Feedback Forum Frequently Asked Questions

[benedict]

Some non-standard characters cause the board software to "hiccup" meaning that certain URLs won't show up properly.

A handy way around this is to use a simple URL forwarding service: you give the problematic URL to a thirdparty site that automagically generates a suitably compliant alternative that you can use in your post.

One such URL-forwarder that right now seems to be free and effective is www.

[NCMojo]

Maybe this is just me... but it was a charge to go from being a "New Member" to a "Cool New Member" (great!)... and then a real letdown to go to just a "Member".

Couldn't we use some other phrase, like "Contributing Member" or even "Junior Member"?

Mmm... Junior Mints...

[BassDude]

I remember a list of 'emoticons' somewhere on this site that can be used in your posts. (Rolling-laughing face, puke, jawdrop, etc.) Can you reprint how to use those here?

[Static Cling]

http://dvdtalk.com/forum/misc.php?s=&action=showsmilies

[Heat]

Regarding avatars, I really like the fact that DVDTalk doesn't have them, they just clutter up the page and serve no real purpose other than to make life slow for dialup users.

[kenbuzz]

Is there a list somewhere of "unacceptable" words, phrases, abbreviations, etc? I just got blasted for using the acronym formerly known as "In Before The Lock", and never knew that it had been outlawed.

Also, I know that certain websites are not allowed to be mentioned here. Are they documented somewhere as well?

[RandyC]

Originally posted by kenbuzz

Also, I know that certain websites are not allowed to be mentioned here. Are they documented somewhere as well?

No. Because if we did, that would defeat the purpose.

Not sure about the blasting part, but the forum censors the In Before... and replaces it. If that is what you are talking about, please don't consider that a blast because it's automatic and applies to everyone and was implemented when the whole IBT.. got out of hand.

[kenbuzz]

Originally posted by RandyC
No. Because if we did, that would defeat the purpose.

True, but without that, it's difficult to know what words or phrases are now censored and considered "out of bounds".

Not sure about the blasting part...(snip)

My reference was in response to one of the moderators, who smacked me on the knuckles for not knowing that the acronym was no longer allowed. When my post got "auto-censored" in the first place, I went back and reworded it, because in the past I've had trouble getting things like links and images to take properly. The mod apparently concluded that I was attempting to bypass the new, unannounced (at least to me) site policy regarding that phrase... and thwacked me.

Yeah, if I had actually read what the auto-censor put in my post, I might have understood better. But that's history. My question here is about where these new rules get posted. It's kinda hard to stay within the lines if (a) the lines aren't always clearly marked, and (b) they get moved about without being announced.

[Blade]

Just to give Randy a break , I think I can answer your questions, especially since I started one of these practices.

Re: websites/links that aren't allowed here...I don't think the mods have ever banned, suspended or even officially warned anyone just for posting one of these links. It's only if they do it again after having been informed of our policy do they start taking administrative action.

Since the sites in question are generally of such a disgusting nature, they'd rather not give them their own little "hall of shame," so to speak, by listing them on the forum. By simply deleting them on the rare occasions when they do pop up, we keep our site from promoting them, and that's what they're most concerned with.

As for the second part...I'm not familiar with your interaction with the moderator (and if you have questions pertaining to that particular instance you should email the mod or admins), but generally speaking, if the forum is censoring a word, then the site owner or one of the forum administrators has decided that they don't want that word (or phrase) being used on the forum. It's not a challenge to the members to see how many inventive ways they can get around it. It means that you aren't supposed to use those words/phrases here. By defeating the forum censor, you are implicitly breaking a pretty obvious forum standard and such willful disregard for the forum is generally not met with friendly moderator attention. (Although, generally speaking, they do take into consideration the context in which the action was taken.)

When it starts creating a problem for whatever you are trying to post, then emailing a mod/admin or posting a question in the Feedback forum about that specific instance is the best way to go.

Hope that helps.

[RandyC]

David,

Let me know when your vacation is over.

[Blade]

[kenbuzz]

I completely understand the intent and how it's been implemented. And I understand what happened with my post, why it got changed, and how my change to the change got interpreted. That's an important point, but that's not quite the point I was trying to get at.

I'm looking for a resource that will let me/others know what terms/links/phrases are considered out of bounds so mistakes like I made can be avoided. Draw a parallel between forum auto-censoring and those invisible dog fences.... sure, you'll get zapped if you cross over the line, but if the owner doesn't take the time to show the dog where the line is, the dog won't understand where the limits are until he gets hurt. I submit that it's best for the dog and the owner to make it clear where the line is located so both can avoid dealing with the inconvenience, embarrassment, and possible hostile reaction that an unanticipated "zap" may result in.

Thanks for your time.

[X]

kenbuzz,

A really good indication of a word or phrase not being acceptable for use here at DVD Talk is seeing it turn into **** or another phrase such as Please do not post 'In Before The Lock' Posts. Instead please use the Report this post to a Moderator link on the bottom of each post

See how that worked? I was "zapped" but it didn't hurt as much as an electric shock.

