Pegasus Research Consortium

Board Business => Rules, Forum Structure, Terms and Conditions => Topic started by: zorgon on October 05, 2011, 04:28:45 pm

Title: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on October 05, 2011, 04:28:45 pm
Forum Tips

1) Avatars
You can upload your own avatar. If you need help contact anyone in admin or the mods
We will be adding a directory of avatars to chose from that is updates as we find new ones

Settings are under 'profile' ==> 'modify' ==> 'forum profile'

Maximum size 100 wide x 250 tall (that is the same proportion as the ATS background. Any image larger than that the forum will reduce it to that size. Pay heed to proportions though

2) PM Popup
You can set a popup notification request to let you know if a PM just came in
'profile' ==> 'modify' ==> 'personal messages'

3) Images

We still get a lot of questions about posting images, so let me try to clear that up.

Most forums use the same BBC code as a standard, though there are a few exceptions. And not all forums use it the same way.

Here in the post area you will see this image (http://www.thelivingmoon.com/forum/Themes/WoW_2/images/bbc/img.gif)

When you click on that it will place {img}{/img} into your post with the cursor left between. Simply paste the url of the picture and your done.

Some points to remember

1. Adding Pictures
You cannot add a picture from your computer without first uploading it to an image host. We are working on our own gallery that is free of tracking but that will take some time yet. So you will need an image hosting account like Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) or Image Shack (http://imageshack.us/)

2. Image Size
The forum is set to automatically re-sizes images to a maximum width of 640, but you can 'right mouse click' and 'view image' or save it to get the original size. The auto size does not always work on PNG format so you won't see the whole image

2a. A Trick
For advance users you can wrap a URL around the IMG tags so when someone click on the image it will take them to the original source  like this:

(http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fantasy_art_scenery_wallpaper_cliff_cramp_01-300x187.jpg) (http://www.presidiacreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/fantasy_art_scenery_wallpaper_cliff_cramp_01.jpg)

This works on ANY forum and can be useful for many things... like

DON'T PUSH THIS BUTTON

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Red_button.png) (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber/cyber)

Okay so I TOLD you not to do it, you just HAD to right?

 ::)

The coding is; ( just change the {} to [ ]

{url=http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber/cyber}{img}http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Red_button.png{/img}{/url}

3. Copyright
Whenever pasting a picture that isn't yours, or known to be in public domain (Ex: NASA, Military, Free Art and Photos) please add credit below the photo and/or a source. This is just common courtesy and with SOPA and ATCA and other such things coming into effect, its the law and can get a site shut down

4. Bandwidth
 Bandwidth is not as much an issue as it used to be as must good servers now no longer charge for it. Our server offers unlimited bandwidth ans storage. However this is not the case for all countries and all websites. Some still pay for the bandwidth. So if posting full size images in a direct link, you are using their bandwidth and they have to pay for it.

Now imagine a big site that has 1000's of viewers all looking at that image on this site. They pay for the server but don't get the benefit of the visits. So a small copy and a link is good etiquette.

Any questions PM admin. Further tips will be added as they crop up via questions
Title: Re: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on February 18, 2012, 03:28:33 pm
4)Pasting URLs with Text Link

Plasma life forms (https://www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms)

A link posted like that looks a lot neater, expecially when the link is long. See the post below on fixing long links especially those with google tracking in them

So how to do that?

1)  Type your text.... Plasma life forms

2) Drag mouse over an highlight that text...

3) Click on this symbol... (http://www.thelivingmoon.com/forum/Themes/WoW_2/images/bbc/url.gif)

You will get this.... Note you will see the [ ] brackets

{url}Plasma life forms{/url}

Place your cursor between the l and the ] of the first {url} type = and paste url. It will look like this...

{url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms}Plasma life forms{/url}

Result is this...

Plasma life forms (https://www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms)

You can also wrap it with other codes, like size and bold (not color as the Url link text overides it)

{size=12pt}{b}{url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms}Plasma life forms{/url}{/b}{/size}

Result is this...

