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Ask the Mods questions about the Forums!


Dman979

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14 minutes ago, Earthlinger said:

I'm guessing they're 'dislikes' then...?

-__o

I'm not sure which ones count as "down arrow" but there were a bunch of options like "Thanks" "Confused" "sad" and "Haha"

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I'm sure plenty of people have run into it before, but this is my first time seeing it.  Wondering if it's fixable.

UserA makes a post.

UserB quotes that post.

UserC highlights part of UserA's quote inside UserB's post, and hits the "Quote selection" button.

Quote box appears in UserC's post box, attributed to UserB, even though UserA said it.

 

I'm sure this is the source of most misquoting around here.  Can anything be done?

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How come on some moderator profiles, it says that they were online ages ago (some even a couple years), yet they're still online. Is there a secret option to make it so nobody knows if your online?

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17 minutes ago, Messier said:

How come on some moderator profiles, it says that they were online ages ago (some even a couple years), yet they're still online. Is there a secret option to make it so nobody knows if your online?

When you log out and sing in again then there is the option "Sign in anonymously" in the sign in box. If this is checked you are not listed as being online. I think this also means that other users cannot see if you have visited their profile. 

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1 hour ago, Nils277 said:

When you log out and sing in again then there is the option "Sign in anonymously" in the sign in box. If this is checked you are not listed as being online. I think this also means that other users cannot see if you have visited their profile. 

That's pretty cool! Today I learnt.

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On 5/7/2018 at 5:43 PM, Geonovast said:

I'm sure this is the source of most misquoting around here.  Can anything be done?

Yes.  Get people into the habit of actually reading what they've written, before they post it.  Solves the problem nicely.  :sticktongue:  (Actually, come to think of it, that sure would make moderators' jobs easier...)

Joking aside, I assume what you actually meant is, can something be done in the software.  And I believe that the answer is "no, nothing can be done".  That's because it's how the forum software works, and Squad didn't write the forum software-- it's a third-party product.  Squad can tinker a bit around the edges with configuration settings, but to actually fix a behavior or bug in the forum software itself would require action by the company that actually produces the software.  So until/unless they fix that, no, there's not really anything to do.

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1 minute ago, Geonovast said:

I do believe you're asking the impossible.

Oh, yes, believe me, after a few years as a moderator here I'm well aware of the utter impossibility of that.  Which is why it was a joke, friend.  ;)

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1 minute ago, Snark said:

Oh, yes, believe me, after a few years as a moderator here I'm well aware of the utter impossibility of that.  Which is why it was a joke, friend.  ;)

You mean moderators have a sense of humor? Wow, I learned something today... :D

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4 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

You mean moderators have a sense of humor?

We pretty much have to.  I think anyone without a sense of humor wouldn't last long in the job.

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Why are the very first posts on the forums inaccessible, and why are the oldest accessible posts from... 1969???  No really, look at the dates.

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41 minutes ago, DAL59 said:

Why are the very first posts on the forums inaccessible, and why are the oldest accessible posts from... 1969???  No really, look at the dates.

Some really old stuff was archived. Don't know the details. I wasn't on the mod team then. And the 1969 date is some kind of software default substituted automatically if the actual date information is lost, as it is sometimes in forum software transitions. 

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49 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

And the 1969 date is some kind of software default substituted automatically if the actual date information is lost, as it is sometimes in forum software transitions. 

Technobabble about the 1969 date is in spoiler, for the curious.

Spoiler

It's the Unix epoch.

There's a particular way that a lot of computer software keeps track of timestamps, which is the "Unix time", defined as the number of seconds elapsed since midnight GMT on January 1, 1970.

There are some notable issues with this particular way of keeping track of time.  For example, it can't store any date before January 1, 1970.  For another, if the system is using a signed four-byte integer to store the value (as many systems do)... then it'll overflow on January 19, 2038, causing a problem like Y2K only probably more severe.

Because of those issues, in recent years software has tended to move away from that representation, in favor of other timestamp schemes that are more flexible.  However, for an awful lot of software, it's a thing.

So... if there's a software migration somewhere that was moving records around... and if one of the fields being migrated was a timestamp for the post... and if something went awry and the timestamp got zeroed out... then a timestamp of zero means "Midnight GMT, January 1, 1970."  Which would be the afternoon of December 31, 1969 for the western hemisphere, which I suspect is where most KSP forum posts come from.  Which would explain why all the posts that show a timestamp of December 31, 1969.

 

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1 hour ago, a_space_oddity said:

Why do I sometimes see odd symbols on old posts? Ã¢â‚¬¦ 

Those are the characters of an BBCode Forum. Not as clumsy or as random as a Latin keyboard. An elegant lettering... for a more civilized age.[1]

 

Spoiler

They're what happens when the forum goes through a bunch of upgrades throughout the years and can't convert some letters or symbols.

 

Edited by Dman979
Added citation
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9 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

Those are the characters of an BBCode Forum. Not as clumsy or as random as a Latin keyboard. An elegant lettering... for a more civilized age.[citation needed]

 

15 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

Added citation

Thank you. Don't want the forum moderators to come after you for not citing your quote's source...

 

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12 hours ago, The Aziz said:

Is there a "search in this thread" option on mobile? Couldn't find it, and it's accessible directly from said thread on desktop.

I think there's a search option somewhere in the menu.

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Edit permissions on another member's original thread, or start a new thread?

GregroxMun granted me permission to edit his GitHub repository for the add-on Alien Space Programs today so I could do an official release for KSP 1.4.3. I'd like to announce the update, but don't know which would be more appropriate: asking to edit the original thread's original post, or start a new thread.

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2 minutes ago, Gordon Fecyk said:

Edit permissions on another member's original thread, or start a new thread?

GregroxMun granted me permission to edit his GitHub repository for the add-on Alien Space Programs today so I could do an official release for KSP 1.4.3. I'd like to announce the update, but don't know which would be more appropriate: asking to edit the original thread's original post, or start a new thread.

Well, if the original OP agrees, we can sacrifice a post to the forum gods and transfer thread ownership to you.

Do you own the mod now?

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7 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

Do you own the mod [Alien Space Programs] now?

@GregroxMun granted me edit permissions in his repository earlier today, but I don't want to think of it as 'owning' the mod. I've pinged him here to see what he wants. After this I think he wants to take a break from it.

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