# Welcome! A Note About The New Software: Superscripts are here! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601 "2000-04-29T18:34:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/1 "2000-04-29T18:34:44Z")
I know a lot of the denizens of this forum will not go over to ATMB, because they care about the content of posts more than the style. This is, to my mind, a good thing. But there are a couple of things about the new sofware that you have to know. First, when imbedding a link in the “url” tags, it is now necessary to put quotation marks around the web address you want to link to. I complained about this to Vbulletin, the new vendor, but frankly the software is only a couple of weeks old and came together _very_ quickly, so I don’t think they’ll get to it anytime soon. For example, they only made the software work with WebTV a couple of days ago, so you can see that they’ve got bigger things on their minds than our quotation marks. I apologize that I was not successful in this. Second, you can now underline text the same way you bold or italicize, using “u” instead of “b” or “i” Third, the “email notification” has been upgraded. Now, if you choose that option, you will only receive _one_ email until you return to the thread, no matter how many replies you receive. This is a benefit for those who don’t get to the boards as often as they like, but haven’t previously clicked on “notification” for fear of receiving 85 emails if their topic got hot. Fourth, there is no automatic tag that indicates when I have edited a post. I do not like this very much, but again it is not something the vendor is likely to fix soon. In the meantime, if you notice that a post has been changed but there is no note from me or a site administrator, please email me at [manhattan91@hotmail.com](mailto:manhattan91@hotmail.com). It is my intent to _manually_ put in a note when I have edited a post, but I’ll need the occasional slap upside the head from you guys until I get good at it. Thanks for your attention, and enjoy the new, allegedly more stable message board. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/2 "2000-04-29T18:49:03Z")
Well that explains the weirdness over in the pirate thread, thanks manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/3 "2000-04-29T19:14:34Z")
In case you haven’t noticed, there is now a fully-functioning “preview” function. You can review your posts to make sure that your links, VBcode, quoting and whatnot are correct. The TM have been wanting and deserving this for a long time, and I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when I learned that the new software vendors actually cared enough about the needs of its customers to make this work. So preview away, folks! Also, “nested” quotes, or quotes within a quote, now works. But don’t go too crazy, because each nested quote starts a little further to the right. If you “over-nest” (say, more than two or three) the whole thread will scroll back and forth, making it much harder to read. So have some sympathy for the small-monitered out there. ---
**Author:** ![Mac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Mac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/4 "2000-04-29T20:13:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Third, the “email notification” has been upgraded. Now, if you choose that option, you will only receive _one_ email until you return to the thread, no matter how many replies you receive. This is a benefit for those who don’t get to the boards as often as they like, but haven’t previously clicked on “notification” for fear of receiving 85 emails if their topic got hot. > \*\* Is this working for anyone I’m getting multiple notifications. ---
**Author:** ![jdavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jdavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jdavis)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/5 "2000-04-29T20:24:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > Third, the “email notification” has been upgraded. Now, if you choose that option, you will only receive _one_ email until you return to the thread, no matter how many replies you receive. This is a benefit for those who don’t get to the boards as often as they like, but haven’t previously clicked on “notification” for fear of receiving 85 emails if their topic got hot. > > \*\* > > Is this working for anyone I’m getting multiple notifications. > \*\* What manhattan mentioned about only receiving a single notification is in a beta test version of vBulletin that we have not installed yet. The feature is coming but it’s not here yet. Jerry ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/6 "2000-04-29T23:39:03Z")
I jumped the gun on the email notification thing. If someone erroneously selected email notification and is being annoyed to distraction because of my error, drop me an email and I’ll find a way to fix it. Sorry about that. Oh, and a note about signature lines. With the new software, when you change your sig, it changes _globally_, including for posts made prior to the change (but not for posts prior to the software change). So if you change your sig to make it appropriate to a post or timely or whatever, be mindful that it also changes for prior posts. If I understood the chatter at the software company’s message board correctly, this feature is apparently a by-product of the database set-up of the software that is supposed to make the software more stable and faster, so changing it is not an option at this time. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/7 "2000-04-30T02:29:52Z")
