Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
INTRODUCTION
What follows is a "get you going guide" - an explanation of how to do the various things that forums are made of: browsing existing discussions, searching for specific existing content (which may answer your question), or posting your own comment or query as either an addition to an existing topic or as a new topic. If you are already experienced with other forums, you will know the basics and might just need a tweak for the controls on this forum.
Also, there are some "dos and don'ts" - the standards of etiquette other forums might be lax on but we certainly are not. This forum is very civilised in general, compared with elsewhere, and if newcomers want to be welcome they will observe these principles. Please don't just dive in without checking things out (below) first! (but most newbies do, because they simply won't look at this
). These are not rules of the author's making, I am simply documenting and reporting the nature of this forum as it has developed and been policed by the admins and moderators.
Most of the below only applies if you are registered on the forum and logged in. For example: you can read posts and search for content whether you are logged in or not, but you cannot reply to posts.
Browsing the Forum
The "Forums" tab at the top left of the page (immediately below the "hummy.tv" heading) gets you to the main listing of forum sections. In forum parlance, these are individual forums under the hummy.tv banner, but in fact we treat them as sections (or, if you like, sub-forums) of the forum devoted to the specific subject areas identified in their titles. If you are only interested in one particular subject area you only need to look at one section, but as many aspects of Humax STB ownership apply to more than one particular subject area, there is a lot of spill-over between the sections and it is wise to keep an eye on similar sections.
What is a "subject area"? Well, it seems to surprise people they should bother with the forum index, but you'll find a separate section for each of the different ranges Humax set-top box. In other words, if you have a FOXSAT-HDR (satellite receiver/recorder), don't go looking for information in the HDR-FOX T2 section (terrestrial receiver/recorder). This should be obvious, really, but it happens (and then they complain it's not clear enough).
Within each section there are topics of discussion (in forum parlance: "threads") listed, with the topics containing the most recent additions listed first. Each section may also contain sub-sections. Some sections contain many, many pages of topic listings.
There are several ways to access the most recent postings:
Searching the Forum
Before starting a new forum post or topic, it is strongly recommended that you should acquaint yourself with any existing material on the subject to check that your query has not been answered previously, and to determine whether there is an existing topic appropriate to your post rather than start a new topic. It is not good etiquette to ask a question without checking for existing material which may answer it already – to do so implies you expect somebody else to do what you could have done for yourself... ie, pure laziness.
Apart from displaying an unwillingness to make any effort (and therefore being irritating), there are decidedly practical reasons not to ask questions which have already been answered:
Alternatively there are two methods of conducting a forum search:
More about search (with regard to HDR-FOX and HD-FOX specifically, not other models):
Posting on the Forum - Adding to an Existing Topic
To post a message in an existing topic, there is a WYSIWYG editing pane at the bottom of the page. Whatever you post will be added to the topic in chronological order. Be careful not to add a post to a topic unless you have read to the end of the topic and it is still relevant - many times people have not noticed there are more posts "over the page". Note also that you might be preparing a post simultaneously with somebody else - whoever submits their post first gets listed first.
If you wish to quote all (or some) of an existing post, click the "Reply" link at the bottom of that post*. This can be done even when you are in the process of preparing a post. Edit the content between the [QUOTE]...[/QUOTE] tags to reduce it to the relevant part (but you will rightly be admonished if you alter the content of the quote to misrepresent it), but be careful not to corrupt the quote tags themselves - leave everything within (and including) the square brackets [ ] alone!
It is helpful to identify to what exactly you are responding - if another post cuts in between what seems a simple to and fro, it will break the understanding for everyone else. Your post might also appear on a different page from the post you are replying to, again making it difficult to follow the flow. The default forum setting for posts per page is 20, so a reply to post 20 will be on the next page, but the posts per page setting is user selectable so you can't be sure that (to another user) a reply to post 30 (for example) won't be on another page.
Be careful you are not replying to a stale topic. Sometimes it may be appropriate, but often it has been made irrelevant by the passage of time. Check the timestamps on the posts in the topic to be sure, particularly the year! Be careful also that there have not been further posts before you reply - you may not have noticed the discussion continuing on the next page.
* There are other means of selecting part of a post, multiple posts, or even parts of multiple posts, for quoting in a new reply (not all these facilities may be available on all forum browser platforms, eg Tapatalk):
Posting on the Forum - Starting a New Topic
In the event that none of the existing topics are relevant to your enquiry, you may want to start a new topic in the relevant section* of the forum. In the section listing, there is a button near the top right "Post Thread" - this provides an editor window for creating the first post in a new topic, where you can also set up the title for the topic that will appear in the listing. Please choose an appropriate and informative title. For example: "Problem with HDR-FOX" doesn't help readers see what the topic is about, and it probably is (or should be) in the HDR-FOX section so we already know that much. "No Video on HDMI After Startup" (for example) gives a much better idea.