Plasma life forms (https://www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms)

5) Wrap and Click

When inserting an image or a quote, or text, color, size etc  you can click on the code and your cursor will appear between the code  {img}{/img}  That will appear in the post and just paste your text or images at the cursor point and your done

The other way is to highlight the text or image THEN click on the appropriate code box. I find that faster and easier to add color and size after typing the post
Title: Re: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on February 18, 2012, 03:49:46 pm
Google Tracking and Pasting Links

This is a lesson on using goodle search. I see many people pasting huge links that don't always work in forums so I wanted to put this here to point to it later

When you do a google search for anything, say VLC Player

1) Lets look at the search results...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_001.jpg)

You will see the first results are in a yellow box. Those are paid for ads and rarely are the original company, but some other outfit trying to lure you in. It is best to ALWAYS go to the source, which in this case is the first WHITE pages listing

2) Google tracking links

If you click on the link and visit the site... you will get this link (spaces added to allow link viewing)

http:// www. videolan.org/vlc/

That is the clean direct link and the one you want to post in a thread

If you 'copy link location' you will get...

http:// www.google.com/url? sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CEcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. videolan.org%2Fvlc%2F&ei=nR5AT5jgAaaw2QW_o_T_Bw&usg=AFQjCNHhAJ3QZ6KepVQi6V4S-8QzwYZeMA&sig2=pdSKgBbhiaINZEoLa7wPmg

Quite a mess eh? And all those extras don't work in many forums... so always use the clean link

3) Free Software Download Sites

Many official software companies do use software share sites to host their free versions... so lets look at one of those links in the YELLOW pages... clicking on the first one you go to the site... and see it is a legitimate copy... here is the link

http:// www.downloadster.org/vlc.php? option=z&catid=&kw=vlc+player+download+free&custr=VLC+player+download+free&lptype=3&mkwid=smdxzRMrK&aid=13&s=&cust=VLC+player+download+free_AD_www.google.com_&channel=&subid=DSTVL_afirefox&roia=!j4A4vq1BAAKLOkMAAAltVQAAbPdCAABx7Q-A

Again all that tracking data added to it... you can see it has my browser listed and a sub ID. This is how they direct target advertising to YOU based on what you search for

But see the ? mark in that line.. just remove everything from that and forward so you only have this...

http:// www.downloadster.org/vlc.php

I used this example because VLC Player is free and plays ALL media formats

VLC Player Download (http://www.downloadster.org/vlc.php)

4) Google Search embeds

Say you are searching for a topic and want to share the search result page... like say "Plasma life forms" :D

Here is the search page url...

https:// www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

You don't need all that and some symbols will mess up the post. See that first & sign? Remove it and everything after...

https:// www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms

Plasma life forms (https://www.google.com/search?q=Plasma+life+forms)

5) Google Link Shortener

A lot of government and other sites have very long file names for documents... When that happens use the google link shortener

Google URL Shortener (http://goo.gl/)

You simply paste the long link into the box and copy the short link provided on the right. It also saves your links in case you need them again
Title: Re: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on February 18, 2012, 05:10:35 pm
Google Image Search

Google has installed a new feature that many are not aware of... That is search by image. This has many uses. sometimes it is a lot easier to find good articles via an image search. But with this tool you can find:
1) the SOURCE of the image
2) different sizes of that image
3) links to the original story with that image

Many people and news media just use images at random for illustration and decoration, and the image does not always go with the story. That makes it hard to get the real facts. How many times have you seen someone post an image with no source?

Well those days are OVER :D below are the steps and results

1) Type in your search

Say I am looking for Faeries of Elves.. (I LIKE Faeries and elves :P )

So type faeries into google search (yeah you all know this part :P ) the default search is 'everything' but you want 'images'

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a1.jpg)

Result looks like this....

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a.jpg)

2) Select the image you want...

For this demo I picked one deliberately that was a small webpage size version...  and I like it anyway so need a bigger better copy for the archive.

(http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Fairies-fairies-171683_300_370.jpg)

3) Refined Image Search.

Okay here is where we get the results... see the little camera icon in the search bar at the right? Well click on that camera...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a2.png)

Result....

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a3.jpg)

4) Copy the URL of that image...

and paste it into that new search box (as I already did in the sample above)

http:// images.fanpop. com/images/image_uploads/Fairies-fairies-171683_300_370.jpg

Results....

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002b.jpg)

In this first capture of the result page above you will see the image you picked and beside it you will see the images size of your copy and options;
Find other sizes of this image:
All sizes - Medium - Large

If you select 'All Sizes' it will show you a list of images with the biggest and best available listed first;

Results...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002c.jpg)

So selecting that first image... I now have a copy that is 1024 x 1265 size and a fantastic images for my collection :D

(http://nsm05.casimages.com/img/2011/08/24//1108240802551369018635551.jpg) (http://nsm05.casimages.com/img/2011/08/24//1108240802551369018635551.jpg)
Click on image for full size

PS this is another trick with images... including (wrapping) it in a link, explained in an earlier post. Its a way to include a full size image when the forum only allows 640 wide max by default
Title: Re: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on February 18, 2012, 05:31:10 pm
5) Visually Similar search

Now back to the results of the first search...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002b.jpg)

At the bottom you will see that the search also produces;

Visually similar images (http://goo.gl/o539q)

Click on the above link and it will bring up images that match in similar style color and overall appearance. And as you can see it brings a lot more images of the same type that I might not have found otherwise...

