# Problem children / punch list for fixes / TIPS AND TRICKS **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 22, 2020, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044 "2020-06-22T01:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/243 "2020-06-23T02:02:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Were you ever able to set a password? I haven’t been, not so far. I never got the email to set a password, not after many, many attempts. Once, I received one with a link that let me login to the board but didn’t prompt me to set a password. I think it set a cookie so I’m able to get back in but _only_ on this one computer. I’ve been emailing back and forth with TubaDiva and she’s escalated the issue to the development team. I don’t think you have a problem at all. I never got an explicit “password reset” screen – I just initially tried logging in with my usual username and old password and as expected, it didn’t work. So I clicked on “forgot password”, got the email, clicked on the link, and was back to the same login screen, where I repeated the process with the same password (which was, in effect, resetting it, since it displayed a green checkmark saying “password OK”). Then I was in. Later, I logged in on my Android tablet using the same (original) password and that worked fine, too. As for not getting emails, is it possible they’re being nuked by a spam filter or winding up in your junk mail folder? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/244 "2020-06-23T02:10:50Z")
I liked the Dope because I could _read_ it; yanno, read a bunch of text/replies then press & read a bunch more. Now, almost 45% of my screen (horizontally) is white space & you basically need to keep your finger on the mouse at all times. At _best_, I’m seeing three posts on the monitor at once, & that’s only if they are single sentence posts. Not being able to resolve that _will_ cause me to leave; it’s really a fundamental difference in how we interact with the page. I don’t typically have my hand on the mouse at all time, & right now, that looks like it need to be the case. > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > It needs to be done with a theme. I use an auto-zoom extension to automatically zoom the page in by 20%, so that helps some. What theme are you using for that? The posted hours/days/week/months/years ago is quite annoying. Can that be changed with a skin? > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > I’m assuming that the search index hasn’t completed yet. Maybe that explains why I wasn’t able to find threads that I had started in the past ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/245 "2020-06-23T02:18:10Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > > > It needs to be done with a theme. I use an auto-zoom extension to automatically zoom the page in by 20%, so that helps some. > > What theme are you using for that? I’m using Light right now, but the extension is for the browser. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/246 "2020-06-23T02:32:46Z")
I’ve seen quite a few complaints about “wasted” horizontal white space. It really doesn’t bother me although I have a fairly large widescreen monitor, because I typically have various other windows open and my browser width doesn’t sprawl across the whole screen. I think the idea of keeping the text to a maximum width is to facilitate readability. You don’t see newspapers with body text spanning spanning the whole width of the page! I have a bigger complaint with what I consider the amount of wasted white space vertically. The original SDMB VB skin (not that God-awful Sultan’s Theme thing) seemed much tighter, with I think slightly smaller and more elegant type and less white space inside and between posts. Both, however, I think are relatively minor problems compared to some of the other stuff that the staff and developers are probably overwhelmed with at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/247 "2020-06-23T03:17:21Z")
The message wasn’t ending up in the spam folder. It just wasn’t sending one. But I finally got it tonight and was finally able to set a password. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/248 "2020-06-23T03:49:54Z")
I just posted this in the “vBulletin or Discourse” poll thread. FWIW, it may be a useful tip or trick for someone, so I’ll re-post it for posterity here: > [@Vbulletin or Discourse](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-or-discourse/912161/20): > > > [@Vbulletin or Discourse](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-or-discourse/912161/9): > > > > We can all be Discourse Einsteins but we are losing some features. For example, we cant preview posts with our mouse, we lose posting numbers which makes it harder to find individual posts in long threads, no more pages, maximum number of characters in a post etc. > > Actually, you can get directly to any post in a thread, with just a little bit of trouble. > > First, you have to know the post number you want to find. For example, if somebody posts a remark like “See post #9 above” and you want to go there. > > Now, go to the address bar at the top of your browser. It may have an address something like: > “https: // boards . straightdope . com / t / vbulletin-or-discourse / 912161 / 15” > (I’ve added some spaces here so it will show the actual URL.) Notice the 912161 and the 15 at the end. The 912161 is the thread number. The 15 is the post number you are currently looking at. Just modify the address to have the post number you want to go to (e.g., 9 instead of 15) and it will take you to that post. To be sure, would be nicer if this number was displayed with each post as in vB. > > If you are looking at a post and want to see its post number and entire URL, click on the links icon at the bottom of the post, and it will pop up a box showing all that. For example, THIS post is #20. (ETA: Interesting that a quote box copied from one thread into another thread gets the quoted user’s name wrong, and also loses the link-back. It put the thread title there instead.) (ETA-2: But if you click on the thread title at the top of the quote box (where the quoted user’s name should be), it does take you to the correct post of the correct thread. Go figure.) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/249 "2020-06-23T05:19:50Z")
