Admin_01

Reputation only shows as green (or red) on the activity stream display when the reputation value for a post is non-zero. Given that only a small percentage of posts have a reputation vote associated with them, most are zero values and display in monochrome. I believe that answers your original question/comment.

Screen captures are operating system specific. Since one is not needed, I won't bore you with the details at this time.

From Admin_01, with apologies:

Be advised that I have "split out" four posts from this thread and moved them to another forum (the Problems, Feedback and Suggestions forum). The general gist of those four posts is about issues related to the reputation functionality of this website. That kind of technical talk began with a side comment in a post by Chica de Chiriqui. Here is the post that began the sidebar conversation, with the relevant text bolded and highlighted:

I felt compelled to address this matter because it sounded like it could be a software fault in this website. The technical talk that resulted from that comment is clearly not related to the topic nor this forum. And so the splitting out.

This is just one example of why we have a Rule (#14) about staying on-topic. I am not accusing Chica de Chiriqui of dastardly deeds; this was just an innocent comment that kind of exploded on its own.

For the curious, if you wish to view this sidebar topic, please click here: http://www.chiriqui.life/topic/463-reputation-issues-in-a-long-thread/.

I need to be precise in my wording. Please do not be offended.

First of all, I have no clue what you refer to by the terms "home page" or "main page".

Registered members who are logged in are provided an option to "raise" (green) or "lower" (red) the reputation (that is the specific terminology used by our software application developers) of the poster (the originator) with respect to that post, with two exceptions. The first exception is that an originator is not permitted to vote on their own reputation. That scenario results in neither the green nor the red voting buttons (icons) appearing.

The second exception is that there is a daily limit of 25 green votes and a separate daily limit of 25 red votes for each member. For example, if a member is aggressively using their green votes on one particular day, when they get to the 25 limit, then the green (or red, or both) icons disappear until the next day. The 25 limit is configurable; I chose that number to provide a moderate amount of "throttling down" to guard against potential abuse.

Once a vote has been recorded, then the icon that was used disappears because they are allowed to raise or lower reputation only once per post. The unused icon remains visible because the "voter/reader" can change their mind and reverse their earlier vote back to neutral, or go even further to the opposite vote. Try it.

In the interest of full disclosure, the rightmost of the three icons is a running total of all votes for that post. That means that everyone can see the net sum of all votes for that post, but they can affect a change by only one number in either direction. If there are no votes, the that icon is zero and white colored. If the net is positive, the the net sum shows with a green icon, etc. No one is permitted to see who voted; they only see the net arithmetic sum.

If your experience with reputation votes and icons differs from the above description, then please provide me with screen captures.

Please clarify what you are referring to by "...the green indicator...".

Good suggestion, and there is a forum for exactly what you are wanting to do. Within the third major category of forums is one labeled Donations / Fundraising. Registered members are invited to use that forum to help Marion, and others based on their specific needs.

Note the description field for that forum, which is excerpted here:

"We suggest that postings be specific as to who is the intended recipient (by name and a general location of their residence), why they need help (e.g., accident, health crises, earthquake, flood, etc), what kind of help is needed (e.g., food, clothing, money, furniture, etc.), how and where to deliver the donations/funds, and who to contact in case of questions."

That is what the "Quote" at the bottom of each block is about.

There also is a "quote" option from a formatting perspective. When typing text, you can select a block of it, and then click on the " icon in the formatting bar.

Thanks for providing an alternative link. You are correct that this website blocks certain "high risk" protocols and codes; high risk refers to the ability of crackers* to pry open a website and do bad things. We prefer to keep our member's data safe.

Twin Wolf, you clearly are very good with Internet, computers, and software things, etc. Glad that you are here helping everyone. Thank you.

___________

*Contemporary terminology would have been the word "hacker" instead of "cracker" in this context. Hackers in times past were the good guys creating things and keeping people safe. But the terminology has shifted with the times due to bad press. I am from the old school (and obviously showing my age).

TwoSailors,

Assuming that we the management team (actually that means just my wife and myself) here at Chiriqui.Life are correctly understanding your posting, then yes, you have our approval and blessing to approach businesses anywhere in the Chiriqui Province about encouraging them to register and take advantage of this free website.

