It occurs to me that some folks are not getting as much "bang for their buck" from ECO because they don't understand how the forum "works" or they do not understand some basic functions of their computer.

If YOU have questions, PLEASE post them here so that we can help you! NO QUESTION IS TOO DUMB< SILLY OR SMALL TO ASK! The only dumb question is the one you DON't ask!

If you ask something that we can't answer, we'll do our best to find an answer for you. We are not computer experts and cannot tell you why your hard drive whines, you get the "blue screen of death," etc., but we CAN try to help you with basic Windows program functions and how THIS forum operates.

When you have a problem, please ask here... you will not only be helping yourself, there are tons of folks who are too chicken to ask, so you'll be helping them and others who come after!

OK. ASK AWAY!!!

Just wanted to bring this topic to the forefront.
Welcome, newbies!

Taj, In a short time you will become familiar with the forum.If I can do it anyone can.
I have recently joined a different kid of group and I cannot figure the forum.It probably will only be a matter of time before they give me my walking papers.

Thanks for the welcome!

Guess I'll just learn to live with the sort order.

quote:

if the sort order bugs so many, whether we could petition the site admin to change it.

Taj, as BC wrote, it seems very "wrong" at first, but as one becomes used to the logic of it, the sort actually makes sense and helps to keep the newest stuff in front of the reader. It also helps to glance at the posting time/date as ya read, so you can be sure that you ARE reading things the "right" way... I feel sure that unless there is just one global setting to change ALL the boards, it would be a pain to set each board to a different sort order. Some of the settings and behind-the-scenes work of setting up and managing a forum is quite time consuming and tedious.

Morning every one, just wanted to add something here about the sorting order. when I first started coming here, and trying to get the feel of things, the order of most recent reply under the origional post was confusing and I had some trouble following the thread, too. Now that I check in regularly, I find it convenient to have the newest replies handy, and not have to do a lot of scrolling or page switching. I guess it all what you get used to.
By the way, welcome Taj. It's good to meet you. Bobcat

Thanks for the info, MB. I wonder, if the sort order bugs so many, whether we could petition the site admin to change it.

Hiya Taj! I am glad you asked this question because it bugs MANY people (including moi!). I'm gonna explain the whole thing for folks who don't understand at all, so please bear with me.

There are different ways an admin can choose to sort replies in topics (or threads) when setting up forums. On some forum software, members may choose the way they want the sort to occur. This forum software does not allow a member to change the default sort in their preferences.

On most of the boards here, the first post is on page one. The replies (or posts) after that are placed by order from the most recent to the least recent until that page is filled - meaning the most current post will be the second one you see on the page. After the first page is filled, the second page contains the posts older than the first page, and so on. This becomes VERY confusing if there are a LOT of replies that you have not read, so keeping things in chronological order can be challenging!

Let's look at a real example. In this topic, for example, I began the thread on March 05, 2007 01:06 PM. It's first.
The second post (or reply) was made by BunnysGirl March 05, 2007 03:37 PM. It has been "pushed to the bottom of the page by notveeerrraaa's post March 05, 2007 07:03 PM,
my reply March 05, 2007 09:20 PM,
then your post March 07, 2007 04:57 PM, which is the most recent post (until I hit the "post now button).
This reply will be the most recent and will appear directly under the post that began this topic.

The logic behind this is that the most recent reply will always appear directly under the initial post on page 1.

In the case of topics which have pages and pages of replies, such as Mae's ongoing thread here... http://eldercare.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5506016051/m/9916034492
She began this thread April 16, 2003 03:21 PM. As I explained above, the most recent reply, March 03, 2007 02:20 PM, appears directly under her topic starter on page 1.
BUT if you wanted to read the entire thread in chronological order, you would read her first post (the topic starter), then you would go to the BOTTOM of page 47 and read up the page. Then to the bottom of page 46, read up through that page, and so forth until you reached the most recent reply under her initial post on page 1. Are ya lost yet?

Another way that forums can be sorted is simply for them to be in chronological order. If Mae's thread I mentioned above were sorted that way, the most recent response would be the last post on page 47. This is the sort with which most of us are most familiar - just like a diary.

Both methods have pros and cons... I prefer the latter sort because it makes more sense to me, but for long threads (topics), having the most recent posts on page 1 makes things easier to follow. Supposedly.

So, you know HOW the sort is ordered and, no, on this software, ya can't change it. To read all posts in chronological order, you have to follow the procedure I outlined above in the example of Mae's thread.

Hi, there!

I'm finding this forum difficult to read because so many topics order the posts backwards. In other words, the sort order is: original post, then the latest post, with earlier posts in descending order down the page. Anyway to fix that so that I can read posts in the order they were posted?

Thanks!

THANKS, Y'all. Those are indeed other techniques for copy/paste in Internet Explorer at this site (different sites use different software and not all people use Internet Explorer as a browser). The instructions I gave elsewhere today are for all Windows-based PC programs and work across different programs like from email to internet forum postings, which was the question the member had asked. The right click does not work on all servers, so it's good to know different ways in case one doesn't work out.

NOW - anyone out there have any QUESTIONS?

Copy & Paste 101

This might also work too.

Thank you MB! Now we can get to work here so Ill add a couple of things that people ask me here how to do if thats ok
Copy and paste
Most mouses have right and left click (I assuming ok I know what assume did )
But anyhow instead of going through the long version of click alt then some letter on a keyboard do this...
You have something you want to cut and paste here (or anywhere) Hold down your left click on mouse and highlight the entire caption then right click a small screen will come up with "Cut Copy Paste Delete" Click on copy then go to your reply screen (no you wont lose the "copy") bring it up right click once more and click on paste. Waa laa your copied caption

Now posting pictures or emoticons...
Well lets see here (trial and error time) Did you sign up for a photobucket account yet? WWW.Photobucket.com
Go do that its easy to do...now if you did already heres what you do to put it into the photo bucket page.



1)Right click on the emoticon here and click "save picture as" that will go onto your hard drive when you do
2)Go back over to your photobucket acct. and hit browse that will bring up a box that has the pictures in it
3)double click on the picture in the box showing your pictures. that will automatically bring the link over to your photobucket acct (where it says browse) under those 2 oblong links there is 2 buttons one says submit the other says reset click the submit button and that will put the pic into your photo bucket acct.
Now to post the picture/emoticon go to the picture you want to upload here (I always use the IMG button last oblong link under the picture theres 3 windows titled Url, Tag, Img click on Img right click hit copy then come back to your unfinished post and paste submit your post and waaalaaa emoticon!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bunnys_grl,