Critiquing in SYW

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TellMeAStory

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I just worked really hard on my first crit for SYW, and when I was all done, I was told my post hadn't been posted because I wasn't logged in. Well, of course I was logged in, otherwise how could I have gotten into SYW?

What did I do wrong, and can my work be resurrected and posted anyway without my having to do it all over again?
 

Nekko

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That will happen if too much time has gone by. The system will 'log you out'. (I've had it happen a few times, usually because I went off to cook dinner :) )
Best thing to do is hit the back arrow up top, copy your reply, and then click the refresh arrow. Now paste all your hard work into the comment window and submit.
 

heza

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I'm just experimenting to see if I can reproduce your issue based on your procedure to retrieve your critique.

ETA... I'm refining my experiment
 

heza

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Okay, so I'm quoting and adding comments...

AAK! I got it posted, but only the first of my highlighted comments came up in color while I'm here, I wanted to point on that the color you used is a little light for the quote block background and is a little straining on the eyes. All the others show only the directions for them to be put into color the one that works shows the label "Cyan" rather than the rgb number. What did I do wrong this time?

Now I'm trying to time out....

ETA: I timed out (which I didn't the first time) and then repeated your procedure. It still didn't cause the error.

I'm no help. :(

Did you highlight your comment text and then select a color from the font color drop-down? Or did you by chance hard code your rgb colors in by typing the [ COLOR="..."]?
 

AW Admin

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I fixed the tag issue; use the color name, i.e. cyan or the color selector (palette with little squares of colors) not the RGB numeric values, even if the software tries to insert them.

If you're going to critique a long passage you might either do it offline, or copy the passage before you post.
 

TellMeAStory

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You know, that's exactly what I tried at first. I did my work in Word, copied and pasted, and everything I'd highlighted came out unhighlighted. What I did next, was use the palette color selector--to achieve what I certainly do agree is too light, but what can be done about that now?

In the future, could I do my work in Word and put my comments in bold? That way, I could take as long as I like, and my work would be readable.

Poor Penguin Girl, I was only trying to help...
 

TellMeAStory

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Thanks, admin. I did read the DAMMIT tips but didn't understand them, perhaps because they're for PC and I'm working from Mac. I don't, you see, have Notepad--but I could save word things as .txt. Is there a place I could noodle around to find out without annoying a lot of people?
 

AW Admin

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Thanks, admin. I did read the DAMMIT tips but didn't understand them, perhaps because they're for PC and I'm working from Mac. I don't, you see, have Notepad--but I could save word things as .txt. Is there a place I could noodle around to find out without annoying a lot of people?

Not really, no, but I don't think you'll annoy a lot of people. They've all been through it before. :D

You can by the way use the Edit button to fix posts even after you've posted them.

And yes, save things as .txt with Word, or TextEdit or the nifty and free BareBones software's TextWrangler.

I'll try to write an FAQ on the BBcodes and formatting, but it will take a bit.
 

juniper

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I just worked really hard on my first crit for SYW, and when I was all done, I was told my post hadn't been posted because I wasn't logged in. Well, of course I was logged in, otherwise how could I have gotten into SYW?

What did I do wrong, and can my work be resurrected and posted anyway without my having to do it all over again?

I've found that when I dillydaddle (that word looks wrong btw, ?) on a reply and it's timed out when I finally try to post, giving me that "you are not logged in" page -

if I log in right then on that same page, and then on the next page where it says, "thanks juniper for logging in" or something similar, click the little "proceed" button -

my post goes live. I used to backtrack, copy, login and then paste into the reply window again, but then I discovered my sooper-sekrit method above and it's easier.

Rats, no longer sooper-sekrit. ;)
 

ajaye

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If you're on your own computer you can tick the Remember Me box next to the log in boxes and you won't be timed out. At least I never have been.
 

Reziac

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Or you can change your preferences here to always stay logged in, which is what I do, partly because I'm lazy, and partly because this particular forum software has a tendency to randomly log folks out otherwise (probably a bug in the login timer). Anyway, staying logged in gets rid of the problem.

Since no one else uses my computer, no risk anyone else would fake being me either. :)
 

alleycat

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If you're going to critique a long passage you might either do it offline, or copy the passage before you post.

This is what I try to do if I'm making a long post. Someone can copy multiple times as they're composing a reply; not just wait until they are almost done.

We've all lost a post or two at some point. It can be frustrating (I usually yell a number of curse words at that point), but it's all part of using a computer.
 

Kylabelle

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(I usually yell a number of curse words at that point), but it's all part of using a computer.

Hmm. Maybe that's my problem. I didn't realize cursing at the computer was a key part of the skill set.

I *knew* I was missing something!

:D
 

alleycat

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I didn't realize cursing at the computer was a key part of the skill set.

Absolutely. If you don't swear before, you will soon learn to if you use a computer. Or a lawnmower.
 

Reziac

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Well, no, not exactly. If you are what vBulletin thinks of as inactive, your post can still be eaten.

I meant to add, "with odd exceptions"... it does occasionally decide to throw a person out for no visible reason. I wonder if it sometimes fails to read its cookies, or fails to send the right query to the browser -- since the what-do-you-mean-I'm-not-logged-in?! can be specific to a password (frex, here it rarely loses my base login, but it loses my SYW login about once a month).
 

Nekko

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Or you can change your preferences here to always stay logged in, which is what I do, partly because I'm lazy, and partly because this particular forum software has a tendency to randomly log folks out otherwise (probably a bug in the login timer). Anyway, staying logged in gets rid of the problem.
If you're on your own computer you can tick the Remember Me box next to the log in boxes and you won't be timed out. At least I never have been.

Not necessarily true. As long as I enter AW from my computer it recognizes me as already logged in (there may be something else actually going on in the background that Medievalist will knowingly know). Nonetheless, if too much time goes by, where the behind the scenes gremlins think I've been inactive, then when I try to submit, it tells me I'm logged out. If I had just decided to go to another thread, I wouldn't have gotten the message. It has to do with posting.

Well, no, not exactly. If you are what vBulletin thinks of as inactive, your post can still be eaten.
Yup ^^

You know, that's exactly what I tried at first. I did my work in Word, copied and pasted, and everything I'd highlighted came out unhighlighted. What I did next, was use the palette color selector--to achieve what I certainly do agree is too light, but what can be done about that now?

In the future, could I do my work in Word and put my comments in bold? That way, I could take as long as I like, and my work would be readable.

Poor Penguin Girl, I was only trying to help...
I think the platform the AW strips most formatting. So, if for example, you are posting a selection in SYW and you've used italics, you have to go back and re-insert them. Same goes for colors, and it doesn't like indents. (hence the reason you're told to put and extra space between paragraphs.
 

alleycat

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Did you understand what we meant by doing a copy when you're making a long post? It wouldn't be quite as failsafe as doing it on a separate file, but it would be more convenient.

Just use the copy function of your browser.
 
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