M6NEN

Hi.

I see a label on the Xisto homepage saying "Free Web Hosting Xisto offers Free Web Services to its active Forum Members".

I know I have had conversations about this subject (just informally) on here in the past with a mod and an admin, however, that was a while ago and I don't think (please correct me if I am wrong) any of the free hosting intentions was official yet at that time.

However, I can't seem to (apart from the label on the homepage) any more information about the Free Hosting feature.

You might argue "Check the other topics", I tried, but the dates seem a bit far in the past, and indedd, the information I read there seems a bit outdated (Apologies if I got it wrong).

So, if possible, could someone point me into the right direction or give me some further information about the Free Hosting for Forum Members here?

Thank you in advance.

An old topic, but since I have been absent here for a while (the body wouldn't co-operate as much as it should have), I might as well cut in.

"A certain person" ? uses "artist's freedom" which is really called "poetic license", however, I do not see the issue with using the word "do" in the given context.

At first, I wasn't sure, but I assumed "Invision" referred to a company, which has now been confirmed.

In that case we are dealing with something which you learn about rather early in school called a "collective noun", ie. a single word which refers to a collection such as a company, a football team, a school, etc.

In tha case, grammatically, that noun can be used in the 3rd person plural ("they") as, although we are talking about the one object as if we would be addressing one person, this one object still comprises a number (collection) of people, hence the name collective noun.

So, it is perfectly correct to say "Celtic play a good game today" or "Celtic are playing a good game today", because, although we are referring to one football team, we are still talking about one team that has 11 players in it, that is why we use a plural form.

Hope that clears up a bit of confusion.

I really have not got the slightest clue.

In the page where the code refused to work, there was only some basic HTML, only some paragraphs of text, while the code on the working page was more complicated (including Bootstrap 4 cards and more).

It is really a mystery to me too.

3 hours ago, OpaQue said:

You only said, Your code works in One Browser but fails in another. So just use Javascript to make it work in the browser where it does not work.

No, what I said was "My code works in Chrome on one website and will not work on another".

I know that Chrome has disabled autostart of audio and video with sound since April, but other browers still allow it.

Funny enough, I managed to solve it without any Javascript.

The trick was simply to use an iframe and it starts immediately.

Very weird, I must admit.

Thanks for your help anyway.

20 hours ago, OpaQue said:

If Chrome is not liking auto-play Media, There is only solution using Javascript. 

I do agree whole heartedly, but not being an expert in Javascript, setting this up could prove a bit problematic for me.

However, what I just cannot understand is that, on another site, it works perfectly, and, setting it up on the current site I am working on, using exactly the same code I used on the other website, it just refuses to work.

Strange, very strange.

Sure, why don't we do that?

Because those ads and popups (not necessarily music, being a musician) do my head in and often serve no purpose whatsoever except to annoy people, or leading to useless sites or broken links or even filling your machine with spyware and such rubbish.

See, I can even answer seriously to sarcasm.

There is one thing I NEVER put on my websites and that is popups or third party ads or similar rubbish, apart from the cookies banner at the top or bottom, which has now become an obligation according to EU privacy rules and only occurs on a visitor's first visit (unless (s)he clears his/her cookies).

And, for users with some sense, what would be the use, they would use (as I do) a popup blocker anyway.

While I know that some "serious" sites still make use of these kind of things, they are definitely not my thing at all, so I am definitely not going to implement them.

2 minutes ago, yordan said:

OK, I understand. However, I want to master whether music should be playing or not while I am looking at a webpage.

Moreover, sometimes when I am at work, sometimes I need help and I use to ask google. Some results arise, and If I click on the wrong link, it should start no music, else I will not  be considered as a serious worker and I will loose my job.

Oh dear, another one joining the dole queue then.

Bad thing for the economy, i would say.

However, this question was meant to be technical, not about the philosophies of life or what people like or not while surfing.

Just a question about how to deal with a certain issue, and, moreover, expressing my astonishment about how exactly the same HTML code can work on one web page and not on another.

That is all it was, in other words, that is what the topic was (choosing my words carefully this time).

Since my real intelligence is failing, I might try it with the artificial stuff, who knows?

OK, granted,

but this is not about a spam window or an annoying popup (which I hate as well) opening up.

It is only a piece of music playing while you are looking at the page.

Since April 2018, Google Chrome decided to stop allowing media files (be it video with sound or just sound files) to start automatically on a website.

This time (this rarely happens) I have been caught out.

The problem is, I have a website where I want an mp3 file to start playing automatically when the page loads (invisible, with no controls), and I, myself use Google Chrome 68.0.3440.106 (the latest version at the time of posting).

To my astonishment, when the page loads, nothing happens, and I say "to my astonishment", as I have used exactly the same code as I used on another web page, where the MP3 file DOES play as expected.

