nancs
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 948
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Post by nancs on Apr 7, 2008 8:46:40 GMT -5
Hi everyone! This isn't really a change to the Message Board, but it's the closest place to post it. When I designed the Historic Columbus Indiana website, I tried to maximize wording and such so that a Google Search for Columbus Indiana would include the website somewhere. I've strived to keep it in the Top 10 for the last several years. I just did a search for Columbus Indiana, and the website, PLUS the Message Board, comes in a Number 3 and 4 respectively! Now that's something to be excited about! Also, a search for Columbus Indiana History yields the website coming in at Number 1, plus Google further breaks down the search and lists High School Yearbooks, Postcards, Downtown Pictures, and more underneath the main heading. Wow...I think we finally made it... WOW, AND YES, YOU DID, MAKE IT!!!!!!!!! Without David's vision of some long time past, these 'figures,' would never have come to be. It truly brings tears to my eyes, to be a small part of such an incredible undertaking to document Columbus, Indiana history via memories, treasures from our family archives, and much research of Columbus history. And all preserved on this website. What an undertaking-----------a successful undertaking. Hats off to one and all. It is through our continuing efforts that we are at the top of the list. Way to go. Welcome to one and all, and we hope that even more folks will become regular contributors. We are Number One!!!!!!!!!!! Nanc
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Post by David Sechrest on Apr 8, 2008 13:39:19 GMT -5
ProBoards will be updating the software for this Message Board in the near future. While the date is not certain, they say it should happen within 2 to 4 days after receiving the notice (which I just did).
It could take from 1 to 2 days for the softwared upgrade to happen, so the Message Board will not be available during that time.
Here is what they are incorporating into their new Version 4.5:
Version 4.5 Features
New thread sort options, ascending or descending order:
Order by subject Thread creator Replies Views Post order
Revamped poll system with many new options:
Ability to select multiple answers Auto-locking polls at a given time Ability to hide results until users have voted/poll is locked Ability to retract votes
New sub-board permissions:
Ability to have all sub-board posts appear in its parent board The ability to hide sub-boards when this feature is turned on
Vastly improved speed on post and member searches:
1,000 member limit for top posters has been removed All users can now be displayed in post order, irrespective of forum size Member lists can be sorted in any order
Character limit in posts and personal messages has been in been increased from 25,000 to 60,000 characters.
Listing of all users online over the entire day is now available.
Calendar entries displayed at the bottom of the page are now in date order.
Gradients can be automatically generated for your forums colors.
Ability to add a poll to an existing thread.
Ability to set default listing order to a board.
Ability to request a forgotten password by email address has been restored.
Category access can now be granted based on membergroup and/or post count related ranks.
Improved page jump, decreasing load times on large boards/threads/member lists.
Other small software fixes (eg "on Today" now displays as just "Today").
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Post by David Sechrest on Apr 8, 2008 13:41:27 GMT -5
I would also venture the new upgrade is part of the reason our most users online number was 255 today!
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Post by David Sechrest on Apr 8, 2008 13:50:44 GMT -5
Man...talk about fast! The upgrade has been accomplished!
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Post by David Sechrest on Apr 9, 2008 0:13:50 GMT -5
I've changed the 50 Most Recent Posts to 25 for the moment.
I did this with the hopes that the page will load faster, especially since I just added about a 1/2 a meg of pics(!) on top of what was already there.
Richard and I have talked about this, and most of you regulars are here every day. I would think that 35 would probably be a better number, as I believe that number might give everyone a chance to "catch up" on things, even if they only visit once a week.
To be honest, the number varies...it's kinda like the weather...
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Post by David Sechrest on Apr 11, 2008 12:25:13 GMT -5
For your information, post counts have been turned off on several of the boards. I will turn these back on in the near future.
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Post by David Sechrest on Apr 17, 2008 21:16:41 GMT -5
When I signed on tonight, this is what the Message Board said at the bottom:
Active Users In The Past 24 Hours: 3 Staff Members, 8 Members, 894 Guests A SAMPLE IP Address that "visited" the message board this morning: Ip Address 74.6.27.112 is found in United States IP Address 74.6.27.112 resolved to Hostname lj511212.crawl.yahoo.net
Guessed City: Sunnyvale Region: California
It would be great to think that the Message Board had 894 guests in the last 24 hours, but in all actuality, many of those 894 guests are web crawlers. There were a bunch that hit this morning around 9:28am.
I would estimate that over half of the "visits" to the Message Board are web crawlers. I didn't bother counting how many were bots out of that 894 total, but I saw quite a few when I browsed the list.