##### Broken quote blocks The ones I noticed, which did not get converted correctly, had mixed-case tags, like this: ```auto [QUOTE] In the central room, there was a wall. The walls had thirty-one flat bottom tiles, two fixed lower tiles, and one fixed upper tile. On the front of the wall there were five square or central squares, two at each corner. Each square had five raised walls, three at the corners, and one to the north of the central square. These raised walls were six-by-four, six-by-five, or six-by-six meters, depending upon the roundness of the square. [/quote] ``` Test (seems to work now?) > [@](#): > > Grumbling aside, I began the ritual. Leaping over the memorial stone (and it should go without saying that the stone was clearly from another era), I aligned myself with the circle of five candles and then concentrated. > [@](#): > > My eyes closed and all the smoke of the candles coalesced into a single prismatic glaze that was mixed with the other two elements to form a sticky, amber-colored mist. I let it spread throughout my body, enveloping me completely and forcing my vision to disappear into a haze. I closed my eyes and stopped focusing. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/250 "2020-06-23T05:31:45Z")
I still haven’t been able to change it. I’m going to work on it more, but so far I’m logged in on my computer in a password-less state but cannot log in on my phone, which is a bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/251 "2020-06-23T12:34:43Z")
I recommend contacting TubaDiva. Also, try to login again, perhaps in a private window so the cookie is reset. I did last night after a full day of it not working and all of sudden it worked. Now the only remaining issue is that DiscourseHub on my iPhone says I need to enable cookies on my browser so I haven’t been able to get the app to work yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/252 "2020-06-23T12:55:28Z")
The notification problem is what I’m interested in as well. If I “watch” a thread, I get notified about every single post. If I don’t watch it, I don’t get any. I’m sad about all the threads I was previously subscribed to, because if the conversation has continued, I’m missing it. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/253 "2020-06-23T13:00:46Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’m sad about all the threads I was previously subscribed to, because if the conversation has continued, I’m missing it. [It’s being worked on](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permalinks-bookmarks-a-note-from-the-development-team/912127). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/254 "2020-06-23T13:02:30Z")
Ah, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/255 "2020-06-23T14:30:14Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > [It’s being worked on](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/permalinks-bookmarks-a-note-from-the-development-team/912127). They’re working on fixing links in the converted posts. I didn’t see anything about migrating our subscribed threads. I think those are gone. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/256 "2020-06-23T14:33:42Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > They’re working on fixing links in the converted posts. I didn’t see anything about migrating our subscribed threads. I think those are gone.  Oh. That’s not what permalinks/bookmarks are? They may be gone, then. Drat. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/257 "2020-06-23T14:40:47Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > Oh. That’s not what permalinks/bookmarks are? They may be gone, then. Drat. Yeah, it’s a bummer. There’s probably some way to grab a user’s subscriptions and either create bookmarks on all those threads or set them all to Watching status, so I’d think it’s a solvable problem. Whether that’s something they’re willing to spend resources on, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/258 "2020-06-23T14:52:40Z")