Our recommendation for commercial registrants is that they not focus on the bulletin board forums, but rather on the blog channel. They can couple their blog postings with the calendar for specific events that are associated with dates. The blog approach gives the blog owner more control over their content (and a bit fewer restrictions) but with all of the same notifications about new content that members see from other channels on this website. The final decision whether to use a blog or the forums is theirs, with the constraint that they would not be allowed to post in both a blog and the forums (that is called spamming). For the calendar events, rather than retyping all of the same information, just put a placeholder calendar entry for the specific dates and times, and a link to the blog posting. It really is a slick way to market their business.

Take a look at the blog for the Boquete Art Café as an example. They post on their blog, and the calendar for their special events. Here is the link to their blog: http://www.chiriqui.life/blogs/blog/16-boquete-art-café/.

Let us know if anyone needs assistance.

Thanks for this wonderful idea. We appreciate all of your help.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad that things are working as you need them to.

And thanks for using and promoting this website. We definitely appreciate you and the others who are making this a success.

FYI, registration is not required to view the content posted on this website. We are averaging about 30% of our readers are "guest" status. Guests have no posting privileges.

Bonnie,

Some people have asked for a means to provide feedback about events and/or ask questions about information that has been disseminated via News Boquete. That simply is not doable via the listserver technology used for News Boquete. We admit that it doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

Not only does having a copy of News Boquete emails on CL provide the feedback mechanism, but it also is a publicly accessible archive of those emails. Anyone can go back and check on something that previously had been read but deleted from their inbox.

It is a bit more work for Penny in her administrator role as NewsLady., but she does it without complaint. And what would we all do without Penny? She is such a gem for her contributions to our community.

P.S., Are you aware that you can "ignore" postings (and/or private messages and/or signatures) by specified members of your choosing? If you would like more information, please ask a question in our Questions and Answers forum.

The PanamaLinks "database" compiled by Bill Hazel has now been uploaded as a PDF file into the "Downloads" channel of this website. After doing this and noodling the end result, we are not really convinced that there is added value.

The two sides of the coin: Bill's information is in a spreadsheet format and stored on Google. It is readily accessible, and probably more easily accessible directly from Google. Further, if he were to update that information, then it would not be necessary to propagate those updates to other copies. On the other hand, there may be an issue for some in that they may not have a spreadsheet application that can present the information, whereas a PDF document is generally universally accessible by any device worldwide.

And so I leave everyone with a question: Should CL continue to have Bill's information on this website (in PDF format), or should we just keep pointing everyone to Google?

Responses to the above question would be preferred within this topic, but you may also send an email to support@chiriqui.life if you choose. And should Bill Hazel respond with his thoughts, his perspective would be given priority.

Keith,

I see that you are in a reflective mood today. I wish I had the luxury of doing that once in a while, but CL keeps us hopping.

Specifically to your question:

We here at CL (my wife and I) spent the month of September sequestered in a faraway place crafting the various governance documents for what was to become CL, and doing a lot of planning, design, configuration work, etc. Your question is one that we asked ourselves many times, not only during the time away, but weekly since the birth of CL. We actually put our answer to your question on CL for everyone to see. Note the date of that entry.

Here is an extract of the relevant section of our "Welcome Aboard" post, our answer to your question long before you asked it:

If anyone believes that we need to modify those words, please reply, either publicly or via private message.

If anyone wishes to see the entire post, here is the link:

TwoSailors,

A great question. The software used on this website (not that anyone other than myself really cares, but it is by Invision Power Services) provides for two "levels" of notifications to registered members. Both levels are turned on by the same button, specifically one that says "Follow this". See the below screen capture of the "Follow this" button. This particular screen capture indicates that one member is following that topic (see the number 1 in that image).

There are two levels because the "Follow this" button can be used either on an entire forum, or on a specific topic within a forum. The button looks the same in both cases.

The "Follow this" button is located on the right side at the top of a forum, or on the right side at the top of a topic. You get to decide whether you follow an entire forum, or just a specific topic within a forum. There is no limit to the number of forums or topics that a member can follow.

When you click on the "Follow this" button, you are given several choices as to how you wish to be notified. The default option is an immediate email to the email address used for your account. I leave to you the exercise of reviewing all of the notification options, and then decide for yourself what works best.