Please, please, please: before you click "post" (or even after - you've got an edit button!), read what you've written and consider: "Have I written enough to explain what this is about, or am I making people guess?"
* The relevant section is important. Because the forum software regards the sections as forums in their own right, the top level listing is not itself a forum and you cannot post in it (hence does not have a “Post New Thread” button). Please select the appropriate subject-specific forum or sub-forum for your new topic before attempting to Post New Thread.
In case you are still unable to find the “Post New Thread” button
, see big green arrow here:
Editing Your Posts
There is no need to panic if you have posted something and you spot a mistake or an omission. Editing (of your own posts) is available using the "Edit" link at the bottom of the relevant post (near the left, next to "Report"). It is not good form to alter a post in a material way after somebody has replied to it without drawing people's attention to you having altered it. You might, for example, add a note in the post as to what was updated, or post again to say that the previous post has been updated.
If you are the author of post 1 in a topic (ie you started the topic in the first place), you have additional privileges. At the top of the page, the topic title is available for editing.
Edits to existing posts do not count as "new", so people monitoring the forum for new content will not necessarily notice that the post has changed, and it is good etiquette to signpost the fact (or you may be accused of falsifying the record).
Tagging
It is possible to draw someone's attention to a post by tagging them in it. Prefix their forum name with "@" - the consequence will be that they receive an email alert (presuming they have alerts turned on in their personal settings) referencing the post they were tagged in.
Links (Web Pages and Email Addresses)
Email addresses and URLs are not permitted until the author has accumulated sufficient forum posts (currently 20, but this can be varied according to the level of threat). This is a means of discouraging spammers, so that newbies can't put inappropriate content in public view until they have a history of being "clean". The forum software will reject any post which contains, or appears to contain, links.
It's not an arduous condition, just be patient and make some approved posts to gain full privileges. Another forum I use requires the user to have made 250 posts before getting edit privileges!
Email Alerts
Although only the forum administrator is able to access your registered email address directly, your default settings result in replies to your threads, and replies in any threads you "subscribe" to, triggering an alert to your email address. The email contains a summary of the content which was posted, but please do not make the mistake of assuming the summary is the be all and end all:
Deleting Posts
Being able to delete posts is normally reserved for those nominated as Moderators (see next section). However, becoming a paying* (rather than free) subscriber to the forum confers a few benefits including the privilege to delete your own posts and choose your own avatar description (appearing under your forum name in the side panel).
* Contributions support the cost of hosting the forum, wiki, Remote Scheduling, custom fimware repositories and GIT, etc. If you value the forum and/or the custom firmware facilities, you should consider upgrading your account or making a donation: https://hummy.tv/forum/account/upgrades or https://www.paypal.com/donate.
Moderation
It is the job of the forum moderators to ensure business is conducted on the forum in a seemly and orderly way. They have powers above the normal user: able to edit other people's posts, delete posts, and move posts or whole topics to other sections when necessary and appropriate. Do not be offended if the moderators decide that a post has been put in the wrong section or could be better titled, or if other forum elders recommend that a post be moved - it is all a process of keeping the forum orderly and the information within as easy as possible to find (by being correctly filed).
The moderators are also responsible for sanctioning spammers - like it or not, forums are plagued by people (or robots) whose only aim is to create web links to their own inappropriate content in as many places as possible, or to build up a post history so that they gain the privileges to do so (links boost the ranking of linked pages in search engines). Registered users who can be identified as having this intention are summarily booted off, and it would be wise to avoid even appearing to have posted spam.
Even without crossing a line with the moderators, every individual forum user has the power to block your specific content as a form of personal moderation. So, if you annoy people sufficiently that they prefer not to see any of your posts, you will find yourself not reaching those who may be best placed to answer your questions. One way to annoy people is to not observe appropriate netiquette:
Netiquette (etiquette on the 'net)
Above all else, this forum in particular is very genteel compared with other forums, and we (the community) expect a decent standard of behaviour. Look through the posts and you will find little in the way of bad language, flaming, insults and derogatory comments, etc. Sometimes the occasional argument breaks out, as it will between people of contrary opinions, but you will also find the arguments (mainly) conducted in a seemly and erudite manner.
A few pointers on acceptable style:
Pay attention to the flow of conversation. If you were in a room with a number of people in conversation, who was speaking at the time would form a significant part of the context. Threads on the forum are like conversations, and like in a room will become very muddled and hard to follow if too many people are posting at once, cutting across the conversation. Make sure you are aware of the context when creating a reply, and help everyone else by making the context clear in your post by specifically quoting what the reply is apropos.