The code is:

 <audio autoplay>
    <source src="xxx/xxxxx.ogg" type="audio/ogg">
    <source src="xxxc/xxxxx.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
  Your browser does not support the audio element.
  </audio> 

As I said, on my other website, with exactly the same code, the MP3 file starts playing immediately and flawlessly, while on the site I am working on now, not a single note plays.

I have read tons of advice on a vast number of websites, most of them say it is simply the bit "type="audio/mpeg" that is supposed to do the trick, while others advise using an iframe, and then there are people who say you have to resort to using Java and/or Javascript, some of the code they give can even get very lengthy.

Now, what I would like to know is, is there anyone who knows a solution that works, and keeps working, as I have had no joy with anything I read and tried in all the things I have gone through so far.

And what baffles me even more is that, using EXACTLY the same code as I did on another website were it works perfectly, it just refuses to work this time.

Any help will be much appreciated.

OK, point taken. ?

6 minutes ago, yordan said:

Sorry, but such words cannot be accepted here. Please read our forum rules again.

Maybe it's an annoying part of our rules, but we strictly keep on personal respect and politeness. This forum should be for people wanting to express themselves concerning technical problems, or technical questions and being helpful toward others. Personal opinions concerning certain members should be kept silent. ?

Oops, sorry.

In that case I do apologise.

I did not mean to cause any offence, merely to make a point, and also to add a bit of a funny note to the post.

OK, point taken, although I thought I expressed myself quite innocently, not as if I used abusive comments or anything.

But OK, I shall edit the "offensive" content in question.

Oops, I see it is no longer possible to edit the post, if you can, please feel free to delete the last sentence.

On 8/24/2018 at 5:15 PM, yordan said:

Ha-ha, let's do it that way, let's have half a pint of beer!

That's not much, yordan, especially if you have business and strategies to discuss. ?

However, it is still better than nothing, even the halfs can add up after a while.

But what I meant was, of course, the idiomatic way of saying "be optimistic".

I do, of course, agree wholeheartedly with all the points that Opaque has raised regarding the competition of al those aforementioned places, but, as I said, word of mouth can be very powerul too.

What I don't really get, though, is that all those loyal members I used to know seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

They all used to be faithful and regular posters here, so what happened to them?

Anyway, to get back to the main point, why not update and share the Facebook page a little bit? Facebook might be a competitor in a way, but it also gives you opportunities to make your presence know and the possibilities can be quite powerful.

I would gladly share the Facebook page, but there is not much recent information on there as far as I can see.

I know "a certain someone" can be quite stubborn at times ?, but now is not the time for pride and being headstrong, unless I am interpreting some things the wrong way, but going by past experiences.......

Well, having said all that, I am waiting to see now whether I have induced wrath or an eye-opener.

One can only try and live in hope.

56 minutes ago, OpaQue said:

I do not know How Long it will take....... But I do know,  The Good Old times are very difficult to come due to serious competition from sites like facebook, stackoverflow, Quora... 

Yes, that is true, however, although StackOverflow offer great resources and support facilities (although they are not for everyone, as their explanations are sometimes so far fetching and technical, some people might think they need a PhD to ask a question there), and Quora sometimes lists interesting topics, there are sometimes stupid questions and even more stupid answers there, and as far as Facebook is concerned, well, I think I won't even go there the way things are going there.

And OK, might make some sense, they might be competitors, but in other ways (for example for reasons that I mentioned above) there is no comparison really.

The main problem at the moment is (at the moment) the Google search engine, but there are other ways of spreading the word too (granted, less powerful than a search engine, but word of mouth has got its own strength, believe you me).

Don't tell me you are going to give up without a fight, that's not the Shree I know.

Try to think your pint is still half full instead of half empty.

Wow,

looks like you have had your fair share of bad luck then.

Incredible and disgusting how these organisations can literally run someone into the ground.

All those years you have worked and built something up to be really proud of gone down the pan, enough to make anyone lose courage (putting things mildly).

The question is, how long will it take before the new Google submission yields something worthwile, and by that I mean, something that comes even close to how things used to be?

I have started spreading the word myself too, but I am, of course, no search engine, but I think every little bit might help.

So, how do you intend to work with your hosting and domains etc.?

If I am going to invite people here, I need to know how to tell them how they can get hold of your merchandise here.

BTW. I noticed that a former member of this group is going to start his own "post2host" service again on September 1st.

Well, the way he has a habit of bullying people and with his rudeness, I wonder how long he will last this time.

At least, here you got friendly and helpful support when you had a problem, without sarcastic comments or without getting your head bitten off.

Anyway, I too am hoping for better times here and trying to make a small contribution towards that (a very min, mini Google), but if there is anything further I can do, please ask.

There are a few things that bring me here.

