Can anybody advise me the email address and name of the real Guild Web Master.

I have a rediculous on going situation where I cannot log in using my own name and after repeated attempts to email info@tfg and "how do we get better if you won't complain" no one seems to respond positively on how this can be resolved.

I am not sure about other visitors to the site but "ask the experts" seems to have lost nearly 2 years worth of entries or is this just another problem that I alone am experiencing.

Bill Ding

Thanks for this post - I am having exactly the same experience. I sent a note to "Contact TFG" and got no reply. Don't know if they're too busy to reply or if all the electrons got dumped into the bit bucket somewhere. jekbear

Ken&Jek, Same here, I am also disapointed that we lost all of the posts. I couldn't get into anything, Had to get a new password. I'm not sure I like this new format, but I guess we'll get used to it, John

Gentlemen.

Our apologies for your troubles - and an explanation:

The software that ran the old bulletin board that we all liked is no longer supported by its manufacturer - but of course they have a spiffy new version for us to buy in its place.

Why did we replace it in the first place? Because it stopped working.

The new version, which is working quite well (and generating more traffic than the old, for some reason), was installed by the manufacturer. The old posts are still there, but for some reason we cannot yet see them.

We are nagging them to fix this.

Perhaps they will.

info@tfguild.org appears to be working. If you are having specific problems with logging in, please let me know through that address. It is possible that you will have to be 're-set' before your username will function as it used to.

Our apologies to all inconvenienced and offended. ATE had been working so well for so long, that we didnt know how important it was until it stopped.

Joel McCarty

Hi all:
I also experienced the same problem, and I am a bit dismayed that all the other posts disappeared, because I liked to review them from time to time. I sort of figured that someone was updating the web site. It could also be that a clean up was due just like cleaning the shop. I am sure those in charge will come up with a post explaining everything. for the record I enjoyed the format of the old site. Ken I had to re register to be able to get access to the site.
On another subject is anyone coming to the TTRAG conference in Morrisburg?

Thanks for the support and reassurance guys.

Given your similar experiences I reckon that I am now on track to get my second flaming hay bale.

Now what happened to the first one ?

Ken Hume (alias Tim Frame and Bill Ding)

To moderator:
I've hinted about this in another post, but I'd like an explanation of how to post a picture to these messages, and if that is truly possible. There seems to be a way to do it, I've read the instructions by not being the greatest computer wiz, I can't seem to understand it. Do you need to have a url site where the picture is to reference it in your message? Or can you upload it to the boards computer and then reference it's file location in your message so it shows when a person reads your message?
Hopefully the answers will be simple for us framers and sawyers, and others to understand. Jim

I don't know of any way you can post a picture to the board.

You CAN send it as an attachment to anyone whose email address you have.

Also, as you suggest, you can post the picture on the interenet somewhere, and then point to it in your post.

I suppose I could create a spot on the TFG web site to post pix by request.

Would that help?

Yes that would help but, if you go to the webpage below: What is UBB Code? you'll see this in the section labeled:

Displaying Images
To add a graphic within your message, just encase the URL of the graphic image as shown in the following example."(IMG)http://www.infopop.com/artwork/footer_logotype.gif (/IMG)" Which displays this:


In the example above, the UBBCode™ automatically makes the graphic visible in your message. Note: the "http://" part of the URL is REQUIRED for the [img] code. Also note: some UBB forums may disable the [img] tag support to prevent objectionable images from being viewed.

Can you or anyone explain this to me. It seems that we should be able to post pictures with our messages. I do this all the time on other woodworking forums. It's usually not hard to up load a picture to the forum's computer and then reference the location of the picture in your message.
What i'm asking is, is that the procedure here? If so how do you do it.
Didn't you guys get any manual with the program? Don't you have a customer service tech who you can email and get him to 'translate' these instructions so we all can understand them. Maybe i'm just slow. But i still can't get it. Please try and find us some answers.
It would be great to help everyone learn and pass on information if we could post pictures with our questions and comments.
Thanks in advance.
Jim

Joel, I think you know we all enjoy this forum. Sometimes I think we all just like to toot! Good luck, and keep up the good work, John

Joel - thanks for the info. We know you're doing your best. Perhaps it's time to tell the manufacturer of the software that you're posting their name and web address so we can all let them know what we think of their software and service.
jekbear

This is to let you all know that the bulletin board amnesia now seems to have been cured.
I now have my name back after much wrangling by Joel.

Well done Joel. Toot !

