Messages

151

Living Room / Re: Naming and Shaming Bad Forums with Bad Ethics

« on: December 27, 2010, 06:42 AM »

No you don't have to answer but some will and so you have the noise - which you also will have to wade through. High standards of what is worthy of spending time on will likely make you go silent so if that is cool then they work. In real life you as a visitor/user will need forum management to step in/up to secure those standards.

RTFM is answer to many questions, like for example on how to assemble your computer properly. Read help files can also be useful. Actually just looking at options, settings in programs can do wonders. Many times people ask because they are lazy and are looking for solutions they think are easier than those they deep down know they should explore. That is when RTFM is ok - or skip the manual but spend time understanding the problem so understandable questions can be asked and answered. Life is hard

On the other hand I would be careful about relying on a Google search. You don't know what you get.

152

Living Room / Re: Naming and Shaming Bad Forums with Bad Ethics

« on: December 27, 2010, 04:40 AM »

Yep, most forum noise comes from those who ask in a shoutbox kind of way and replies with no ambition of adding anything to the thread. I don't care so much for that, have gotten used to it. What annoys me is what link also shows, a massive poster with tons of virtual fame/"rep", a moderator even, posting in a way he should not. That is typical for many forums and I think it comes down to that few have any real active and visible management or any idiot can set up a forum, throw in some ads and call himself Admin. Probably not that easy to find people doing free work these days. So how things are run can come down to few individuals = there is a risk it will blow Those who eagerly volunteer are rarely the best candidates for such jobs but they often get them. This also apply to quite large forums btw. If out of control forum management is to blame.

RTFM is a perfectly good answer to many questions, especially when it comes to tech stuff. Depends on context of course. I think it is also used as a way of hinting the person asking has no grasp of what he is on about.

IainB, you cannot be thinking about normal popular tech forums in the year 2010. You assume X wants relevant information/knowledge and is not just looking for a quick workaround which must be so super easy to implement person will consider accepting it. Or you dream of reaching consensus for communication rules first, then we chat afterwards? Don't work like that, is chaos in uncontrolled environment where many grown ups act like children - but I do believe most comes down to lack of management. It is possible to delete posts, to correct posts, to give warnings, to ban etc. Basically letting users including new ones know there are certain written and unwritten rules. I don't see much of that. Can be delicate task and not all can do it but without door is open to "rep" hunters, trolls and whatever is drown in. Gets a life of its own and if a forum is more or less "controlled" by a handful of massive posters it is hard to change anything. They have their kingdom and forum admin is probably just glad he does not have to be bothered since it seems to run ok I sense that is pretty normal. Does not have to be a problem but can be.

Not sure it is wise to name and shame forums unless very good reason. You can find threads like the one about irc client every where, every day. Need to evaluate overall value and management to declare something worthy of getting listed. That a moderator is the first to go Google it is not a good sign of course.

153

General Software Discussion / Re: Google's thumbnail pop-ups

« on: December 24, 2010, 11:15 PM »

My favorite Greasemonkey script GoogleMonkeyR just got updated yesterday. Now has "Site Preview" under "Remove" section He says it is "directly" compatible with Google Chrome and Opera http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/9310

154

Living Room / Re: Get yourself the best gift for the holidays: A full system backup

« on: December 24, 2010, 03:14 AM »

If anyone is using RedoBackup, mentioned in this thread Recommend disk imaging software? , they might find these tutorials useful:

Clone Lab Computers with a USB drive - FREE
Clone Computers Across the Network Part 1 of 2 part 2 follows at end of 1.

When backing up laptop to desktop computer those shares must be set up correctly. I had some troubles with that.

Seems like a pretty qualified and cool computer teacher btw. http://oakdome.com/k5/index.php

155

General Software Discussion / Re: Any better Clipboard program.

« on: December 22, 2010, 10:20 PM »

Unicode support is another year long task for Clipmate dude http://www.thornsoft...mp;highlight=unicode In most cases I would run away but he is still answering questions, has not left the building. I have the feeling Clipmate is not his main occupation. Another programmer suggested he outsourced the thing about making clipbar 64bit compatible. Said it was not trivial but doable, no need to wait so long. That got ignored quickly.

Basic hotkey activated pop up lists of last 10, 20, 30 etc. entries can be done with several good free programs.

156

Living Room / Re: Why I Don't Want an iPad for Christmas

« on: December 22, 2010, 10:52 AM »

I was more hinting at those who have an opinion and those who have an opinion but are open to suggestions Why think about ipad at all? I know nobody will give one to me so not really hard to be holy I would sell it after max. 2 days, promise.

