# ARSE (two pits in one excel and SDMB) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772 "2008-08-12T20:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/1 "2008-08-12T20:29:36Z")
ONE… This aborted GQ is self explanatory… > [@](#): > > Even though I have cells formated as ‘text’ it is displaying long numbers like this… > > 4.3487634+11 > > Yet the blurb about ‘text’ (which micro-noyingly can’t be selected so now I have to type it) is - “text format cells are treated as text even when a number is in the cell. the cell is displayed exactly as entered” > > and the text is entered like this (in the bit near the top) > > fake edit: THAT IS UNTIL I DECIDED TO MAKE A THREAD ABOUT IT - EXCEL DECIDED TO COMPLY! TWO… Either I am paranoid, or the SDMB tends to choose it’s moments well for timing out - such as inevitably when **Lobsang** is trying to make a pit thread ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/2 "2008-08-17T16:39:46Z")
What an appropriate place to post about how we can’t post new threads. Not complaining. There is an announcement about it so it’s not an error. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/3 "2008-08-17T16:48:52Z")
Sorry to hijack your thread a moment, Lobsang, but what the heck is going on? Now that the board is back on line, apparently, I now only have privileges to _reply_ to threads. If I try to start a new thread I get that blasted message telling me that I don’t have permission to access blah blah blah. Is it just me? ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/4 "2008-08-17T16:50:25Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] Sorry to hijack your thread a moment, Lobsang, but what the heck is going on? Now that the board is back on line, apparently, I now only have privileges to _reply_ to threads. If I try to start a new thread I get that blasted message telling me that I don’t have permission to access blah blah blah. Is it just me? [/QUOTE] No, I can’t either. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/5 "2008-08-17T16:52:32Z")
Oh, and on your original GQ–not sure if it applies to your situation, but I’ve learned to rely heavily on “paste special”/“paste as value” and sometimes a function like “=LEFT()” in order to get things in a consistent text format. Zee Excel, she is like zee ocean, I love her but I do not trust her. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/6 "2008-08-17T16:55:20Z")
There was a sticky earlier, which isn’t there anymore apparently, that due to database issues, nobody could post new threads. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/7 "2008-08-17T16:57:26Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] Sorry to hijack your thread a moment, Lobsang, but what the heck is going on? Now that the board is back on line, apparently, I now only have privileges to _reply_ to threads. If I try to start a new thread I get that blasted message telling me that I don’t have permission to access blah blah blah. Is it just me? [/QUOTE] No problem. That’s why I bumped it so that people could hijack - since they can’t open new threads. I wonder when we’ll be able to. I have one ready to post. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/8 "2008-08-17T16:58:35Z")
Mother pus bucket . . . ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/9 "2008-08-17T17:02:24Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] Sorry to hijack your thread a moment, Lobsang, but what the heck is going on? Now that the board is back on line, apparently, I now only have privileges to _reply_ to threads. If I try to start a new thread I get that blasted message telling me that I don’t have permission to access blah blah blah. Is it just me? [/QUOTE] It’s fixed now. Everyone can post threads again. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/10 "2008-08-17T17:02:57Z")
[QUOTE=SkipMagic] It’s fixed now. Everyone can post threads again. [/QUOTE] Beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arse-two-pits-in-one-excel-and-sdmb/459772/11 "2008-08-18T02:37:10Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Either I am paranoid, or the SDMB tends to choose it’s moments well for timing out [/QUOTE] It sometimes just overloads on surplus apostrophes and has to be rebooted to clear them out.