That's NOT saying that the Message Board hasn't increased in "viewership," or whatever you may care to title it.
We have, and by quite a bit.
Maybe with the new Version 5 software that ProBoards is coming out with in the very near future, the stats will tell how many are people and how many are actually web crawlers like Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc.
(Yeah, when pigs fly...)
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Babs
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 589
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Post by Babs on Apr 20, 2008 12:08:46 GMT -5
OUTSTANDING!!! TREMENDOUS! STUPENDOUS! Any and all fancy words and they all apply to this wonderful site. David Sechrest had a vision and it became a reality. David, we all think you are wonderful and this site is just the BEST!
Way to go David....and also to all who contribute in any way.
Also please get well. We miss you.
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Margo CHS Class of 55
HCI Forum Board Member
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind; it doesn't matter.
Posts: 376
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Post by Margo CHS Class of 55 on Apr 25, 2008 13:13:01 GMT -5
David, You have made all of our lives much richer, with your endeavors, and I have connected with many friends and classmates from long ago, that would have been impossible otehrwise !!!
Just a brief request, please... I am still trying to contact teachers and Alumni from the Old Lincoln School on 2nd and Franklin Streets for a Celebration coming up May 22nd.
PLEASE email me if you have any information on these students and teachers. mar_hughey@hotmail.com I PROMISE NOT to release any of the private info over the net, unless I have their permission first. If so, you may swat me with a wet noodle !!! This will probably be my Major activity for the summer.
It looks like it is shaping into a GREAT ONE, and don't wish to exclude anyone that may be interested in coming. Blessings as always, Margo
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Post by David Sechrest on May 6, 2008 1:32:55 GMT -5
I finally got around to getting rid of all the sub-boards on the message board. There were several in the entertainment section. You won't find any difference other than you won't have to use the index finger on your right hand as often!
Also, I changed the number of posts per page from 15 to 10. Since we're all posting quite a few images these days, I thought it might make the pages load faster.
I want to thank Richard for catching the Cathy Morris link to Columbus on the cover of the Let The Good Times Roll book pic I posted yesterday. Now if I can only find my 45 with the AMP label, it will make my week! You'd think something the size of a 45 would be easy to find. I've checked the inside of my jukebox, the space on my bookshelf where most of my 45's are, but alas, no luck yet. Lord I hope it's not in one of my boxes downstairs...
It looks like those of you who received the Sanborn Insurance Maps are truly enjoying them, as well you should. They are an absolute wealth of information, aren't they? I gave them to Richard on disc and use Adobe Acrobat 8 when I want to view them. If I want to format a page for posting on the message board, I use Adobe Photoshop CS3. It asks for certain parameters when Photoshop is used, and I always set the DPI at 300 and the size at 21" by 25." This gives a nice, large image to work with. Once the image opens in Photoshop, I crop the area I want to use in my post, then change the image size. I try to keep my images at a size where you can view the entire image without having to scroll to the side. In order to keep the image to a size where it won't push the boundaries out so far that you have to scroll over to the right, I use a max of 725 pixels as my width. I do this with the assumption that most of you viewers out there have a 17" monitor (or greater). AND, my "assumptions" are also based on the typical Screen Resolution Settings of your monitor. If you right click on your desktop and select Properties, you can change the resolution of your monitor. Most 17" monitors are set at 1024 x 768. Anything less than 1024 x 768 (800 x 600, for example) will enlarge everything you view on your computer monitor, and most likely, you'll have to scroll over regardless.
If you're on a laptop, well, hey...sorry 'bout that!
At one time, I think I posted something on the website stating that the images were based on a monitor screen resolution of 800 x 600. This was back when I first created the website and had a 15" monitor. I can't remember when I got my first 17" monitor, but at some point, I started using 1024 x 768 as my standard size for the web pages.
On top of all this, I was fiddling around with my computer the other day and discovered that I now have an option in the Tools--Browser Options of my Yahoo Internet Browser where I can adjust the size of the web pages I view. I haven't checked to see if the same feature is offered using Internet Explorer, as I don't use it much anymore.
Anyway, I didn't mean to get so technical here, but in some cases, it's good to know what parameters are used when creating images or web pages.
p.s.--If you do use Adobe Reader or Acrobat to view the Sanborn maps, Adobe has a feature where you can combine the pages of an entire year. When you do this, it creates a new file called "Binder." To do this, open up one page, let's say, from 1927. Once the page opens, there is a place at the top that says "Combine Files." Click on this, then click on "Add Files." Once you've done that, you can add all the pages from 1927, then save. When you save, it automatically names the file "Binder." You can then change the name to something like 1927 Binder. This way, you can open up all the pages from one specific year. Heck, you might just find it makes things easier, huh?
