Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

I am of an age where computing can be fun for a while then suddenly morph into a nightmare that goes on for hours! Apart from only a smattering of machine knowledge my trials are often compounded by the fact that I am using a public library PC which I am not comfortable with and which turns you off every hour!!!!! (crazed laughter).

So, whilst we all know that it takes all types to make up this world, I think some thought could be given to ones like me - real dinosaurs who would like to be involved but have difficulty with the culture, the language, the speed, the road map, of a site like this.

Really simple stuff like "what is a POST", "where is my POSTBOX" (you would have had lots of laughs after I was directed to copy and paste something to my postbox - I was looking for a pillar box icon, then I went to search, half an hr later the penny dropped...such a drag, frustrating and disempowering!), I thought I had introduced myself and done the roll call thing by filling out some stuff on my profile - I didn't know I had to come here, and "what is a THREAD?" for goodness sake let alone a "TINYURL".

Do you see where I am coming from? In need of an introduction preferably numbered and in simple english.

I will persevere and eventually will become acculturated but until then please understand and if you can't then please feel free to ignore my "POSTS".

Well the FAQ seems to cover it well for most.

I am assuming you read that before your rant?

http://www.stampboards.com/faq.php

When I buy a new scanner or camera or TV set etc, I've never used before, I tend to read the manual first, but that is just me being old fashioned I guess.

Admin

giwigip

Don't lose heart

This Board can be daunting for a "newbie" ( newcomer )
- especially one who is not really computer confident

In fact technically it's a pretty standard Board in terms of layout and features

Where it differs from most (any?) others is the sheer volume of proper, informative and readable stuff posted - as distinct from the "good morning how is everyone I am fine" drivel posted on some boards

Stick with it - you WILL be rewarded

And don't forget - if there are any words/terms you are unfamilar with Google is God

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him

Well, "just in case"...

..."FAQ" stands for "Frequently Asked Questions" - most websites have one and most (including this one!) assume everyone knows what a FAQ is. BUT if you're a complete Computer Virgin, you just might not know that.

Anyway, there's an FAQ button at the top of the front page, just next to "The Rules". And it does answer many of your questions as Glen suggested it would.

Good luck...

Welcome to the best stamp forum in the world.

Now although I have been here for several years, and know what a POST and THREAD are because the same terms are used in other fora (that's plural of forum) I wouldn't know what a POSTBOX is in this context. And it won't do you any good reading the FAQs because the word POSTBOX didn't come up there when I did a text search. I didn't find THREAD either, so although (as GavinH says) the answer to many of your questions are there, I reckon you have many questions which aren't

The FAQs are not specific to Stampboards, they come bundled with the software that the board uses. There are a lot of useful answers there, but none are Stampboards-specific and many of the terms used by the members and admin won't be found there. For background on the software (and I don't understand much of this!) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhpBB and the 'further reading' links there.

I didn't see TINYURL there either. http;//tinyurl.com is a facility to shorten very long URLs (website addresses) such as http://www.postoffice.co.uk/counter-ser ... Collection to something quite short, in this case http://tinyurl.com/7ysq2mc

However tinyurl is running out of really short URLs (7 characters in that one) while tiny.cc is shorter giving http://tiny.cc/m0yia
tinycc also allows you to create your own meaningful short names if not already taken, such as this one http://tiny.cc/philcover which takes you to a discussion on Stampboards about a particular GB FDC. I needed to refer to it in print, and 'http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=23772&p=1585590' was too long!

The Rules are numbered - there are only 41 basic rules including number 9. Starting a new discussion or "Thread": and, as it doesn't have a glossary, a thread is simply a set of messages and replies following on from the message, such as this one that you are (hopefully) now reading.

But I do recommend reading the rules - not that you will remember all of them - but apart from telling you what and how, they will also give you some ideas - and you can always use the email button to ask questions if you don't want to ask in 'public'.

I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in time. And maybe while you are at the library you can encourage other people to join in as well!

_________________
Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Mod Comment:

Moved to the Technical Board which is a happier place for it.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

And there is one forum specifically designed for people dipping their toes in for the first time: "NO question is too basic or silly - you ask - we WILL help you with it!"

http://www.stampboards.com/viewforum.php?f=29

Remember that the only stupid question is the one you DON'T ask.

