. Then I come home and get to do it again with my own. LOL. I've been working 12-14 hours per day for the past few months. I'm doing as much as I can to get the site back up to par as quickly as possible... but it's taking some time.

I've not abandoned ya. I just take longer than I would like sometimes.

The stars have been removed. I never intended to use them. They're one of those things that would have been caught as I moved us slowly over to the new board. But it did not quite happen that way. =P

There are still a lot of things like the Shadow, Reverse, Spoiler, etc that are in the works. Like I mentioned, I had to make the transition over to this board a LOT sooner than I was planning.

There are a NUMBER of things I still need to do. But the first and foremost goal was to have the board up and running. Next was to save the database we already had. It would have really sucked to have lost everything including all usernames, passwords, profiles, and posts.

Now that those steps are complete, I can focus more on the look and feel of the site as well as the graphics. Lots of stuff planned... just need more time in the day. I'm already working too many as it is. lol

Hey there.... in the topic in the announcement forum, ya'll see that I removed all old avatars to ensure people don't upload HUGE ones again. lol

The warning system allows you to see if you are warned. Each person can see they're own. GM Council members and Board Admins can see them for all users and also increase/decrease warning levels.

So you know, the graphics on the board are still being worked on. I was not planning on moving us to these boards yet for several more weeks. The problem with the database and the server move pushed this up a LOT sooner than I was planning.

Let me know if you have any questions or problems.

I fixed a problem earlier today that kept some people from being able to post.

The new boards use a totally new permission-based system for determining access to who can do what in each area. I forgot to make some minor changes to a few areas that kept some folks from posting.

If you still have trouble posting, please send me a private message here on the boards, or send me an e-mail at [email protected].

Sorry for the mixup!

Due to problems with avatars being out of control before (some original ones being 800x1000 + in size), I've made some changes to the system where it will not let files be uploaded over 40k.

I've also gone through and deleted all of the uploaded avatars in the system. All of you will notice your avatars gone from your user name. Please feel free to upload one again. But we ask that you please edit the image you want to use if it's not already the correct size for use. (Meaning you just slow down the board by having a huge graphic have to load, but then be shrank down by the board when showing).

Hey everyone...

I know this is short notice, and I'm sorry. Things have not exactly gone like they were supposed to the past sevearal days.

The message boards are in a BIG state of flux right now. Please bear with me as I continue to work on the problems that we have. If you notice anything unusual, please feel free to discuss it in the Questions and Comments forum. I just ask that you please keep it all in a single topic so I have an easier time tracking everything.

Expect to see the boards taken offline sometime during the late evening of the 26th or early on the 27th.  I have the board already installed on the new server, tested it, and everything appears to be working.  It's currently pulling the posts and such from this server's database.

As soon as I'm ready, the boards will be taken offline, the posts and all related material backed up, and moved over.  I'll then be changing the boards here to point to the new server.  For a couple days, the board will be using the new server's IP address.  

After I have checked to make sure everything is transfered, I'll be redirecting the site's DNS information to the new server.  That should be done fairly soon.

There are no changes you have to make for this move, all bookmarks and links should continue to work.  And all services should still be available.   If you have any questions, please send me a Private Message.

Johnny Cash is a person that will truly be missed around my home.

The poor chef...  Admiral Bethany *is* afterall such a warm and loving person.    :D

Porthoes is just a cool dog.  He's got character.  =)

:::shudders at the thought of the cubes:::  They need some kind of chef over there or something.  :D

What's got ME nervous is that he was dreaming about A9...  =P

See?  I told ya old posts were useful.    :D

:::Beats Travis with a wet noodle and looks around for the ban button:::  Where'd it go.  I know I had it around here just a minute ago...

From Missouri...  living/working/making a living in Texas.  LOL

In the Show-Me state... you're REQUIRED to be in school till the age of 16.  After that, if you're stupid enough to deny yaself a FREE education, ya're on your own.  But the state will continue to offer you the oppertunity to goto school till the day you turn 21.  Once you hit your 21st birthday, the wheels of free education come to an end except for the GED program.

The default size for display for UPLOADED avatars is 64x64.  If you link to your own, it's capped it 125x125.  There's no getting around those limits.

(And if ya do, I'll beat ya with a wet noodle, stick my head back in the code to fix it, and then ban ya from the boards forever and a half a week.)

Well...  my character's parents are alive and well.  In fact he's really close to his mother.  His SISTER on the other hand...  well...  at last report, she was a waitress for some bar in the gamma quadrant.  :::shrugs:::

Who said there was wine in my glass?  I'm stuck living on bread and water!

(And it's not that fancy bread or the filtered bottled water either!)

All the money went to the Admiral's hot-tub, which the female GMs seemed to have taken over lately...

Wow...  a year already.  Who would have thought it possible that a small group of expierenced role-players would be able to venture out into the giagantic universe all alone and come out as sucessful as they did?

STSF has come a long way in terms of the number of SIMs, the number of players, the traffic to the site, the quality of the SIMs, and the way the community has grown.  It's going to be interesting to see what happens during the next year.  

Thank you all for being a part of the STSF family.  And thank you to all of the GMs and members of the GM Council who have put in a COUNTLESS number of hours to pull a fret like this off.  

To another year!  :::raises a glass:::