The Simpleton

Congratulations Opaque. Just a quick doubt - when I'm signed out (i.e. a guest for the forum) a bright new design appears with a new logo (which spells 'kknowledgesutra"!) and the posts look so out of place and broken down. When I'm signed in, however, there's no change in design and I still see the old IPB default theme. I tried to look for an option which would take me back to that bright theme but didn't find any. The point is, visitors wouldn't like that theme very much when they're reading threads, because the sidebar showing members' info looks broken and makes the page too long. It would be good to clean this up soon.

 

I'm sure quite a few members would agree that we need the myCENTs module more than the blogs, gallery and content (not sure which content you were referring to). I dunno if you've postponed it because it's not ready or due to some other reason, but if the module is ready then please try to install it before the other modules. I've already got two accounts suspended and my domains are next in line. (Yes we've been told to open a ticket but I tried that before and my account was suspended again after a day) So looking forward to the return of myCENTs soon and well done with the forum upgrade

Before I start writing anything, I'd like to quote a few words from wikipedia:

Top critics on Rotten Tomatoes have given 26% positive reviews with a "rotten" rating. Metacritic, who calculate an average rating based on reviews, gave a 49/100 . The film currently stands on both sites as the highest rated video game adaption ever

Movies based on video-games have always been taken lightly by critics and the audience alike. The reviews and box-office earnings testify for this. The makers always fail to get it right. Sometimes its bad acting, sometimes its a bad change of script, or some other element which made the original game a success. However, Prince of Persia has managed to top the list of good movies based on video games, so that must mean it's good, right? Yes, and no. It's all because of that element which made the game a huge success.

This movie tries to get it right from the beginning, but then loses it, picks up somewhere in the middle, and almost makes a huge mess of it in the end. Still, it will appeal to the fans and maybe end up as an average grosser. The first few minutes of the movie provide very good eye-candy, as we revel in ancient Persia, reconstructed carefully. We see as Dastan, an orphan is picked up from the streets by the King and is made a Prince. Then all of a sudden he grows up and we watch him getting ready for a war. Sounds similar to the game? Well it is indeed similar to the game's story for the first half-hour or so, and from then on there are heavy changes in the script. Actually the movie's script makes more sense than that of the game. But it isn't nearly as thrilling as the game was. The movie picks up a drag after the prince starts his travel with the princess to restore the dagger to safety.

The Dagger of Time promises great fun and the scenes with it are awesome to look at. Other than that, there's nothing new in here. All the chase/fight scenes seem too routine to enjoy. I watched the dubbed version so there was some comedy with accents; dunno if that comedy was meant to be there in the English version. The ending was a bit predictable and again resembled the game's story to some extent. All in all, it's just a popcorn movie meant to be enjoyed with friends on a day when you look to kill time - a whole 116 minutes of it!

I've recently started working out at the gym after the 1000th person called me thin OK it's not very recent - it's been two months since I started, and so far I've been on a basic workout, with the trainer making me work with seven different machines (of which the only machine whose name I can say in English is the bench press). Until now the result has been that I've become even thinner, perhaps losing around three kgs, but there's definitely been a significant increase in muscle mass, of which I'm proud of, but my trainer is not. The problem is that a well-balanced diet is required and my diet doesn't cover too much protein. I'm a strict vegetarian and so I won't eat any meat or even eggs (yeah some people say eggs don't come under 'non-veg', but I don't eat them anyway). So my trainer suggested that I use protein powder twice a day. But I've always been cautious about using any nutrition-supplement like that. Is using such powder dangerous? I did a quick google search and at least three websites suggested that using protein powder too much causes damage to the kidneys. I don't know if two spoons a day counts as too much. So could someone with experience help me out with this please? Should I start using the powder or better not risk it?

Thanks for the updates BuffaloHelp; they're really helpful Just like the other members I hope the new system is back online very soon. OpaQue is doing a great job with upgrading the code, although I wish there had been a way to implement the older code temporarily until the new code is ready. I'm sure the members wouldn't mind a slow script instead of no script at all! Anyway until then I hope at least one of my hosting accounts will be kept alive till things get back to normal.

I think for now the limit is fine where it is. Most of the members wouldn't cross even 10 posts per day, and for the most active members, it's a good limit. Once the myCENT script is back in action, the members who make 25 posts per day have a good chance of making at least $10 per day? So that's a really good limit, IMO, and it should stay like that. As for the theme, I think the focus should be on bringing back the myCENT script now rather than the theme. Let the admins breathe!!

There's been a lot of talk about hacking, but I would like to ask a single question - why should pictures be put up in public anyway? Social networking sites are used mainly to keep in touch with friends, and these include friends whom we meet in real-life and long-distance friends, whom we don't see for many years. In both cases, is it really necessary to put up the photos online so that these friends can view them? Wouldn't it be much safer if they were sent through emai (or shared through picasa, flickr, etc)? Does the whole world really need to see all those party or other events' photos?!!! Why put them online and why worry about them being hacked?