When you see that substitution by the forum's censor it is not acceptable to attempt to thwart the censor by slightly modifying the word or phrase. The fact that a word or phrase is changed should be extremely obvious if you look over your post after submitting it. And if you don't, then the censor will have done its job and the substitution will have been made anyway.

Where you get into problems is, upon seeing the substitution, you change the word or phrase slightly so it will get past the censor and leave your original word or phrase essentially intact.

As I explained to you at the time you did just that, "I B T L" is therefore not acceptable for use here and I don't know how much more obvious it can be pointed out than in the wording of its replacement phrase. What would make putting spaces between the letters in order to thwart the censor more acceptable?

As for the other censored words, they are the normal curse/racial slur/offensive words that you would expect not to see at a site oriented toward people of all ages with diverse backgrounds and sensibilities.

[kenbuzz]

Originally posted by X
See how that worked? I was "zapped" but it didn't hurt as much as an electric shock.

Maybe I'm in error, but I sense that you're trivializing the topic by focusing on the example I chose but are ignoring the message I'm trying to convey.

When you see that substitution by the forum's censor it is not acceptable to attempt to thwart the censor by slightly modifying the word or phrase.

And here, I know you're not listening to what I said. I know why the post was censored, and I know how my original edit was interpreted. I used LTBI in a post, it got changed. I didn't know LTBI was a newly-censored term, I didn't read the change message, and I rekeyed it to L T B I. I goofed. End of story.

What would make putting spaces between the letters in order to thwart the censor more acceptable?

That's not the gist of my question. I completely understand what happened and why. The question I'm asking here is not about the specific instance, but about the censorship method itself. And, to attempt to be perfectly clear about this, I'm not asking about why messages are censored. What I wanted to know was whether a list of the unacceptable words was available somewhere. That question has been answered. This part of the thread is done.

I'm trying to understand the process, not argue with someone about a specific incident. That incident is in the past, and there is nothing more to be learned from it. Is it me? Am I somehow not being succinct or clear enough?

[Blade]

As far as I know, a specific list has never been made available because, generally speaking, the censored words are words you'd expect to be censored; moreover, when you see the word censored, that's your notice that the word is not allowed. The "lock" stuff is something that was pretty specific to this board and has been a long time problem. It sounds like most of your concern comes from the apparent arbitrariness of the censor. Since most of the words are pretty common, I wouldn't be too worried about people getting confused.

Also, these rules are more about creating and maintaining a certain posting atmosphere in the forums. What they're intended to do is to cut down on excessive vulgarity, not to fanatically eliminate it from every single post on the forum.

Like I said the "lock" stuff had been a particularly irritating phase in the forum, so it shouldn't be looked at as the standard for how the forum censor is applied or enforced.

[D.Pham00]

Originally posted by hgar78
why do some post sometimes have lines thru sentences, etc.

because i really didn't want to say what i just said

[mewmartigan]

Help,

How do I get the images to appear? How do I exempt ads.kleinman.com from my Windows XP ad blocker. I didn't even know I had an ad blocker

[mewmartigan]

nobody?

[hgar78]

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/misc.ph...aq&page=3#HTML

the FAQ questions button at the top of each page will answer a lot of your questions.

images are discussed in the above link. you find a gif or jpg and link it, before the link you add "[img]" after it you add "[/img]" (without the " ")

if someone elses' post includes something you you want to do you can also hit the "quote" button on said post to view how they did it.

BTW, a lot of the time forum members won't answer questions that are covered in forum rules or FAQ links, since new members are expected to familiarize themselves to the forum (through the many help areas provided) on their own welcome to the forum!

[Blade]

Originally posted by mewmartigan
nobody?

Sorry, I thought this was in the faq already.

When I first had to do this, the status bar at the bottom of my IE window displayed a little icon that showed it wasn't allowing something to happen. (If you don't see the status bar, go to the View menu item and then select Status Bar from that menu.) Double clicking on that should bring up a window that will allow you to keep the program from blocking ads.kleinman.com.

Not sure if this will work, but you could also try this: In Internet Explorer, go to the menu item Tools, and then click on Internet Options. Select the Privacy tab. At the bottom of that is a section that says Web Sites, click the Edit button in that section. Add kleinman.com and that might work for you too.

[Kinyo]

Can somebody post how to make the different smilies.

Thanks

[RandyC]

Click this button-
above and read about smilies.

You will see that each smiley has a code to make it appear.

Like :up: will generate a thumbs up image.

-other- will generate something else.

:) is a smiley face.

[Bandoman]

Originally posted by RandyC
Click this button-
- other- will generate something else.

That's just wrong!

[Dr. DVD]

I have a major problem with the technical settings of this board on my home PC for some reason.

I am getting none of the icons or links that allow for editing, replying with quotes, or starting or replying to posts outside of the quick reply box. Any help would be aprreciated.

For the record, I have a brand new e-Machine PC with a Comcast cable modem recently installed.
For some reason my account appears with all of the options on the PC at work, but obviously I want to do more of my fun stuff at home.

[AndyCapps]

This thread http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ighlight=icons might help you with the missing icons.