157

Living Room / Re: Why I Don't Want an iPad for Christmas

« on: December 22, 2010, 10:12 AM »

Also a few who can't afford an ipad no matter who says what. Context of why or why not is not always clear. I would say no tomos

158

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: December 22, 2010, 09:42 AM »

Handling of transition completely blows regardless of $$$ but in the end it is about money. Just wanted to point that out. With a fair upgrade policy majority of "cheap bastards" would accept change. They can be tossers all they want provided they don't charge too much for what is seen as too little.

Now 7 has introduced application logins it is possible their focus is on business world and private users can come along or just go away. They are acting like unprofessional idiots but can still be very nifty evaluating spreadsheets showing revenue stream

159

Living Room / Re: Scorecard Research Survey (NSFW) - Ed. Wordpress hacked?

« on: December 22, 2010, 08:55 AM »

But not really the point of paying for a wordpress.com premium account? - if I understand that deal correctly. They take care of everything. Ease of use for those with no time or ability to find possibly shady host them self. Someone needs a spanking at WP. Matter of having a policy about how to handle all those TOS agreements. On wordpress.org they are pretty strict with reviewing themes but plugins seems to be approved fast and without much QA. Priorities rule the world but can be changed. Cloud is safe if taken care of

On related note Google now warns about infected sites http://blogs.techrep...com/security/?p=4884 Not sure this problem qualifies but if security on computers is so so it is non existing when air borne. Many admins, high and low, are ???? about security/malware/spam problems.

The new warning triggers when the search engine finds a website where parts or all of it are not under control of the site’s owner.

says Google so I guess this site or injection does qualify - as does every Google ads

160

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: December 22, 2010, 08:31 AM »

It is about money. Make upgrading to 7 free for <1 year old licenses and affordable for the rest, lets say 10-15$, and there would not be so many complaints. Their argument about much improved product would be heard and acknowledged. New business model would not be praised but accepted. There are not that many relevant alternatives to start with. Since they are idiots they dont understand. But of course if majority are sheeps with money or caught in a corner with 100s of passcards they might go, look at our sales before calling us idiots! Our tactic of keeping info to our self until the last moment has paid off.

My 2 licenses will not be used again but I still think Roboform is the best tool for this job. Lastpass is ok and will probably improve in a flash but I am annoyed about having to switch. Mostly based on principles of not dealing with ##%&

161

Living Room / Re: Scorecard Research Survey (NSFW) - Ed. Wordpress hacked?

« on: December 21, 2010, 09:32 PM »

Post their screw up to Lorelle. If she screams may be higher powers tell the happy engineers to read and understand notes from 3rd party suppliers, like change of TOS.

162

DC Gamer Club / Re: SteamPrices - a better way to shop for bargains on Steam?

« on: December 21, 2010, 09:25 PM »

Why did MS wait to allow family licenses for Windows in my country until the first big rush was over? Business is business but there is an annoying in your face factor with Steam. And they can't do anything about it? Yeah right. Convenience and sales outweighs cons and they know that Nothing is for free.

163

DC Gamer Club / Re: SteamPrices - a better way to shop for bargains on Steam?

« on: December 21, 2010, 08:14 PM »

Nice site but I still blaime Valve. When they list a price as 59 Euros equals 59$ they are accepting and promoting the trick. They could refuse to include game but they don't. VAT is included when dealing in Euros but still a trick. Is there any documentation about why poor Valve must bend over to other game companies? I think they share.

I will buy Commander Keen though http://store.steampowered.com/app/9180/

164

Living Room / Re: Scorecard Research Survey (NSFW)

« on: December 21, 2010, 11:05 AM »

There is more than 1 3rd. party power here. http://support.mozil...-IE/questions/725177 so I would guess sharing or voting plugin is to blame. That problem was due to a Technorati script, see last post at link. Could be anything activated really. If you bought domain from Wordpress they have some cleaning up to do Their responsibility to check plugins.

165

General Software Discussion / Re: Any better Clipboard program.

« on: December 21, 2010, 09:27 AM »

I don't think ClipMate is worth a look just yet. Is a confusing program when demands are tiny, could easily be waste of time, possibly money. Go for Mousers program or even more simple ClipX - use latest beta version. If you see the light of copy and paste magic, wants to manage it properly return to ClipMate and now it will not seem like overkill or that annoying. I have recently tried most of the paid clip thingys and have found that only ClipMate is worth more than 5$ but not necessarily a good way to start

Why this is not build in to Windows is a good question. Not even easy to find good Linux solutions last I checked.