The best way to defuse an argument is not to argue. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and to express it, but having expressed it there is no need to repeat it. Your opinion is there for all to see, in a previous post, and doesn't require saying again. And wait before posting. If things get heated, leave it for a few hours - or even the next day or two - before posting any reply. This avoids feeding the argument, and allows time for all parties to reflect and maybe realise it was all a misunderstanding (see also "Emoticons" below).
Be thick-skinned. You won't get the best value from this forum (or any Internet forum) by being sensitive and assuming posts are deliberately aiming to offend. They're only words on a page (or computer screen) - they cannot physically hurt you unless you allow them to. Become robust, don't be a snowflake. Learn to disregard how people express themselves, and look for the message underneath. If you can't do that and it all gets too much, stop reading. Also, try to read your own posts through the eyes of others: how did you come across to them? Could you have been misinterpreted? Bear in mind posts are frequently read in isolation so must be reasonably self-contained.
Another aspect of netiquette is the standardised use of abbreviations for commonplace expressions. A brief list of these is available in the Glossary (click), section Netiquette.
Above all, remember this: everyone on this forum is anonymous. Even if they claim to be using their own name, you have no proof of that. What people write could be misrepresentation, or pursue an agenda that is not what it appears. All the reader can do is form an opinion of the writer's personality, based on the sum of their posts, and take a view from there. We (the long-term members of the forum) have accumulated opinions about each other, who can be trusted, who to take with a pinch of salt (and when). As a new member, remember that we don't yet know you.
For example: a poster didn't like the answer he was given (remember nobody here is under any obligation), and became increasingly vociferous and abusive when numerous regulars said he was being unreasonable. Then some other user names posted in his support. It turned out they were all the same person (or at least the same household), and all linked accounts were deleted and banned by the moderators.
This is a technical forum (not a social forum, even though some of us use it socially); typically posts are a technical query replied to with a technical answer or a discussion leading towards a technical answer, so do not expect everything to be wrapped in sugar and do not take offence if it isn't. And it's no good thinking that just because you want something, somebody will provide it for you or it is even necessarily possible. If you hope to get something done, you need to capture the attention and interest of someone capable of doing it and willing to spend the time - and you won't do that by being bolshy.
Emoticons ("Smilies")
It is very easy to be misinterpreted when text is your only means of communication, and relatively brief text at that. This is particularly true of users unused to forum posting, and possibly unused to being authors in general. Keeping to formal language and purely to the matter at hand will help, but everyone goes off into a bit of banter now and again, and the problem is to ensure that the intended meaning is how everyone reads it - don't forget that colloquial meanings, and precise connotations, of words vary from region to region, and the users on this forum span the whole of the UK (and beyond). It will be particularly difficult for users for whom English is not their first language.
It is rarely appropriate to write down exactly what you might say face to face with somebody. A great deal of communication goes on non-verbally in that situation. You might say something, how I react through facial expression or gesture will indicate to you whether a remark was taken as an insult or a joke, and you are then able to correct or reinforce the understanding through your own expression, body language, or what you say next. Writing is a one-way process - you only get feedback once you have committed your words to text and made them public, and then it is too late.
Careful use of written language is one defence against this problem. Another is the invention of "emoticons" - emotion icons. These originated in pure text, creating faces when viewed on their side. Thus:
etc.
The idea is that the user, if there is any risk that a remark may be misinterpreted, accompanies it with a suitable emoticon to indicate the non-verbal element of the message. The forum software provides actual graphics that will be substituted for recognised text smilies, or you can choose from a selection using the emoticon tool on the post editor toolbar (clicking the face icon, possibly on a drop-down menu that looks like a three dots - meaning "more options", opens a pick list).
Even emoticons can be interpreted several ways though. :P for example: is that friendly or rude? The graphic (on this forum) is shown smiling, but that may not be universal. How should 
be interpreted? Beware. (Tip: by looking at the raw BB Code for it comes up with "geek", but how would the casual reader know that?)
Images & Media
Sometimes an image can explain a problem (or a solution) far more effectively than mere words, and 'still' (non-video) image files such as JPG or PNG can be attached to a post and inserted into the post itself. Some browser/OS combinations allow a file to be dragged into the post directly, otherwise click the "upload a file" button below the editor window (if you don't see it, try "more options").