Does anyone know how the hell to include an off-board quote (say, from a newspaper article) and also include paragraphs? When I use the quote tag, and have a single paragraph, it works fine, but using paragraphs breaks the tag. For example, these two paragraphs from a New York Times article. If I just cut and paste them and add the quote tags, I get this: [quote]“I think we may have let our guard down a little bit,” said Julie Gibbs, the Riley County health officer. Several athletes at Kansas State University, which is in the county, have tested positive for the virus in recent days, and a majority of new cases have been in young adults. Louisiana logged another 393 new cases on Monday, a trend seen after a period of sustained declines. Gov. John Bel Edwards said it was not yet safe for businesses to reopen more fully. He noted that about 90 percent of new cases were coming from community spread, not nursing homes or other group living facilities.[/quote] But if I eliminate the paragraphs, I get this: > [@](#): > > “I think we may have let our guard down a little bit,” said Julie Gibbs, the Riley County health officer. Several athletes at Kansas State University, which is in the county, have tested positive for the virus in recent days, and a majority of new cases have been in young adults. Louisiana logged another 393 new cases on Monday, a trend seen after a period of sustained declines. Gov. John Bel Edwards said it was not yet safe for businesses to reopen more fully. He noted that about 90 percent of new cases were coming from community spread, not nursing homes or other group living facilities. This is fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/259 "2020-06-23T14:57:40Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > This is fucked up. You have to put the [quote] and [/quote] tags on lines by themselves. > [@](#): > > “I think we may have let our guard down a little bit,” said Julie Gibbs, the Riley County health officer. Several athletes at Kansas State University, which is in the county, have tested positive for the virus in recent days, and a majority of new cases have been in young adults. > > Louisiana logged another 393 new cases on Monday, a trend seen after a period of sustained declines. Gov. John Bel Edwards said it was not yet safe for businesses to reopen more fully. He noted that about 90 percent of new cases were coming from community spread, not nursing homes or other group living facilities. That said, any off-board sources might have weird spacing or hidden characters that you’ll have to fix. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/260 "2020-06-23T15:08:50Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > You have to put the [quote] and [/quote] > tags on lines by themselves. Thanks, but this seems fucking stupid to me. Especially since you _don’t_ actually have to do that with a single paragraph, but you **do** have to do it with multiple paragraphs. Single paragraphs work fine with the [quote] tags directly before and after the text. That’s not how a markup language is supposed to work. The idea of an open/close tag in a markup language is that it shapes whatever is between the opening and closing tags. Why should the tags themselves need to be on a separate line for some types of quoted material (multiple paragraphs), but not for other types of quoted material (single paragraphs)? Imagine if, for example, you could only use the \< p \> \< /p \> tag in HTML if it were entered on a separate line than the text it is enclosing? ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/261 "2020-06-23T15:12:07Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > > > You have to put the [quote] and [/quote] > > tags on lines by themselves. > > Thanks, but this seems fucking stupid to me. Especially since you _don’t_ actually have to do that with a single paragraph, but you **do** have to do it with multiple paragraphs. Single paragraphs work fine with the [quote] tags directly before and after the text. > > That’s not how a markup language is supposed to work. The idea of an open/close tag in a markup language is that it shapes whatever is between the opening and closing tags. Why should the tags themselves need to be on a separate line for some types of quoted material (multiple paragraphs), but not for other types of quoted material (single paragraphs)? Imagine if, for example, you could only use the \< p \> \< /p \> tag in HTML if it were entered on a separate line than the text it is enclosing?  Ok. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044/262 "2020-06-23T15:17:42Z")
You can use the “Blockquote” button on the editor. It’s between “Link” and “Code” and in the shape of two quote marks. Just like you would with a link, first paste your text, highlight it, and then click the button. It will show up as a quote. > Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec tristique lorem a porta aliquet. Maecenas sed dui in diam bibendum molestie. Quisque a tellus sed mi dapibus facilisis pellentesque a est. Fusce vehicula fermentum venenatis. Donec elit ex, malesuada sit amet placerat et, accumsan sed nibh. Quisque gravida ut nulla nec placerat. Praesent mauris ligula, mattis non leo a, molestie fermentum enim. Phasellus eget ex sed dolor viverra auctor at ut eros. Proin cursus vehicula tempus. Morbi faucibus eros et mi tristique porta. Nunc molestie pharetra sapien convallis scelerisque. Curabitur pulvinar tellus hendrerit nisl sodales volutpat. Suspendisse semper ut turpis nec mollis. > > Suspendisse in orci pellentesque, interdum nulla porta, elementum augue. Praesent elementum et lectus bibendum ultricies. Maecenas convallis, augue non dapibus porta, mauris odio suscipit libero, vel aliquam lacus libero in dui. Quisque felis risus, varius sed venenatis egestas, euismod vel turpis. Donec nunc nisi, rhoncus ut lorem non, facilisis interdum tellus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Quisque molestie, erat et vehicula viverra, dui urna tempus velit, eget feugiat sem lorem vel tortor. Phasellus auctor posuere ex, ac ultrices leo euismod vel. Quisque hendrerit tempor erat, eu lacinia tortor scelerisque sagittis. Duis dictum purus et nunc auctor porttitor. Curabitur ac nisi id augue viverra pulvinar et vel tortor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-children-punch-list-for-fixes-tips-and-tricks/911044.md?page=14)