• I want to save up some MyCents to buy some of the items Xisto has on offer.
• This forum used to be an interesting place where you could find answers and solutions to about anything and everything.
• I will elaborate on the above point a bit in the rest of this post.

I say "This forum used to be....", as, years ago, when I was here before, there were a lot of helpful and knowledgeable people on here, and you could post here about just about anything you had a problem with (PC, hardware, software, mobile phone, whatever), and you would get a competent answer in a relatively short time, and, moreover, the reply would usually solve your problem.

I was really surprised to see how much this place has gone down since then (does Opaque even still post here?), I really could not believe my own eyes.

It does look, though, like most of the people I knew back then have not left completely, as a lot of them still seem to be on positive MyCents balances.

So, I was really wondering what exactly has caused this downfall.

Another reason why I am here, apart from wanting to buy some things, is to add to the number of members and posts on this forum, and while I know that just my presence here will hardly make any difference, I will try to persuade some friends to join too

Also, while I am on the subject, I have been made aware of the fact that the automated MyCents calculation system is no longer in operation, but I think it would be nice if my balance could be started up and kept updated, so that I could at least follow where I stand if I am to make some purchases.

So, here are some reasons why I am here, on a place that used to be so much alive once, and, at the risk of repeating myself, I am hardly going to make any difference to the situation by being here, however, I am going to do my utter best (together with some friends) to try and bring some life back here.

Hi Yordan,

Thank you for your reply.

I was only asking because, as my first question implies, I hardly saw any activity on this forum.

But, OK, now that I know everything is still in operation, I will go on and make full use of the place, hoping to get replies in time to come, and maybe spread the word, as I did have some good experiences here in the past.

I am, however, very surprised that a forum which used to be so full of life and which used to do so well has gone down the pan so much.

About the MyCents system: I'll just bide my time and wait until some kind of system is in place and then take it from there.

A shame, though, the automated system is not running at this time.

Anyway, yes, you have answered my questions very nicely, and now that I know what and how i shall carry on here and I shall definitely order some things in the (hopefully) not so distant future.

Thank you for your help.

Regards,

M6NEN.

In reply to this topic, I would like to ask a few questions:

• The posts I see here are mostly relatively old, is this forum still fully operational?
• Is this forum still linked to MyCents and pay for hosting by posting?
• In case of "yes" to the above, does your MyCents balance automatically appear on your profile after a number of posts?

I have registered with the other part of Xisto (the client bit, where you can order hosting and domains et al), and I used the same email address I used to register on this forum, so I assume that is the way to go if you want to work with the MyCents system.

Is it possible for someone to give me a conclusive reply to my questions, so that I know if I am doing things correctly?

Apart from that, please forgive my ignorance, but it has been a long time since I used the system here, and a) things have probably changed a lot and b) there are probably quite a few things that have slipped my memory in that time.

Thank you in advance.

I feel a bit sad talking about my profession.

The reason for this is as follows:

I am, or rather I WAS, a professional performing musician and music teacher and lecturer who loved his job.

That was, until my health situation decided otherwise.

I started the performing side of things from a very young age and as I got older I have worked over practically most of Western Europe, and have had a lot of fun and pleasure in the process.

When I got a bit older still, I decided not to go on the road as much and restrict the night life and the long travels and lots of stress a bit and get more into the teaching side of things.

I still did some performing and always put bands (and especially jazz bands) together in the schools where I worked, and in a place where I lectured, it was even my job to train bands in both the playing and the business side of things.

However, bit by bit, my health began to deteriorate until all of a sudden I came to a point where I felt I was not going to manage much longer (far too soon and too young, mind you), and what was worse, the doctors agreed with me.

So, for the last six years, I have been sat at home, suffering, moping, getting bored, trying to do some of the things I loved to some extent (eg. compose a bit of music, try to play my piano a bit, but life can still get very frustrating).

This only goes to show you how quickly somebody's life can completely change in a short period of time.

My username relates to my hobby.

I am a radio amateur (or HAM Radio Operator as they are sometimes refered to) in the United Kingdom.

I simply used my callsign (the name you use to identify yourself with on the air or the name other operators use to call you).

Unfortunately, when I registered with Ofcom after my examination, this callsign was no longer available, so in real life I am known on the air as M6VMO.

You usually use the phonetic alphabet to make people understand you better, so that would be MIKE SIX VICTOR MIKE OSCAR.

The M6 is fixed, so you get to choose the last 3 letters when you register with Ofcom.

• M6 is for Foundation licences
• ZE is for Intermediate licences of people living in England, ZM for Scotland, ZD for the Isle of Man, ZW for Wales, ZJ for Jersey, ZI for Northern Ireland and ZU for Guernsey.
• M0 is for Full Licenses.

It is a fascinating hobby, and if anyone is interested to have more details, I am always willing to provide more details.