When uploaded, the file becomes an attachment to the post which readers can access. To display the image within the post itself: once the file had been uploaded, position the text cursor at the place you want to include the image and then insert by clicking "Thumbnail" or "Full Image". It is preferable to insert only a thumbnail wherever possible, as this reduces the displayed length of a topic and the download time on slow connections. Exceptions to this are only where the image is absolutely essential for even a casual reader of the discussion, in which case you must take care to ensure the image is not excessively large - a limit of 640 pixels horizontal will present on most screens without scrolling.
There is an upload size limit of 5MB per image file. If the file is larger than that, either convert it to a smaller file (eg reduce the resolution or the JPEG quality setting) or upload it to a photo hosting web site (eg Photobucket), Dropbox, or some other web space and see below.
Other document formats such as .txt, .pdf, and .zip can also be attached to a post by this mechanism, but there is a limited range of file types that are permitted. A trick, if it should become necessary, to attach an "illegal" file type is to zip it. Zipping also serves to preserve the file information as well as its content in the .zip container file.
As noted above, inclusion of links in posts is not permitted until the user has accumulated sufficient post history. Once cleared, there are other options for including large images and other media - eg video - in posts, but the media has to be uploaded elsewhere on the Internet and referred to by link. The media button on the post editor (the icon looks like a couple of strips of photographic film) provides an input form for a link to the externally-hosted video, and presents a player window for it embedded in the post itself. In the event that your particular host is not supported, just insert the web link directly into the post without using the media tool.
Privacy and Copyright
Let's be clear about this: anything posted on a public forum (including this one) is visible to the world, anything included in a post (pictures, code listings, whatever) is available for the whole world to download and use as they please. Whether or not you wish to retain any kind of rights over the content you post, you have no practical control over it whatsoever.
If you don't want your content used or abused without constraint, don't post it. Having posted it, it's out of your control - even if you later delete it.
Code Listings and Terminal Output
We prefer that instances of code dumps or screen captures from command line sessions etc are embedded within a code box. This has several advantages: the fact that it is in a code box identifies it as separate from the discussion in the post; the font in the code box is fixed-pitch, so tabulated data lines up properly and everything looks as it would in a terminal window; the display of the code box when reading the post is restricted to a maximum width/length with scroll bars (tablet users can swipe within the widow) - this means that a casual reader with no need to view the detail of the code box text can easily scroll past it and not have a huge length of normal post text to find the end of.
For example (the code is much longer than the window it is displayed in):
This is achieved by selecting "code" ( </> symbol) from the post editor tool bar (possibly on a drop-down menu that looks like a three dots - meaning "more options") and pasting the text into the dialogue box that appears, or create a code box directly by enclosing the text in [code]...[/code] tags. For info see Help >> BB Codes (bottom right corner of forum page) or http://hummy.tv/forum/help/bb-codes.
Note the </> tool is not the same as the >_ tool. The latter is [icode]...[/icode], meaning "inline code", used for inserting a short snippet of code within a line of text, and does not confer the same ability to "viewport" a listing.
As mentioned above, you can go back and edit your posts to correct errors of presentation - so there's no excuse.
Post Formatting Tools
Further to the above, there is a wide variety of formatting available - not all of which is accessible from the WYSIWYG (What You see Is What You Get) editor toolbar. The forum software stores posts in a form of plain text encoding known as BB Code (BB = Bulletin Board, the old name for what we now call an Internet forum). We can write posts and include the BB Code formatting ourselves if we want to - just type it in and it will be interpreted in the editor (usually) and control the formatting when the post is displayed. See http://hummy.tv/forum/help/bb-codes for help to the options available.
We can also turn off the WYSIWYG editor, and see/edit the raw BB Code version of the post without interpretation. To do that, click the [ ] icon at the right of the toolbar ("Use BB Code Editor", possibly on a drop-down menu that looks like a three dots - meaning "more options") and the WYSIWYG toolbar greys out (becomes unavailable). To get back to WYSIWYG, click the settings icon again.
As noted previously, even the emoticons have BB Code text equivalents, eg typing ";)" gets you a wink . To make a section that would otherwise be interpreted as BB Code appear as-is, enclose it in [plain]...[/plain] tags.
You want your query to be as easily understood as possible, so laying it out neatly by the proper use of paragraphs to separate different lines of thought, and using indentation or bullet points to group associated paragraphs together is an enormous aid for those willing to understand your problem and respond with help.
Note that some forum viewing software (eg Tapatalk) does not support the full range of formatting, eg the strikeout code [S]...[/S], so posts can end up looking different in one viewer/browser to another. It used to be the case that WYSIWYG editing was not available to users of Safari on iOS, but that has been eliminated by a forum software update (but also note that the experience can be variable according to the exact combination of iOS version, browser, and iPad model). If the WYSIWYG editing isn't working for you, set your forum default to BB Code editing.