When you are following a forum or a topic, then the "Follow this" button changes to read "Following", and it typically displays the number of members who are following the forum or the topic (just in case you might be interested in knowing that information). If you click on the number following, then you get to see who else is following, unless they have blocked such disclosure.

The "Follow this" button is not available for an entire category; again only two levels: forums or topics. If you wish to follow all of the forums in a category, simply go through each forum and click on the "Follow this" button.

How does one manage their "Follow this" notifications? If you click on your Display Name (in the far upper right of the screen), a drop down menu will present itself. Select the "Notifications Settings" option, and then select the option that works best for you.

Finally, if you no longer wish to follow either a forum or a topic, then go back to that specific button (which now reads "Following"), and select the "Unfollow" option. I am not aware of an option to globally remove all of the "Follow this" selections.

Fran, you truly are gifted in many ways.

Carol,

Your kind offer only confirms that there are many nice people in our community. Thank you.

Two separate but closely related issues here.

First of all, the originator of the topic that you refer to was not buying or selling anything, but rather asking for advice. The classified ads category, in which the topic was originally posted, is not an advice forum; it is for buying and selling. That referenced topic has been relocated to the Public Utilities (Water, Sewer, Electricity, Propane, etc.) forum, which does allow for responses. This is not a big deal and is probably based on lack of familiarity with the structure of this website.

For reference purposes, if someone reading this reply wishes to see the original topic that caused this inquiry, please click here: http://www.chiriqui.life/topic/406-starting-propane-service-in-boquete/.

Secondly, we reiterate that classified ads do not allow for reader replies. This is a clearly documented policy for those forums so affected. There was an "Announcement" on this website beginning on October 24th running for three days that highlighted the Forum Specific Rule applying to classified ads. Note the following extract contained in each description of the classified ads forums:
 

...

Refer to http://www.chiriqui.life/topic/247-forum-specific-rules-for-classified-ads/ for the applicable Forum Specific Rules that apply to this forum.

If you click on the above link, you will see the applicable words for the Forum Specific Rule that applies to classified ads.

Bonnie, incidental to this review and response to your inquiry, and given the particular nature of one of the classified ad forums, specifically the Concierge Services / Help Desk forum, we have reconsidered the Forum Specific Rule, and removed the restriction to reader replies for that forum. This relaxation of the Forum Specific Rule for that one forum does not change the requirement that the content posted therein to be for buying or selling (or wanting to buy or sell), and not for asking for advice.

We appreciate your inquiry and hope that this response clarifies what was going on with regard to the topic that caused your inquiry. Actually this website continues to get better and "mature" based on your kind of inquiry. Much appreciated. Thank you.

It appears that you are confusing the physical calendars of several organizations with the online calendar function of this website. We do not know which organizational calendars that you are interested in. Please contact those organizations directly.

The calendar function on this website does in fact assume a physical location in the USA. Our recommendation is to just not fill in the location field in the calendar. Simply leave it blank.

The management of this website is attempting to integrate Bill Hazel's information into a dedicated "channel". Bill has a lot of good information. We are working to make it available to a much larger audience. It is just taking more time than we would like. Stay tuned for more information. We will definitely get it done.

But the Chrome browser gets only 2.5 stars. Will still give a try shortly.

I finally was able to set aside 10 minutes to test the use of a different browser on the iPad -- for the purpose of checking out the disappearing cursor and disappearing reply box.

i went to the App Store and chose Bing. The disappearing cursor/reply box problem occurred no more. It sure seems that this problem is in fact browser related.

However, using a new browser brings with it new problems. I am not familiar with Bing and its icons, etc. Further, Bing appears to be a search engine rather than a browser. It is an extremely fast search engine. I could get to our website, but not by typing in its URL address. Bing does a search on our URL, and then I have to click on its search results to go to our website. Not a major issue, but ... why do it that way?!. ?

On the lack of familiarity with Bing, it will get better with time. It is like the feedback I got/get about CL being not user friendly. I just need more experience with Bing.

Anyone got some other feedback on this problem?

Don Ray,

We will do as you wish and remove your blog.

Please continue to post content of significance on CL.

I was not aware that an iPad could use different browsers. Hmmm, something new learned again. Will check out the App Store.

And thanks for the tip.

De nada.