The ALPB Mutual technical support thread.

[Coach-Rev]

Actually facebook was one of the remotely hosted pics I tried to link to, and each time I hit the "update" button, it would go right back to the selection of "no avatar." 

In the grand scheme, it doesn't cause me to lose sleep, since I'm convinced most here would use my avatar for rodent control anyhow, and rightly so...

[George Erdner]

Facebook has adjusted their software to make using it as a photo storage facility impossible, except for viewing pictures through Facebook. The thing is, as long as there are services like Photobucket, where you can get a dozen accounts for a dime, with 10¢ change, why not just use Photobucket?

[LutherMan]

How do I take Pr. Stoffregan off of ignore?  He is such a prolific poster that it is a pain for me to take the extra step to read his posts.  TIA...

[George Erdner]

How do I take Pr. Stoffregan off of ignore?  He is such a prolific poster that it is a pain for me to take the extra step to read his posts.  TIA...

Go into "Edit Buddies/Ignore", and when you get to your list of ignored participants, click the red X on the far right of his name.

[Coach-Rev]

Its under the "profile" tab, selecting the option "modify profile" and then down at the bottom. 

That's the hardest part IMO is finding the durn thing.

[James J Eivan]

Sunday, March 8, 2020 the ALPB Forum Online established a new Most Online Ever of 406 .... exceeding the former Most On Line Ever of 394 on November 2013.

I have always wondered what the topic(s) of discussion were in November 2013 that created the Most On Line Ever at that time.

In light of the multiple offline time the forum has experienced over the past year .. and because the number of guests has greatly increased from when I first began lurking a number of years ago, I have watched the Forum Stats over time. As recently as last Thursday there were 75 User Online Guests and 0 Users on line after midnight when I quit for the nigh. When I first began lurking, it was not unusual for me to quit a night few if any users or guests when I checked forum posts after midnight. Recently the number of guests online drastically exceeds the number of registered users online.

Let's be CLEAR. The purpose of this post is NOT to discourage participation either by members or guests ... but to inquire if the new Most Online Ever number is a result of legitimate human participation ... or if this new Most Online Ever number is the result of electronic bots that could in the future deprive all of us of forum access.

[D. Engebretson]

Let's be CLEAR. The purpose of this post is NOT to discourage participation either by members or guests ... but to inquire if the new Most Online Ever number is a result of legitimate human participation ... or if this new Most Online Ever number is the result of electronic bots that could in the future deprive all of us of forum access.

How would these "electronic bots" end up depriving "all of us of forum access"?

And why would someone employ such devises to a forum like this with that intent?

[J. Thomas Shelley]

Let's be CLEAR. The purpose of this post is NOT to discourage participation either by members or guests ... but to inquire if the new Most Online Ever number is a result of legitimate human participation ... or if this new Most Online Ever number is the result of electronic bots that could in the future deprive all of us of forum access.

How would these "electronic bots" end up depriving "all of us of forum access"?

All internet sites are subject to the limitations of their hosting web servers.

If the server becomes overloaded with "real" or electronic bot connections those attempting to connect will see an "unable to connect" error message.

Such failures can be deliberately induced by bad guys--yes, they do exist--seeking to bring down hosting servers through such means.

These are called "DNS attacks".

[Steven W Bohler]

For me, connection to this site has been slower (on several devices -- work and home computers, iPads, and iPhone) than to other sites over the past couple of days. 

[James J Eivan]

Sunday, March 8, 2020 the ALPB Forum Online established a new Most Online Ever of 406 .... exceeding the former Most On Line Ever of 394 on November 2013.

A new Most Online Ever of 455 was set at 5:06 am EST Saturday March 14.


While additional participants are always welcome on the ALPB Forum Online, this new Most Online Ever record was established before daybreak on a Saturday morning.


As mentioned previously,  legitimate human participation is welcomed and encouraged ... if this record number includes bots with the potential in bringing the forum online down, not so welcomed.

[James J Eivan]

Wow ... the number of guests has dropped to 21 ... perhaps the bots have moved on to anotheread site.   Hopefully our services interruptions are over.

[James J Eivan]

Not wishing to derail the thread containing Rev Morris following comments....

No worries. From my end, no idea why my smart phone changes the font size sometimes, then when I try to fix it, I end up shouting at everyone. Ah, well.

I'm relieved (though disappointed) to hear that other(s) fighting the font size problem. 

An earlier post today had the font issue ... finally I posted it to the forum .. and went back to edit out any bracketed control characters.

I have often wondered if some of the issue has to do with expanding/contracting the entry field while typing a post.   

Any others experienced the unwanted or involuntarily font size fluctuations?

[Dan Fienen]

I do sometimes when posting using Microsoft Edge. MS Edge apparently does not work well with Java scripts. Copied text usually gets messed up.

[Rob Morris]

I did have to zoom in on the text entry area while typing my post on my phone. That's a solid theory.

[James J Eivan]

From another thread ... a comment that pertains to this thread ...

Sorry to keep snipping quotes out -- I fear I am creating walls of text that are easier digested if I pull out the preceding comments.

Mr Garner: Your strategic 'snips' are beneficial in many ways.  First, they leave a trail ... if a forum reader is interested in the 'snipped' material, the link easily enables them to find them.  I included the link to your words above ... despite the fact they are from another thread, the context of your comment above is easily available ... if I have miss used or misquoted the intent of your words, it is easily located ... please correct me if I am guilty of misrepresenting the intent of your above comment.

One would venture to encourage the 'snipping' as you have done.  It is always suspect then material is simply placed in quotation marks ... because it is difficult of ascertain whether a posters words are used in the manner the poster intended .. or worse actually deliberately snipped.

Second .. when viewing the forum on a small screen smart device, excessive nested blue boxes do become a bit unnerving.
Thank you for setting the fine example.