Special Characters
Should you need to insert special characters into your posts, eg º Ω μ ² ✘︎ (whatever), there is a guide HERE (click).
Post Chaff: Predefined Signatures, Salutations (etc)
Your forum settings allow you to create a signature panel that appears below each of your posts (but note that users can select whether they want to be shown sigs at all). It is useful to list things relevant to this forum in your sig panel, such as what (Humax) equipment you own. Then, in any particular discussion, it is often unnecessary to remind people what you've got and therefore the context of your comments or questions.
Unfortunately, some forum access software such as Tapatalk defaults to attaching its own signature text to the text of every post, in addition to any forum sig you might have set up. Unless the user changes it, it says something like "sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk". We don't want to know and don't care! Unlike forum signature panels, the reader has no option to turn it off other than to turn off all content you post, so please turn it off at your end (check the app settings). More explanation:
When writing a post, note that it is not a letter. You do not need to open with a salutation ("Dear Everybody"), nor sign off ("Regards, Fred"). We know who you are – your post carries your forum name whether you like it or not.
"This is my first post, please be gentle". So many newcomers make that mistake. We know how long you've been a member and how many posts you've made, the information is there for all to see. You will be taken to mean you are diving in without any kind of preparation (let alone reading the Newbie's Guide) and expect everyone else to rally around and save you the bother. DON'T DO IT.
"Likes"
On this forum we have just one method of indicating approval for a post, and that is the "Like" (some other forums have various types of Like - technical, informative, etc). What's more there is no "Dislike"* (as much as some of us would like one) - although you can remove a Like you placed yourself. Adding or removing a Like is done by clicking the "Like" or "Unlike" link near the bottom right of the post (next to "Quote" and "Reply"). By Liking a post, your forum name is added to the list of likers, and the author of the post gets another kudos point.
* Update: there is now! Hover over the "Like" button to be offered a range of options - only "Like" and "Love" count towards kudos, but posts in The Hummy Arms section do not score kudos points at all.
Different users interpret the Like in different ways; but for guidance: in my opinion a Like should be awarded if a post shows endeavour, and merit, and is of particular interest/use to you, or if you are in strong agreement with an opinion (thereby removing the need to express support in a post), or is a particularly pithy remark or wise crack. Awarding Likes for minor posts risks devaluing the scheme (if it isn't devalued already).
Relatively few forum uses ever award Likes, possibly because they don't know about them or what that funny link is for. This is a pity, because a great number of people have found the content extremely useful at times, and ought to be giving a Like as a vote of thanks to the people who have toiled to create the content.
Private Conversations
"Conversations" is what this forum calls Private Messaging, and is rather like web-based email (although there can be multiple participants in a conversation). You can access your conversations through your control panel (click your username near the top right), and start a conversation with somebody by clicking their avatar and click "Start a Conversation".
It is not good forum etiquette to seek a personal reply to a problem through a conversation (and the reason I created this post in the first place). The forum is about sharing knowledge, and we contribute to the forum in the expectation that the knowledge becomes available to all. Also, an enquiry directed to one individual might not be within that individual's knowledge, or he might be off-line for a few days, so you would probably get a more informed answer more quickly by posting in the open forum than through a private message to somebody you don't know personally (and who will probably be irritated, as above).
Reserve conversations for discussing matters which are not ready for public consumption, and only with people you have already established a relationship with, unless you really are trying to address that person specifically.
In the event that, for some reason, you have been unable to understand and follow the instructions (above) for posting in an existing topic or starting a new topic, but are nonetheless somehow able to start a Conversation, please ask for instruction on posting on the forum rather than asking the question you intend to post on the forum!
If that is all clear, welcome to the club and enjoy the forum.
What follows is a "get you going guide" - an explanation of how to do the various things that forums are made of: browsing existing discussions, searching for specific existing content (which may answer your question), or posting your own comment or query as either an addition to an existing topic or as a new topic. If you are already experienced with other forums, you will know the basics and might just need a tweak for the controls on this forum.
Also, there are some "dos and don'ts" - the standards of etiquette other forums might be lax on but we certainly are not. This forum is very civilised in general, compared with elsewhere, and if newcomers want to be welcome they will observe these principles. Please don't just dive in without checking things out (below) first! (but most newbies do, because they simply won't look at this
). These are not rules of the author's making, I am simply documenting and reporting the nature of this forum as it has developed and been policed by the admins and moderators.Most of the below only applies if you are registered on the forum and logged in. For example: you can read posts and search for content whether you are logged in or not, but you cannot reply to posts.