It is very hard when you only have limited access to a Library computer, but that is better than nothing

If it helps, I was a lurker for more than 12 months before I joined, and even then I still was completely clueless about everything to do with posting....I couldn't attach a smilie - didn't realize I could preview my posts - didn't understand the user control panel - couldn't upload images (didn't know what photobucket was!).....the list when on.

But with (a lot of) practice, I only stuff-up occasionally now.

Welcome to Stampboards

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FORESTS OLD, PASTURES NEW
(An expert is one who knows more and more, about less and less)

Jacob here .

I am lucky that they have computers at school and even at primary school they were teaching us word and power point.

It must be hard for some of the older generation to adapt , like pulling your hair out. ( ouch)

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You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Jacob, I am nearly 63, and started using PC's in the late 1980's, The first IBM I ever had for work did not even have a Hard Drive, and cost over $5,000 - everything was run off floppy discs (which were actually floppy in those days), and DOS based - no Windows, no Plug and Play Apple Macs, just the C:/ command lines.

And then eventually, we upgraded to a 10 Mg Hard Drive...Luxury...

I became the DOS go to man, and loved every minute of it. *sigh*, I miss the good old days. I could run Wordstar, DBase2 and Multiplan on 10 Meg, and still have plenty of room for the Leisure Suit Larry, the Kings Quest series from Sierra, and Zelda, and whenever somebody entered my office, the Alt Switch key would get me instantly back to a Spreadsheet and make it look like I was doing real work.

Seriously, good times.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Norm you were a very Naughty Boy

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Nunawading Stamp Fair
Last Sunday of Every Month - Jaycees Hall Silver Grove - Nunawading.

Ron, you could even buy a screensaver called "busy", with graphs and tables, that could be activated by a single hot-key stroke.

There is no way that Norm would have been the only naughty boy around.

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A man might as well marry ... if he finds a good wife he will be happy ... if not, he will become a philosopher.
Collecting Greater New Guinea & Macropods (Kangaroos & Wallabies).

Happy days...

Now you know why so many of us old fogeys are bald !!


Anyway, for my two pennyworth and from one that is computer literate, there are some issues with this forum that are a little unusual to other forums I frequent. ( that's not to say you are wrong and they are right - just you are unusual to me ) Now whilst the FAQ's may cover these, old fogeys like me dont want to waste a decade of the dwindling years of our life reading through them; espacially when we will have forgotten all about it tomorrow ( It's the law for grumpy old men ) I am sure we wil get to grips with it all, but when one joins a forum, one normally likes to be come involved - quite possibly a new member may have been lurking and reading for a period and has now joined to participate in a discussion ~ how frustrating can that be when you can not get the forum to function ?

Food for thought Mr Mods ( I am a mod of a building forum - it is so easy to dismiss a newbie , but perhaps a few seconds thought on what they say, may help improve the service )

Rant over - note to self, buy keyboard that can spell !

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David
(DAH)
I hope they have Philately in Heaven ~ or Eternity is going to seem like forever

Ummmm .. care to share just ONE?

A lengthy ramble giving zero examples, is not exactly helpful to anyone!

Admin

Hi giwigip, hope you are still with us and not feeling too disorientated by now!

This is the best forums for stamps you will ever find but, like you, I found it a bit daunting to start with!

Basic dictionary lesson:

A Thread; is a subject line: whether it be Hitler stamps, King George V, Spanish stamps....whatever!

A Post; is whatever you would like to contribute to any of the above threads.

Or if you are asking a question about whatever interests you, then you are making a "new topic" in a new thread!...again, bottom left! Hope that makes sense!

When you would like to contribute to a "Thread" that interests you (or start a new one! in which case you need to click on Start a New Thread), click on the Post a Reply button at the bottom of the last Post. In other words...read the thread that interests you and at the end...make a post!

When you have typed in your reply, hit the Preview button on the bottom left! That way, you can see what you have typed and can make any corrections before you hit Submit! It's a magic button that saves you a lot of angst if you happened to type something wrong!