I guess those who want change in their sig lines will have to go for the manual version for now ☹ OTOH, we will be able to change our sig lines to something really timely, then bump up old threads that show amazing presience on our parts. Every cloud truly does have a silver lining. (Hi. manhattan here. Sorry to interrupt, I’m trying an editing thing. I didn’t change the post except to add this aside.) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/8 "2000-05-01T14:31:49Z")
Just bumping this to the top of the forum list for the benefit of our weekday members. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/9 "2000-05-01T23:38:03Z")
Bumping again for evening visitors. ---
**Author:** ![johnpriest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@johnpriest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpriest)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/10 "2000-05-01T23:47:24Z")
Rather than bumping, can’t you make this one of the question mark threads? I thought that’s what they were for. ---
**Author:** ![johnpriest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@johnpriest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpriest)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/11 "2000-05-01T23:52:11Z")
Oops! Just read that you want the main notice post to be special for a while longer. My mistake. Well, it got boosted twice tonite, no extra charge. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/12 "2000-05-01T23:52:55Z")
When posting a reply, can we get the cursor to appear in the reply box with Netscape? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/13 "2000-05-02T21:40:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > When posting a reply, can we get the cursor to appear in the reply box with Netscape? > \*\* I don’t know the answer to that, **handy**. But there are several threads in “About This Message Board” dedicated to discussion of the new software. Perhaps someone over there can help. Oh, and can someone do me a favor and bump this thread at 10:00, 12:00 and if necessary 2:00? I especially want to get the word out about the quotation marks in URLs to people just coming back to the boards. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/14 "2000-05-02T22:26:08Z")
In addition to nested quotes, you can now nest lists. And with some careful coding you can incorporate bolding, etc. within your lists. Pretty darned cool, no? [ol] [li]Topic 1[/li][ul] [li]Sub-topic 1A[/li][li]Sub-topic 1B[/li][li]Sub-topic 1C[/li][/ul] [li]Topic 2[/li][ul] [li]Sub-topic 2A[/li][list] [li]\* Sub-topic 2A - Bulleted Item\*[/li][li]\*\* Sub-topic 2A - Bulleted Item\*\*[/li][li] Sub-topic 2A - Bulleted Item[/li][/ul] [li]Sub-topic 2B[/li][li]Sub-topic 2C[/li][/ol] [li]Topic 3[/li][/list] Apparently, lettered lists don’t work yet. They did over at the vBulletin site, but I think they are using v1.1.1. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/15 "2000-05-05T19:10:09Z")
One of the really cool things about this software is that we can do some customizing without resorting to a hack. So Jerry and his gang were kind enough to add for me (well, really for you) superscripts[sup]4[/sup] and subscripts[sub]5[/sub]. Create them the codes the same way you do quotes or italics, using {sup} and {/sup} or {sub} and {/sub} (but with straight not curly brackets as always, of course). Now go open a math or chemistry thread. And don’t forget to use “preview” till you get used to it. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/16 "2000-05-05T21:14:59Z")
Just giving this a _BUMP_ for all to see… ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/17 "2000-05-06T07:00:57Z")
Thanks, manhattan! This is so cool!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/18 "2000-05-06T17:13:12Z")
Of cO[sup]u[/sup][sub]r[/sub]Se So **me** _o[sub]n[/sub][sup]e[/sup]_ _**[sup]might[/sup]**_ [sub]want[/sub] **t\*O** g_O ReA_Ll[sub]Y[/sub] **CraZy** [sub]_wiTh_[/sub] **tHe** **n** eW [sup]feAtURes[/sup]. 🙂 ::: Sheepish look ::: Appologies, I couldn’t help myself, it just begged for this reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-a-note-about-the-new-software-superscripts-are-here/16601/19 "2000-05-06T18:25:55Z")
Hallelujia! Of course, I would have to see this just _after_ publishing my lengthy [treatise about FTL and time travel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23435) . Well, I’ll know for next time, and won’t **that** be nifty! 😃