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Post by David Sechrest on May 11, 2008 15:33:49 GMT -5
Hi everyone!
This isn't really a change to the Message Board, but it's the closest place to post it.
When I designed the Historic Columbus Indiana website, I tried to maximize wording and such so that a Google Search for Columbus Indiana would include the website somewhere. I've strived to keep it in the Top 10 for the last several years. I just did a search for Columbus Indiana, and the website, PLUS the Message Board, comes in a Number 3 and 4 respectively! Now that's something to be excited about!
Also, a search for Columbus Indiana History yields the website coming in at Number 1, plus Google further breaks down the search and lists High School Yearbooks, Postcards, Downtown Pictures, and more underneath the main heading.
Wow...I think we finally made it... [/size] WOW, AND YES, YOU DID, MAKE IT!!!!!!!!! Without David's vision of some long time past, these 'figures,' would never have come to be. It truly brings tears to my eyes, to be a small part of such an incredible undertaking to document Columbus, Indiana history via memories, treasures from our family archives, and much research of Columbus history. And all preserved on this website. What an undertaking-----------a successful undertaking.
Hats off to one and all. It is through our continuing efforts that we are at the top of the list. Way to go. Welcome to one and all, and we hope that even more folks will become regular contributors. We are Number One!!!!!!!!!!!
Nanc [/quote][/size] nanc, I appreciate your comments, but as I've said in the past, I want no accolades, nor do I deserve any. This (the website and message board) is something that came about after receiving Columbus: 125 Years, and then doing a search on the internet to see what history of Columbus was recorded. Regarding my interner search, I found very very little. Sometimes I think it was a Godsend that I injured myself on that job I was doing out in Springfield Mass. If I'd never been injured, I doubt very seriously that this website would ever have come to fruition. Heck, I was never that big a fan of history. I couldn't stand it. Which brings me to my next point in this rambling. Maybe I never appreciated an interest in history because of the teachers I had. I believe this truly holds true because I cannot for the life of me remember one history teacher I had in school. I remember my English teachers, my French teacher and a few others, but no history. When we were all discussing having our 3rd Annual Columbus Historic Celebration for this coming year, someone mentioned that we need to get younger people involved. I think that's a wonderful idea. The only problem is finding 20 and 30 year old men and women who are interested. And--as Sherlock Holmes once said--"There inlies the probrem my dear Watson." If teachers cannot motivate children to want to learn more about their historical beginnings, it only makes things just that much more difficult.
I spent 27 years away from Columbus before moving back. By the time I became interested in the history of our town, I was 45 years old. And I don't think this is uncommon. I think the older one gets, the more they begin thinking about their past: i.e., the places thery lived, the places they shopped, etc.
I know I'm rambling, but hey, that's what I do best these days. I appreciate your words of encouragement, but in essence, it's not me that deserves any praise. It's people like you and Richard and George and RER and a host of others who have taken the time to record their writings on this board. Who knows? Maybe some day, some younger person will begin to read the memories here and be touched by then, or maybe they will rekindle some long lost memory inside them, and just maybe....I say just maybe...they may want to post them here for not only their children or grandchildren to read, but for others to bask in that overwhelming feeling of nostalgia of a simpler time...