CMON GUYS just over a week before contest closes... I was generous enough to donate these great prizes and I only get a couple entries? very disappointing indeed.......

 

Sorry that the contest didn't take off as expected As everyone's been saying the main reason is the lack of activity in the forums; most of the members are put off by the fact that the myCENTs script is down and thus aren't posting regularly. Another reason is that (I think I've mentioned this somewhere before) members living outside the US and Canada are most likely not going to participate because they're not eligible for the prizes. They could still do it for the forum, but look at the chances - we have just a really small group of members still active, and out of that small group there are a few members living in those two countries, but they need to get the inspiration to participate in the contest, and the members from other countries first have to get the thought to do something for the forum and then accept the fact that they won't be rewarded for it. So the chances are really slim As for me I tried to think of something creative, but given my resources here, I figured I can't do anything big. I've been meaning to tell a few friends about the site but this isn't the best time to invite them over, since the core myCENTs system is down, and it would just drive them away.

 

On the same note, it would be better to reschedule this contest to the time when the script starts running again, because even if the members start promoting the site, the visitors will most likely not stay because the script is still down....

Yep, that is interesting... but a topic just on a Google Doodle? Are you kidding me? Well, whatever. It is kinda of fun though ../../public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif

Dog bites man.....that's not news; Man bites dog.....now that's news! The weirder the news is, the better. which is why I started this thread in the first place Anyway the logo's gone now and I guess there's no way to play it through the home page again. There's still an option to play just the pacman game through Google's games page, or we could simply wait for another 30 years

not only that, but this pacman game is tough. you think you can go straight through and you can't. you are partially blocked by part of a wall. i would play it more but i like my laptop too much :)but it would be interesting to see if anyone can get over 50k. i can't seem to get past the apple stage

You got that right; it's too damn hard to get past the later stages and I gave up soon. And in any case, the fun wears off after a while anyway, so I just play until it's fun.

Everyone knows that Google keeps changing its logos for some special occasions. But until now all the logos were merely doodles. But their latest logo is a fully-functional pac-man game, created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the game! So if you want to play Google's pac-man, visit google.com before the day is over! Look at the screenshot if you don't believe me I barely managed to finish 2 levels before I got bored Test your patience against this classic game....

http://i47.tinypic.com/2r5ba7b.jpg

I noticed that you converted your old domain itneed into the hosting site. So is that temporary and you're still looking for names or have you fixed with that one? And yes, 911host isn't too catchy a name and it won't encourage anyone to take up hosting!

The web hosting does what it says out the box simply the stats.. The server connection seems a little slow and could be improved. The support staff is the worst I have seen on a dedicated web hosting company I have had to wait 1 week for them to reply to one simple support ticket to upgrade my bandwidth another 5GB there really needs to be an improvement in this.

It seems there are a lot of members dissatisfied with the support system. I guess I'm lucky to not having to open a ticket in the peak-time. Whenever I need to open a ticket the traffic seems to be less and I always get a quick reply. So I'm guessing it always depends on the number of tickets the support staff has at hand. I'm sure they're doing their best to deal with them as soon as humanely possible.

I've used Audacity for the same purpose many times and I've noticed that it's like a trial-and-error game. It all depends on how the song you're editing was recorded. If Audacity is able to recognise the frequency of the vocals, then it can efficiently remove the vocals and give you the background music. But some songs are recorded differently and in this case Audacity cannot recognise the frequency of the vocals and the entire process may turn out to be a dud. So give Audacity a try. It's free and you can experiment with other aspects of the track as well.

Have you tried using foreign names for your company? Often the most unknown words turn out to be the most catchy names! Try googling for foreign meanings of words like "flower". I think you'll be able to find several names right away.

Hallo Nick and welcome to the forums. You've joined at a time when the forum is going through an upgrade, so you won't be able to take advantage of the wondrous myCENT system as yet, but until then you can get involved in the community, and spread the info you mentioned Looking forward to seeing more of your posts soon. Have a great time!

Wow it's amazing to see people still discussing about this thing even though everyone knows that it was a prank. Well I guess it is funny to guess how it would have been if all of this is true. Except for the names beginning with Z I don't think I would notice any huge difference as well, because my country follows the Queen's English as well, with a few local variations. It would really be funny to see the rest of the world trying to get used to the new spellings!!

This was very neatly written, but given the short length, it's a bit tricky to judge the writing quality. I'd definitely recommend trying to write a few more lines on the subject so that the reader can judge the poem and even enjoy it a little more. In its present state the poem ends abruptly and only the true fans of poetry will be able to appreciate it completely. The regular reader, however, will be left wondering why it ended so suddenly and what message was conveyed through it. So take some time and rewrite the poem, trying to extend it a little more. Keep up the good work!

Well, Simpleton,my ticket is not about MyCents, I do realise they probably get thousands of tickets about that.
It is about things on my hosting that stopped working.
And, TomCol, it is frustrating when you see how effective support used to be and what it has become nowadays, and, in case you were wondering, i always try to help where I can (even with my limited knowledge in certain areas) on the forum, just because I like to be helped myself, I try to help others when there are posts about problems I think I can help with.