166

Living Room / Re: Obscene # of Tabs in FF

« on: December 21, 2010, 08:44 AM »

A mini version of Tree Style Tab which is not exactly cheap on features.

Yeah, but it wants v4.x, which is not yet a release candidate.  I'd definitely like to see an alternative, but beta is just not a viable alternative at the moment.

-barney (December 20, 2010, 11:19 PM)

Well Firefox 3.6.x is not yet stable so... But yes I use the daily beta builds so know there is some way to go. Getting closer and closer though. Really feels and acts more stable than the old version. Extension updates can be troublesome no doubt. That Tree Style Tab is unique but with Firefox betas you also need to use his betas/unreviewed versions. Has been broken more than once. Final is just a word

167

Living Room / Re: In search of a site much like answers.com ...

« on: December 21, 2010, 08:39 AM »

May be RefDesk http://refdesk.com/ can be useful in your search. An oldie with tons of links to reference stuff.

168

Living Room / Re: Obscene # of Tabs in FF

« on: December 20, 2010, 08:58 PM »

There is a new vertical extension available, Vertical Tabs https://addons.mozil...irefox/addon/108862/ A mini version of Tree Style Tab which is not exactly cheap on features. Worth mentioning because the guy works for Mozilla http://philikon.de/ Tree Style Tab author is almost king of extensions since many years but still. Being conservative and careful with extensions can sometimes be wise

169

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 3.6.13 Flash Crash

« on: December 20, 2010, 08:11 PM »

Try turn off that container, can be done for each plugin - enable 1st line then, set to "true".

[Select]

user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npctrl.dll", false);
user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npqtplugin.dll", false);
user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npswf32.dll", false);
user_pref("dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.nptest.dll", false);

Paste in user.js and Firefox will not crash for that reason

And/or try Flash 10.2 beta http://labs.adobe.co...ogies/flashplayer10/ Can't get any worse.

170

Living Room / Re: Obscene # of Tabs in FF

« on: December 20, 2010, 12:12 PM »

It used to be a problem, 50+ tabs on 3.6.x is not always fun, fast computer only hides problems longer. I was never sure if slowdowns and occasional crashes were due to Firefox or Tree Style Tab. Don't care since I now use 4 beta 9, new and faster world. Will wait to use new build-in tab management until they are done, should be in 2011 if lucky.

I think Opera is only browser with build in vertical tab placement. They don't underestimate intelligence of users, also trust them to handle mouse gestures

171

General Software Discussion / Re: Dirpy is dead. What else is there?

« on: December 20, 2010, 08:28 AM »

You need deturl.com http://deturl.com/ww...H2hfyxuQ&share=y a compilation of options. Seems updated, Dirpy is crossed!

172

Living Room / Re: Obscene # of Tabs in FF

« on: December 19, 2010, 03:47 PM »

Yes but I do not notice thanks to Tree Style Tab https://addons.mozil.../firefox/addon/5890/ One of my main reasons for using Firefox. I am victim of Instaclick https://addons.mozil.../firefox/addon/6539/ so can't claim any number of tabs are always organized but pretty easy to move them about, collapse, delete tree/child tree etc.

173

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: December 18, 2010, 03:46 PM »

No it cost money here. Roboform Online was free, Roboform Everywhere not.

I have not tired latest 7 but one of the improvements is Goodsync has become part of Roboform. Should no longer be needed to sync, happened month ago. If that has also changed Im starting to think they really are truly idiots and not just idiots in the sense they have evaluated market/customer base with a calculator, figured how to squeeze most $$$ out of it.

Import from Roboform is a build-in feature of Lastpass, also instructions. If worried check their forum http://forums.lastpass.com/ for bugs. I imported at least 200+ in one go. I am sure someone has already made posts in Feature Request section about how much it suck Lastpass either has 1 single button or 1 wide toolbar. No option of placing buttons individually, next to address bar or where ever. If used to that there could be a problem. Optional entries in right click menu does not help much. Am reminded I did not dump Roboform because it is no good, 7 experience was nice and smooth until their license tricks.

174

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Replacement plugin for Delicious bookmarks?

« on: December 17, 2010, 05:04 PM »

Not so fast http://blog.deliciou...t-for-delicious.html but who knows

175

General Software Discussion / Re: Upgrading RoboForm from v6 to v7: worthwhile?

« on: December 17, 2010, 04:06 PM »

This mess is a good example of why an old school forum beats twitter, Facebook in communicating with customers. This almost year long beta testing would not have gone unnoticed on a forum. People would have asked questions months ago, may be it would have been possible to guide Roboform in the right direction. Tweets and here is a link to our support and here you can win an ipad on Facebook is not of much use. They are in control