Browsing the Forum
The "Forums" tab at the top left of the page (immediately below the "hummy.tv" heading) gets you to the main listing of forum sections. In forum parlance, these are individual forums under the hummy.tv banner, but in fact we treat them as sections (or, if you like, sub-forums) of the forum devoted to the specific subject areas identified in their titles. If you are only interested in one particular subject area you only need to look at one section, but as many aspects of Humax STB ownership apply to more than one particular subject area, there is a lot of spill-over between the sections and it is wise to keep an eye on similar sections.
What is a "subject area"? Well, it seems to surprise people they should bother with the forum index, but you'll find a separate section for each of the different ranges Humax set-top box. In other words, if you have a FOXSAT-HDR (satellite receiver/recorder), don't go looking for information in the HDR-FOX T2 section (terrestrial receiver/recorder). This should be obvious, really, but it happens (and then they complain it's not clear enough).
Within each section there are topics of discussion (in forum parlance: "threads") listed, with the topics containing the most recent additions listed first. Each section may also contain sub-sections. Some sections contain many, many pages of topic listings.
There are several ways to access the most recent postings:
By clicking the "Mark forums read" tool (near the top left of the page) when you first join the forum (you need to be logged in), the forum software will reset all your "unread" flags on content and then any new content added subsequently will be highlighted in the topic listings, and sections containing new content will be highlighted in the section listing. This is the way I prefer to work;
By clicking "New Posts" on the toolbar, a list of unread topics (from all sections) becomes available (this does not work if you are not logged in). This has the disadvantage of it not being obvious what subject area each post belongs in;
The latest posts appear down the right hand side of the main forum page (assuming you are using a "wide" view - not a phone screen, in which case the same will be placed at the bottom of the page).
Searching the Forum
Before starting a new forum post or topic, it is strongly recommended that you should acquaint yourself with any existing material on the subject to check that your query has not been answered previously, and to determine whether there is an existing topic appropriate to your post rather than start a new topic. It is not good etiquette to ask a question without checking for existing material which may answer it already – to do so implies you expect somebody else to do what you could have done for yourself... ie, pure laziness.
Apart from displaying an unwillingness to make any effort (and therefore being irritating), there are decidedly practical reasons not to ask questions which have already been answered:
- Answering a question again means duplicated effort. It all takes somebody's time... quite often mine.
- Answering a question again means duplicating content. Personally, I will always try to refer the query to the existing content (which takes time in itself), and sometimes the existing content gets a make-over in the process. The problem with just writing a new answer is that then there are several places where corrections might need to be made if the information changes. Maintenance of information is a huge problem and huge consumer of time.
Alternatively there are two methods of conducting a forum search:
Native - using the search box near the top right of the forum page. This is useful for being able to restrict the search to only a specific section and/or topic titles rather than the full post text. Searching for a keyword within just the title of a topic will result in fewer hits, but the hits are more likely to be relevant. The native search refuses to search for strings of three letters or fewer, as a blanket ban on words such as "the", which would score a huge number of hits. It's a blunt instrument, but were stuck with it.
External - using your favourite search engine. For example: a Google search can be restricted to search results from the forum by prefixing the search term(s) with "site:hummy.tv/forum", eg site:hummy.tv/forum newbies guide. It would be difficult to restrict searches to topic titles this way, so the native search still has its uses, but the results filtering is much better and there is no restriction against three-letter search terms.
Note that the search results for the native search are provided in two tabs - one for a purely internal search, and the other as the equivalent search in Google (with the appropriate site restriction). However, these results also filter out three-letter search terms, so there is still a use for the external search.More about search (with regard to HDR-FOX and HD-FOX specifically, not other models):
Posting on the Forum - Adding to an Existing Topic
To post a message in an existing topic, there is a WYSIWYG editing pane at the bottom of the page. Whatever you post will be added to the topic in chronological order. Be careful not to add a post to a topic unless you have read to the end of the topic and it is still relevant - many times people have not noticed there are more posts "over the page". Note also that you might be preparing a post simultaneously with somebody else - whoever submits their post first gets listed first.
If you wish to quote all (or some) of an existing post, click the "Reply" link at the bottom of that post*. This can be done even when you are in the process of preparing a post. Edit the content between the [QUOTE]...[/QUOTE] tags to reduce it to the relevant part (but you will rightly be admonished if you alter the content of the quote to misrepresent it), but be careful not to corrupt the quote tags themselves - leave everything within (and including) the square brackets [ ] alone!
It is helpful to identify to what exactly you are responding - if another post cuts in between what seems a simple to and fro, it will break the understanding for everyone else. Your post might also appear on a different page from the post you are replying to, again making it difficult to follow the flow. The default forum setting for posts per page is 20, so a reply to post 20 will be on the next page, but the posts per page setting is user selectable so you can't be sure that (to another user) a reply to post 30 (for example) won't be on another page.