This is a very visual forum. We use a lot of photos of the stamps, coins, postcards etc. That may be very difficult if you are using a public computer! Do they allow you access to a scanner at the library? if they do, would they let you set up a Photobucket account on their system? It does not store the photos on the Library system! so they can't complain about that !!!

Photobucket by the way, is an internet site that allows you to store photos that can be easily shared on this site or other sites on the internet. You can go either private or public (I go private myself) The photos are stored securely and you can delete them off your hard drive so as not to clog up your hard drive space! Be warned though, if you remove a photo off Photobucket that you have used for a post, you will ruin the whole thread. Never delete a photo off photobucket unless you have "not" used it for a forum!

I have scanned 3 or 4 pics on to Photobucket at a time to see what one comes up best! I then delete the ones I don't like and use the remaining one to post...THAT one never gets deleted! EVER!!!

Hope you really get into Stampboards! It really is the best!

Looking forward to seeing you here with plenty of Posts on your belt!!!

Anne

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I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.

Sorry, I think you may be misreading my post and I trust that your message is not supposed to be as aggressive as it appears ?

My post was made in general terms and in agreement with a previous poster, who provided sufficient detail I believe. I was simply agreeing with him.

There are various issues with this forum that are different to the "typical" forum one joins ( I belong to 7 and moderate one ~ these are not all stamps, but more related to my "day job" )

Stampboards forum requires 3rd party picture sites, picture sizes (other than Bytes ) email qualification, 20 day rule ..... and several others that have caught me out and are now forgotten (not difficult at my age)

I reiterate, that is not to say how you do things is wrong, quite the contrary, but it can be confusing and sometimes frustrating to a newbie until they are familiar with your ways; albeit I fully understand some of your reasons for the variations.

Trust this helps

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David
(DAH)
I hope they have Philately in Heaven ~ or Eternity is going to seem like forever

Hi David

A number of the characteristics you mention have evolved for the protection of members given that there is a fair amount of 'commerce' on the boards.

Every day we turn away a swag of spammers and check out all new members for bona fides as well as keeping things running smoothly eg moving posts to appropriate theads, editing headings to make things comprehensibile, helping members who don't have English as a first language, sorting out issues with members, helping people post images and meeting and greeting.....all stuff you would be familiar with as a moderator.

The 'rules' are the oil that keeps the machine purring along. They have developed over the past five years and fortunately we have had no major dramas in that time so they serve us well so all new members are encouraged to take them onboard.

Anyway all of this is keeping you away from the stamps forums.....happy reading and posting

Cheers
Margo for Stampboards moderation team

Well said MargoZ...and giwigip...hope we hear again from you soon!

Anne

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I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.

No, I haven't been composing this since my last post ("I think I've got it, I think I've got it!) on 28 Fe 2012, I have been busy.

But since then, when I thought I had lit a time bomb, I have been dipping in secretly as a guest and found an extraordinary site full of knowledge and some very interesting characters. When I add up the hours I've spent I wonder: but when I remember things like the many fascinating pages of mcgooley's Postal History it makes sense and I regret I gave up stamps so long ago.

Apologies if my first post came across as a critical rant as it certainly was not intended to be so. Rather, it was just some feed-back from a new boy/girl in town. Someone experiencing exactly what jacob's (above) cartoon expressed!

What I was trying to say, in The Sheriff's terminology, was that, when I get something new I like to start reading at page 1 rather than flip to the back of the manual to "Troubleshooting", which, I have found FAQ's often look like.

Anyway, thanks to all who responded, and to the encouraging words.

giwigip

Welcome back and happy posting!

You sound, like me, of an age when IBM golf ball electronic typewriters were all the rage. Don't dispair I'm suffering the same frustrations trying to load pictures.

Did you ever hear about the stuck newby who after following all the advice and insrructions was told to hit "Any key", but, after searching for half an hour and finding Esc, Ctrl, Alt, and various others had to admit that his keyboard didn't have an "Any" key, not realising that "Any" should be lower case and he could choose any one of the 40 or 50 keys to hit.

It's not easy.