Couple of examples..

(http://shadowness.com/file/item4/96811/image_t6.jpg)

(http://pixelcurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/SongOfTheElvenWoods40.jpg)

Now these ones have text and watermark, so I will have to do another search and see if I can find a clean copy... but you get the idea on how useful this feature can be...

6) Source and Documentation

Now in the second half of the original search results, below the Visually Similar section, you will see this...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002d.jpg)

That is a listing of every website that is using this image....

So you can goo through that list and find the original source, title and any interesting articles or sites that are using that image

There are also two other points...

1) If an image is used on many websites, there is a good chance (but not guaranteed) that the image is in public domain or at least the artist is not concerned over copyright issues on a web copy

2) anyone can quickly find out if THEIR image has been used on any site without permission. If laws like SOPA get passed, you can bet your last dollar that some lawyers will sit on a computer and do just that... search for unauthorized usage

In the case of this image there are thirteen pages of sites that are using this picture. One is funny... a Spanish site using this as a picture of an Angel.... I guess they missed the pointed ears  :o  ;D

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002e.jpg)

So I hope that explains it clearly and you will now all be experts at searching for, identifying and posting images with sources :D
Title: Re: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on May 25, 2012, 01:46:32 am
Google Image Search

Google has installed a new feature that many are not aware of... That is search by image. This has many uses. sometimes it is a lot easier to find good articles via an image search. But with this tool you can find:
1) the SOURCE of the image
2) different sizes of that image
3) links to the original story with that image

Many people and news media just use images at random for illustration and decoration, and the image does not always go with the story. That makes it hard to get the real facts. How many times have you seen someone post an image with no source?

Well those days are OVER :D below are the steps and results

1) Type in your search

Say I am looking for Faeries of Elves.. (I LIKE Faeries and elves :P )

So type faeries into google search (yeah you all know this part :P ) the default search is 'everything' but you want 'images'

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a1.jpg)

Result looks like this....

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a.jpg)

2) Select the image you want...

For this demo I picked one deliberately that was a small webpage size version...  and I like it anyway so need a bigger better copy for the archive.

(http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Fairies-fairies-171683_300_370.jpg?1337935564136)

3) Refined Image Search.

Okay here is where we get the results... see the little camera icon in the search bar at the right? Well click on that camera...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a2.png)

Result....

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002a3.jpg)

4) Copy the URL of that image...

and paste it into that new search box (as I already did in the sample above)

http:// images.fanpop. com/images/image_uploads/Fairies-fairies-171683_300_370.jpg

Results....

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002b.jpg)

In this first capture of the result page above you will see the image you picked and beside it you will see the images size of your copy and options;
Find other sizes of this image:
All sizes - Medium - Large

If you select 'All Sizes' it will show you a list of images with the biggest and best available listed first;

Results...

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/Vault/Lesson_002c.jpg)

So selecting that first image... I now have a copy that is 1024 x 1265 size and a fantastic images for my collection :D

(http://nsm05.casimages.com/img/2011/08/24//1108240802551369018635551.jpg) (http://nsm05.casimages.com/img/2011/08/24//1108240802551369018635551.jpg)
Click on image for full size

PS this is another trick with images... including (wrapping) it in a link, explained in an earlier post. Its a way to include a full size image when the forum only allows 640 wide max by default
Title: Re: Forum Tips
Post by: zorgon on April 27, 2013, 11:13:13 am
Youtube Videos

When posting a youtube video in a post or PM all you need is the video ID number.  YT links, like many other links have additional coding that adds play lists, tracking and other things. In one case the additional tags even shut down a computer.  THIS link

http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbczumNeedE&NR=1&feature=endscreen

When posting a video just take the ID which is everything AFTER the first = sign and BEFORE any & sign  so in this case the video ID is  PbczumNeedE

Paste that number into the YT icon in the post  (http://www.thelivingmoon.com/forum/Themes/WoW_2/images/bbc/youtube.gif)

And you get a clean video without all the ads and tracking added.

Or you can use the whole url  just remove the & sign and everything AFTER like this

http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbczumNeedE

Added tip 1

If you want to link a YT video in YT comments just post  "watch?v=PbczumNeedE"  Most people will figure that out ;)

Added tip 2

If you want to post a video link that starts at a certain time...

Pause the video at the time you want to show...

Right mouse click on the video while paused and select "copy video url at current time"

then paste the link...

Clicking on this link will take you to the relevant point in the video  in this case 141 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9QDnFsNTkRM#t=141s