Be careful you are not replying to a stale topic. Sometimes it may be appropriate, but often it has been made irrelevant by the passage of time. Check the timestamps on the posts in the topic to be sure, particularly the year! Be careful also that there have not been further posts before you reply - you may not have noticed the discussion continuing on the next page.
* There are other means of selecting part of a post, multiple posts, or even parts of multiple posts, for quoting in a new reply (not all these facilities may be available on all forum browser platforms, eg Tapatalk):
- To select the entirety of multiple posts to gather into a reply, click the "Quote+" button (next to "Reply"). The post editor will then offer the option to include quoted passages. This can also be used for posts from other topics. The individual quotes can be edited down in the reply if appropriate.
- To select part of a post (or multiple posts) to quote in a reply, select the text in question and click "Reply" or "Quote+" on the resulting pop-up options.
- Reply options immediately paste the text into the reply box at the end of the current topic; quote options gather the selected passages into a buffer which can then be used in the reply box for any topic – click the "insert quotes" button to open the buffer and review the sections gathered previously (if there is nothing in the buffer, the "insert quotes" button is not displayed).
Posting on the Forum - Starting a New Topic
In the event that none of the existing topics are relevant to your enquiry, you may want to start a new topic in the relevant section* of the forum. In the section listing, there is a button near the top right "Post Thread" - this provides an editor window for creating the first post in a new topic, where you can also set up the title for the topic that will appear in the listing. Please choose an appropriate and informative title. For example: "Problem with HDR-FOX" doesn't help readers see what the topic is about, and it probably is (or should be) in the HDR-FOX section so we already know that much. "No Video on HDMI After Startup" (for example) gives a much better idea.
Please, please, please: before you click "post" (or even after - you've got an edit button!), read what you've written and consider: "Have I written enough to explain what this is about, or am I making people guess?"
* The relevant section is important. Because the forum software regards the sections as forums in their own right, the top level listing is not itself a forum and you cannot post in it (hence does not have a “Post New Thread” button). Please select the appropriate subject-specific forum or sub-forum for your new topic before attempting to Post New Thread.
In case you are still unable to find the “Post New Thread” button
, see big green arrow here:Editing Your Posts
There is no need to panic if you have posted something and you spot a mistake or an omission. Editing (of your own posts) is available using the "Edit" link at the bottom of the relevant post (near the left, next to "Report"). It is not good form to alter a post in a material way after somebody has replied to it without drawing people's attention to you having altered it. You might, for example, add a note in the post as to what was updated, or post again to say that the previous post has been updated.
If you are the author of post 1 in a topic (ie you started the topic in the first place), you have additional privileges. At the top of the page, the topic title is available for editing.
Edits to existing posts do not count as "new", so people monitoring the forum for new content will not necessarily notice that the post has changed, and it is good etiquette to signpost the fact (or you may be accused of falsifying the record).
Tagging
It is possible to draw someone's attention to a post by tagging them in it. Prefix their forum name with "@" - the consequence will be that they receive an email alert (presuming they have alerts turned on in their personal settings) referencing the post they were tagged in.
Links (Web Pages and Email Addresses)
Email addresses and URLs are not permitted until the author has accumulated sufficient forum posts (currently 20, but this can be varied according to the level of threat). This is a means of discouraging spammers, so that newbies can't put inappropriate content in public view until they have a history of being "clean". The forum software will reject any post which contains, or appears to contain, links.
It's not an arduous condition, just be patient and make some approved posts to gain full privileges. Another forum I use requires the user to have made 250 posts before getting edit privileges!
Email Alerts
Although only the forum administrator is able to access your registered email address directly, your default settings result in replies to your threads, and replies in any threads you "subscribe" to, triggering an alert to your email address. The email contains a summary of the content which was posted, but please do not make the mistake of assuming the summary is the be all and end all:
- The summary only displays the post as it was first posted, and not any subsequent edits for corrections (or whatever);
- There will be no further emails from the forum announcing other replies until you have visited the forum. In other words: the alert announces there is new content since you last visited, but not how much new content.
Deleting Posts
Being able to delete posts is normally reserved for those nominated as Moderators (see next section). However, becoming a paying* (rather than free) subscriber to the forum confers a few benefits including the privilege to delete your own posts and choose your own avatar description (appearing under your forum name in the side panel).
* Contributions support the cost of hosting the forum, wiki, Remote Scheduling, custom fimware repositories and GIT, etc. If you value the forum and/or the custom firmware facilities, you should consider upgrading your account or making a donation: https://hummy.tv/forum/account/upgrades or https://www.paypal.com/donate.