John Tunstill

Jon, I was around before the golfball typewriter came out as many of our members were so if we can do it, so can you. Once you have managed to post your images you will wonder what all the fuss was about, it's very simple if you follow all the directions and you are copying the IMG CODE.

I'm waiting to see one of your images and I'll follow you around till I see one So get cracking!

Golfball typewriter? Is that like the space-helmet-shaped TV sets from the 60s?

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

GOLFBALL Typewriters???

My first job after leaving school in 1970 was in the newsroom of a Rupert Murdoch Newspaper.

I swear this is true - the ONLY typewriters on the entire editorial floor were these WW2 vintage black Remingtons above. 100 or more.

They were so old none of the letters on any key was visible.

Fine for experienced typists, but not for me who had never used one before!

They insisted EVERYTHING was typed, so boy you learned FAST. Somehow.

All copy was typed - double spaced - onto little sheets of paper about 8" x 6" that had carbon paper manually inserted between the sheets. 'Copyboys' attended to each journalist in large numbers.

1 copy went to a sub-editor, one copy stayed with writer, and one copy went to an archaic pneumatic chute system, down to "the stone" where rows of huge and massively noisy Linotype machines operated by more typists set it into lines of lead type, a few inches long.

That is how ALL the daily newspapers all over the globe were produced in that era. Hot metal - literally.

I imagine the "buzz" was there on the editorial floor ... So something is unforgettable!

Anton

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CASACUDOR

Watching the old hands bash out copy on those relics right on deadline is a memory I still have 40 years on.

One guy I remember was Murray Nicoll the police roundsman - who house burned to the ground in the Melbourne bush-fires much later - all of which he reported calmly as a newsman. All off the top of his head - and copyboys were rushing it all down to "the stone" by hand as he typed each page.

Anyway Nichol was a TWO FINGER typist, but even so, could crank out about 100 words a minute - near impossible to believe, but I watched him.

One day a murder story was breaking, right as the final edition went to press, about 4pm.

He was belting out those little sheets like a maniac - no spell check, no chance to change or review things - just manic 2 finger typing right on deadline.

It was all on there front page within 20 minutes and on sale in the streets.

OK I'm a newbie and I certainly have few issues - both 'technical' and 'rule-related' - which I can't find a FAQ for; and as I don't use any other forums / chatrooms etc I don't have any transferable experience so I guess I'll just have to ask them; and if, as I have read, a moderator will inevitably read this, perhaps s/he can point me in the right direction...?

So, in no particular order...

1. I can't see how to send an individual 'private' email, assuming I wanted to (i.e to personally thank a correspondent who helped me rather than 'clogging up' the thread with a public message...)

2. I can't see how to cross-reference from one thread to another. I have read / made a couple of posts where there are interesting comments which I would like to amplify into 'new' topics / threads, but I would like to be able to refer readers back to the original thread / topic for context...

3. related to the above, the 'quote' feature only seems to allow a quote into another post in the same thread; you can't port it over to some new topic / thread as a (cross-)reference...

4. How does one get the maximum exposure for one's questions? Some of the topics / threads seem extremely esoteric to me - I don't imagine I'd ever delve around in them... so how do I ensure that my query is not 'lost' in among the general melee...?

5. And while we're at it, can someone confirm that I have actually grasped the jargon properly i.e. this board has forums ("fora"?) which each contain topics, made up of individual posts which together constitute the thread...?

I think that's it for now, but I'll probably think of something else later...!

I should have added -

"6. I'm asking all these questions via the thread because I can't see any way to directly contact a moderator / administrator, either...!"

1. See your email

2. Use the 'quote' button and cut and paste it

3. Refer answer 2.

4. Start any new thread you like.

5. Yes.

6. As posted here 1000 times for anyone who cares to read, email admin at stampboards dot com

Admin

Yep- thats about it. Really topic is synonymous with thread.

While its possible to cut and paste quotes between thread and cross reference by posting the URL of a thread within another thread, there's the risk of creating confusion by having 'disembodied' quotes around the place.

Really the search function at the top of every page is the best way of locating dispersed info on the board.

Hope that assists

Cheers
Margo