I just mentioned the myCENTs tickets to tell that they're getting a lot of those, and that's why they've put your ticket in the waiting list i.e., if you haven't put it under the emergency or critical category. If you haven't put in under either of those two categories try changing the status and wait for a response; I'm sure you'll get one soon.
And every member's contribution on this forum is much appreciated, even if they feel they aren't contributing much. Every little bit helps

Please email me if your account is affected due to mycents and I will make some arrangements for your site, do not worry :-)
But I would like to work on the mycent code on my own pace..thank you.

Of course all of us would prefer for the script to be fully ready instead of being finished in a hurry, so take your time. But please consider my request to restore one of my accounts. I've just sent you an email regarding that. I need to get that account re-activated ASAP. Thanks for the help!

Has anyone of you tried publishing with Lulu.com before? I'm looking forward to publishing an ebook on that site and was wondering if there are any downsides to using the site. So, any suggestions from previous users?

Point taken, simpleton.However, that is not really the way to go about things, is it?
There are people relying on their MyCents credits, I am lucky I still have enough credit to last me for about 3 months, but not everyone is so fortunate.

This also brings me to another point which concerns Xisto (slightly off-topic, but.....):

Lately it has come to my attention that it takes an incredible long time for the Xisto team to reply to support tickets, I submitted a ticket about a cron job not working on 11 May, there was a reply on 14 May, the problem was not yet solved so, in a follow-up, I subbmitted some additional information and information about steps taken to diagnose and/or trying to solve the problem, it is 19 May today, not a single reply has been received, I can remember the times when things were quite different at Xisto.

Yes, everyone is not so fortunate but at times one has to simply accept these things instead of writing endless discussions about it when you know there isn't anything to be done but to wait! And regarding Xisto - Support, make sure you put your ticket under "Emergency" or "Critical" if you're looking for a quick reply. My guess is that they've been receiving dozens of tickets regarding the myCENTs and forum upgrade, so they're maybe looking at only tickets put under those two categories.

Agree. There is nothing we can do about until mycents is back and there isn't any signs that it will be back soon.

My account's gone as well.....still hoping that the script will be ready soon and I can pay back the huge debt. After this whole mess is over I'm going to stock up on the credits so that I'm not bothered by this problem for at least a year.

@Opaque: Thanks for the update. I hope that the new script works well and the unlimited edit feature sounds good. Praying that the script gets ready before my last account gets suspended! @Sky & others who've been frustrated by the delay in myCENTs: I share your frustration; one of my accounts has been suspended and another is on the brink of meeting the same fate. Yes, it's irritating to watch it happen and not being able to do anything about it, but this is the time to support the community and not blame it. Most of us wanted a change in the forum design and finally when we got it, we're focusing on the bad part instead of the good part. Let's just be a lil' patient. Why do you keep forgetting that no other reputable site offers good hosting in exchange for a few words? When you get the myCENTs on time it's praises for the community and when there's a rare delay now and then, suddenly everyone becomes angry? That's not neat behaviour! So let's stick to the community and hope the dry run ends soon.

I have written several lengthy posts recently, but my MyCents haven't been updating at all; they're the same as they were two days ago. Now my hosting account has been suspended, and my site is down. Is this some sort of glitch, or have the post requirements for getting MyCents been seriously modified? If I can't get enough MyCents to get my site back up and running in time, I'll be forced to look elsewhere for site hosting. I don't want to do that, as I have a LOT of content on thew site that I won't get back, and I really like having that domain name, but I may not have a choice. :/

Hmm I think you've either been away from the forum for a while or haven't read the latest announcement properly. The myCENTs system is down for a while due to the forum upgrade and therefore you have to wait for a while before the credits are sent to your account. You can still make posts til then and they will be accounted for.
One of my hosting accounts got suspended too and I know it sucks but at this time there's nothing else to do than wait and watch.

Hey guys I noticed that you can sort of minimise the toolbar by clicking the button on the rightmost corner. The toolbar immediately shrinks to the right, and doesn't seem too intrusive as before. I guess that should help those members who don't like it in the first place?

It would have been a good idea to notify the members about the upgrade so that they could prepare themselves for the change. Since the upgrade was sprung upon us so suddenly, I guess some of us have not gotten used to it in the positive way. For me the forum loading time is about average and I haven't noticed much change over the past few days. But I think after the cleanup it will be much faster for everyone. As for the myCENTs, they've had a history of being down and up again. So let's just keep our fingers crossed that they come up soon again @Soviet Rathe: I don't agree that the forums have died. The members just need some time to get used to the change. And as for your contest, if I remember right, the prizes were for US citizens only? I guess that took off the enthusiasm from a lot of members, which explains the low response. But still, I wouldn't let my hopes down. Just think of this as a bad phase for the place. Soon it'll be back up and running again. @kira423 : It must have been frustrating to see your friends being let down. But I hope you win them back to the forum as soon as the myCENTs system starts working again.