Latest site news

[ForumManager]

I've added captcha to the boards for registration and it also shows in  the two boards that allow guests to post.
This will hopefully deter spambots that can fill in forms automatically.

It gives the person an image with letters imbedded.
You've probably seen it elsewhere on the net.
If you encounter the captcha and experience any diffculties, please let me know.

To learn more about captcha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

[ForumManager]

If you noticed glitches recently - I  removed the bridge between the forum and the main site due to some minor issues and it caused the events list on the main site to glitch. It is back up and running.

Also the search form at the top of the MV pages wasn't working and a link has been added to the search page.  Don't know why it wasnt working.

Still muddling through the thousands of commuity links!

[ForumManager]

Front page update:

I thank you for your patience while I scramble the pages. 
You never know what your going to see when you visit!
I still can't get things to look exactly the way I'd like in Internet Explorer but Firefox likes me!

Well, I have finally figured out why the front page was loading so erratically.
I have totally revamped the site php template and tweaked at the CSS and broke the ties with the headers of this forum.

The site is using a content management system called joomla. 
http://joomla.org
I'm an HTML kinda gal so the PHP stuff is a challenge.  And on top of that, you need to insert modules here and there to get your stuff to go where you want and then adjust the styles for each module.  And then add plug ins for additional features.

And this is supposed to make life easier!! 

Are you still with me or have your eyes glazed over due to  my  ramblings?
If so, it only gets worse, so get out while you are still awake.
If not, I'll continue -

In reality it will make things easier  after I am done goofing around with it and finally decide on the final product.  I can't seem to be happy with anything right out of the box. There are hundreds of templates out there.... but nooooo,  that would be too easy.

joomla is actually supposed to link to this forum so membership can be shared, but at this point nothing on those pages requires membership.  I haven't restricted use of the sections in any way except for moderating content that is submitted. I tried to bridge the membership before the site went live and the joomla log ins were trashed.  I couldn't get into the site myself.

Community Links
Still removing, re categorizing, validating  - there are about 1800 links at this point.
It may take all summer!!  If you submit a link, try to avoid all those sub-categories under "no category."  It shouldn't show those categories  as a choice as they are not published yet. 
I am working on them.

Chat:
We had a chat feature on this forum but no one used it.
Is there any interest in having scheduled chats?  I'll post a poll.

Blogging:
I was considering adding wordpress for personal blogging, but it could get out of hand and drain  system resources and I wouldn't have any time to provide support.   
http://wordpress.com
is an excellent public blogging site and doesn't bother the visitors with ads.  It is the commercial face of the open source software, wordpress.
http://wordpress.org 
I am going to link to  blogs about the community and even personal blogs provided they are family friendly in the community links section of the site.  Submit your blog links!
http://mahoningvalley.info/index.php?option=com_bookmarks&Itemid=34&mode=0&catid=572&navstart=0&search=*

Ok, so I'm done blogging...  oops - you can't make comments on this board...
The first one might be.... 
Alright Already   - Quit Yer Yappin!

[ForumManager]

Compacting all this weeks news items into one post.

This week:

Is your Avatar (picture icon)  missing?
I moved all files from Ytownpc this week and all links redirect to the new site.  It was pointed out to me that one user avatar wasn't showing up.  If your avatar was uploaded and stored on the server, it might need to be reloaded to fix the path or the path might need to be changed from ytownpc.com to mahoningvalley.info. Sorry for any inconvenience. If you need any help, let me know.

Main site glitches:
If you see glitches on the main site, it is only due to the fact that I keep tryng to code sections while it is still online.  Probably not a good idea, but I do it sporadically. Sorry

New feature, Google translations:
Want to read the forums in French?  How bout German? Go to the main site, click on a flag and then after it translates, click on the forum link.  This is a beta test of the translation and it sometimes brings up a "not found" page.  This sometimes happens when you switch from one language to another.   I have a message posted at their support forum.


Sorry for any goofy screens in Internet Explorer:
I rarely check the pages in Internet Explorer.  I did today (June 28, 2006) after coding and realized the page was all jumbled. I usually check in Firefox.  I apologize -  I don't know how long it was like that.  Could have been goofy for weeks. I know better.