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nancs
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 948
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Post by nancs on May 11, 2008 17:03:26 GMT -5
Hi to all, and I do just 'have to' respond to David's post. I can so remember visiting out here, in CA, with Columbus friends that live in the desert out of San Diego, about a 2 hour drive from where I live, it was a beautiful spring in 2005, and we drove to visit with them, have a picnic lunch, and take a ride in their Jeep to go view the desert wildflowers....................................As we visited, Bob told me to go check out something he 'had done/whatever' on the internet----------which I came home and did, post haste. That very simple search took me first, to the CHS 1955 Log-------Bob and my year of graduation from high school, him back in Columbus, and me out in CA-------------on David's home page. The rest, I guess, is 'history.' At that point in time----------------I became 'enchanted' with all that was on David's home page. The message boards were in their infancy, shall we say. I honestly cannot 'wrap my brain around' all that now exists on the message boards in the way of Columbus history-----------------gleaned from many, many sources------our memory banks, our family photos and saved treasures, fascinating collections being shared, documentation and research of all sorts and varieties, folks photographing the current changes going on, all having to do with Columbus, Indiana, and the nearby local area. I have 'kept up' with the growth of the message boards------------------and seldom, short of vacation times, get too far behind in what is being shared. For a newcomer to the message boards, well, you have at your fingertips, 24/7----------------vast amounts of Columbus history to investigate---------It truly is a liberal education to view the boards, and yes, equally as much fun to add something from your memory bank, or................ For me, I truly enjoy getting involved in 'putting some of the puzzle pieces together,' when there are missing pieces to a memory, a story, or identifying a mystery photograph, or just posing a question and the input that follows...............For those of you that are local, you have the ability to do research in a variety of places in town----------------The Bartholomew County Historical Society-------and oh, my, what hidden treasures lie within to explore, the public library and its newspaper archives as well as the city directories in the Indiana Room to investigate, and not to forget some of the government offices.------------with volumes and volumes of recorded history to explore, nor a stroll through the local cemeteries. Some of us live miles and miles away and rely on what our parents/grandparents may have saved, or investigations that we can do via the internet----------------------Call it a hobby or an addiction----- ;D------------It is fun and makes the brain work, an 'issue, I suppose, as we age!!!!!!!!! I, for one, have involved my CA born daughters in 'my hobby and/or addiction,' and encourage them to read the boards, and learn, and to perhaps better understand, the stories they have heard via their Columbus born grandparents, as well as their mom. Encourage others to 'partake!' And not to forget, in the process-------one catches up with friends from the past. and make new friends, as well------------now that is special!!!!!!!!! I have to add a post script to all of this----------When I came home from attending the First Annual Message Board/Website Celebration in 2006------------my eldest daughter, Paige, told me that she thought that I had had just 'way too, too much fun,' and that she wanted to go to the celebration the next year------in 2007. And yes, she did come with me---------and had the time of her life----meeting people that she 'had heard about,' exploring around town as we checked out 'my old haunts,' helping me with research, etc. Made my day, when we would be out and about, and she would see someone she now knew, like Margo or Connie or Babs, at the library, or noting Richard's truck in the parking lot as we were off to do research, or figuring out where Michelle lived because she saw her car, the visits with cousins Joey and Gail......it was really fun!!!!!!!!!! Don't underestimate the interest of a younger generation. We can tap into that, we really can. Welcome to one and all. old or young. Nanc
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Post by David Sechrest on Mar 23, 2009 16:48:41 GMT -5
Because of the LIFE photos, I've changed the view most recent post from 35 to 50 and might kick that up higher for the next few weeks...
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Post by Ricky_Berkey on Mar 23, 2009 17:22:21 GMT -5
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Post by David Sechrest on Mar 23, 2009 18:40:16 GMT -5
I've been meaning to mention something about this slight PROBLEM for some time now. I just keep forgetting...
If you have a problem with the message board page displaying pictures, just click the "REFRESH" button on your browser. Doing this will load the pictures 99% of the time. IF, the pictures don't load after refreshing, it could either be that the server where the pictures are stored is really really busy, or the pictures were taken off the message board entirely.
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Post by David Sechrest on Sept 9, 2009 10:44:53 GMT -5
Just a quick note:
My newer computer has a few problems. I cannot open my email. I was hoping I would be able to simply reinstall the Vista operating system, but it seems that, with Vista, you have to do an entire system recovery to do that! That means I have to reformat the hard drive (erase everything on it and start from scratch).
I owe a few people here an email. Please hold on for a day or two, and I'll get with you.
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Post by David Sechrest on Jan 8, 2010 1:46:10 GMT -5
I've avoided discussing this topic for years, but I think it's time we all discuss it.
I think it's time to set up the Message Board so that you have to become a member to post.
Doing this, I hope, will either cut down or possibly eliminate the amount of phishing postings made.
I would very much appreciate everyone's input on this matter.
Thanks!
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sara
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 21
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Post by sara on Jan 8, 2010 8:13:58 GMT -5
Good idea David maybe we wont get all the unnessary trash. we come on to either view or post some of our memories and found alot of good reading.So for all the board members keep up the good work in keeping this clean.
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docwendy
HCI Forum Board Member
Posts: 36
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Post by docwendy on Jan 8, 2010 10:06:01 GMT -5
Good idea. Those posts are annoying.
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RER
HCI Forum Board Member
"Democracy & Freedom"
Posts: 2,462
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Post by RER on Jan 8, 2010 10:11:24 GMT -5
Good idea! This will help Richard and yourself from spending so much time on the trash post removal efforts. I remember Richard recently had to spend over an hour or more removing almost 20 stupid posts. Go for it!!!!!
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