Ken Hume

I hope that no one has mis-understood my comments in past posts.
I'm by no means 'bashing' anyone. I like the new forum.
I just need to understand how to use it properly so that we all can use it to it's fullest potential.
As with all new software there is a learning curve and with some of us the curve is a big one.
Hopefully the answers will solve some of my understanding problems.
Thanks again and I know you 'at the home office' are all busy with many things.
Jim

Jim,

No need to be apologetic.

The recent loss of our bulletin board has highlighted the real importance of this facility.

Since many of us do not possess the literary genius required to grace the pages of Timber Framing we desparately need this forum to be able to share our more ordinary and mundane experiences with other members and visitors.

I don't believe that any of us are any less valuable or cannot contribute in some way to the strength and resource provided by the TFG body provided we have an effective and efficient 2 way means of communication.

Our "old fashined", paper based, 1 way methods of communication are subject to editing, suffers from a tremedous time lag before publication and costs a lot of money to implement and operate and is not user friendly.

I recently lost my TF no 56 and in desparation turned to the Guild to buy a replacement but with no positive outcome. I was however able to download Jack Sobon's article from this issue direct from the Guild web site. This may seem trivial but it is really important to be able to quickly tap into our data base of established knowledge.

I greatly value having been able to seek answers through this board to the real problems that I face in my career as a timber frame designer and engineer and I am very grateful that the membership, including Jim, has responded and helped me resolve or at least develop a better understanding on a particular issue.

The data bank of learning that had become established on "Ask The Experts" was getting to the point where using an advance search facility would probably have yielded a result on almost any topic.

This demonstrates that even though none of us knows all the answers, collectively we seem to manage to get there.

It would be quite correct to assume that I was "mad as hell" to discover the loss of 2 years worth of entries to the board and yes I was frustrated in not knowing where I should turn to to get my password problem solved but then maybe this is in part because I know that the Guild is no longer a poor organisation and has money in the bank to help solve problems such as these.

I agree it is wrong for us to put Joel in the firing line and extend my apologies to him for being the butt of our frustrations but right now he is our first point of contact when in fact he should be the last. This needs to change.

Any big company or organisation knows and understands the necessity and importance of backing up computer information. The TFG should be no different in this respect.

As an organisation the membership is thinly spread over an extremley wide area spanning many continents. I doubt if the purchase of a new permanent home for the Guild matters more than sorting out our long range communication skills and capability.

Jim's questions on how to post a picture, simple though it is, needs to be answered. If I knew the answer I would tell Jim and I would probably post pictures myself.

In my opinion our first priority should be to maintain, improve and service internet based comunications methods since this will most equitably benefit all of the membership.

Can we please have a "toot" graemlin. I am now finished sounding off.

Regards

Ken Hume

To all:
I had a discussion the other day with my brother, as he works for a computer software company, and he said from what I described to him that if you use the (img)http/whatever/whatever(/img) as described in the instruction page of how to post images, that the post containing that Instant UBB code will go to the site where that image is parked and get it and then post it to the message where the image command is placed.
So I guess I've answered my own question and that you can't upload an image to this board's computer. You have to have a web page of your own, where you have your own pictures or images stored and then you can post them into your posts.
Does that explanation sound correct? to any of you out there?
So Ken if you've got a good shot of something at your web page, try it and see if it works.
Good luck, Jim

Makes perfect sense to me.

We probably don't want folks filling up our web storage with images, but we certainly don't want to prevent participants from pointing to images on other servers to illustrate a point.

Let's try it out!

Jim,

Here is my attempt to show the picture of the Karsamaaki Hewer on my web site. I pressed the image button on the bulletin board new message menu and added the URL reference to the photo found by right clicking on the website photo and then selecting and copying the "properties" of the photo. I copied this URL reference to clipboard and then entered it into the message.


Regards

Ken Hume

Ken:
Thanks for the shot. It looks like it will work great!
And Joel, I agree that sending in pictures could cause a problem with limited storage.
Well now that, that problem has been solved, what about finding out why all the last two years of posts can't be seen, or how we can again access them?
Can you ask the software provider for some help on that?
Thanks Jim

We are in fact working on recovering thos historic posts, which I completely agree form a valuable resource.

Two things are happening - we are pressuring the software provider, and we are hiring a new web team, who will start on April 1.

I remain confident that they will eventually be made available to you - but I am reluctant to provide a date-certain.

Thanks for that update.

I just visited the guest book and the print size there is miniscule.

Are we any closer to having an address where we can direct our moans and groans ?

Did the new web masters get appointed on April 1st or was this just an April fool ?