Moderation
It is the job of the forum moderators to ensure business is conducted on the forum in a seemly and orderly way. They have powers above the normal user: able to edit other people's posts, delete posts, and move posts or whole topics to other sections when necessary and appropriate. Do not be offended if the moderators decide that a post has been put in the wrong section or could be better titled, or if other forum elders recommend that a post be moved - it is all a process of keeping the forum orderly and the information within as easy as possible to find (by being correctly filed).
The moderators are also responsible for sanctioning spammers - like it or not, forums are plagued by people (or robots) whose only aim is to create web links to their own inappropriate content in as many places as possible, or to build up a post history so that they gain the privileges to do so (links boost the ranking of linked pages in search engines). Registered users who can be identified as having this intention are summarily booted off, and it would be wise to avoid even appearing to have posted spam.
Even without crossing a line with the moderators, every individual forum user has the power to block your specific content as a form of personal moderation. So, if you annoy people sufficiently that they prefer not to see any of your posts, you will find yourself not reaching those who may be best placed to answer your questions. One way to annoy people is to not observe appropriate netiquette:
Netiquette (etiquette on the 'net)
Above all else, this forum in particular is very genteel compared with other forums, and we (the community) expect a decent standard of behaviour. Look through the posts and you will find little in the way of bad language, flaming, insults and derogatory comments, etc. Sometimes the occasional argument breaks out, as it will between people of contrary opinions, but you will also find the arguments (mainly) conducted in a seemly and erudite manner.
A few pointers on acceptable style:
POSTING IN CAPS IS SEEN AS SHOUTING - don't do it unless you wish to be ostracised for having a very loud mouth. Emphasis can be achieved by underlining, italicising, emboldening, or combinations of all three. (NB: the previous text is formatted to match the descriptions. If you do not see it like that, your browser or viewer software does not support the forum text formatting.)
Excessive use of punctuation marks should also be avoided!!!!!!!!!!! (see what I mean) - little of what we discuss on the forum could be construed as life-threatening, so keep something in reserve for when it really is. However, some punctuation is essential, to convey (in writing) where the pauses would be in spoken English. Text without punctuation is difficult to read. Try the last few sentences without the punctuation:
however some punctuation is essential to convey in writing where the pauses would be in spoken english text without punctuation is difficult to read try the last few sentences without the punctuation
See what I mean? Even appropriate capitalisation is part of punctuation, and full stops at the ends of sentences are not curt or aggressive (as some post-millennial snowflakes seem to think), they simply denote the ends of sentences and to interpret them any other way demonstrates lack of education. Keeping sentences/paragraphs short and to the point makes a post easier to scan for the key information without overlooking anything.
You also presumably wish to have your post read by the widest possible audience, particularly if you are asking for help. That being the case, it is best to write clearly in normal written English, avoid txtspk, and punctuate so that what you write can be easily read and understood (don't forget - we have a wide age group on this forum, and the forum elders with the widest range of knowledge and experience will just glaze over when faced with a secret code only known 2 da kidz - I do anyway!). Not making the effort will rightly be seen as disrespectful.
There are also some commonly misused words which will raise hackles if used inappropriately. For example, it is rarely appropriate to claim to know what most people do or think. Without having conducted some kind of systematic study, you only know what yourself and perhaps a few others might think or do, so to say that (for example) most people have cornflakes for breakfast could be right, but you don't actually know that without conducting some kind of survey. "Probably" is a word in similar vein: it implies a greater than 50% chance, which requires data to support the claim. Such problems are easily avoided: "many" instead of "most" works without making any absolute claim, as does "possibly" instead of "probably". Avoid stating anything in measurable terms unless you are certain of your facts (and can prove it if/when challenged - you will be!).
Why is this important when it is common to misuse the likes of "probably" when it might not be meant literally? Because you're not just saying it to a few people - you are writing it down, on record, available to be googled... permanently. Particularly in writing: say exactly what you mean, and mean exactly what you say. To do otherwise, or leave something open to misinterpretation, contributes to the scourge of misinformation circulating on the Internet, and will rightfully be challenged.
Don't over-share. You might have a technical query, and it is often helpful for those answering to have some idea of the background, but honestly we don't need to know what you had for breakfast and the more detail you put in about your personal motivations, the more there is for someone to take issue with. On another forum somebody was asking for advice how to beef up the sound output from his PC because he wanted to annoy his neighbour. Had he left out that last part, he would have got answers without the scolding for being antisocial (well deserved, but I'm sure you see my point).Pay attention to the flow of conversation. If you were in a room with a number of people in conversation, who was speaking at the time would form a significant part of the context. Threads on the forum are like conversations, and like in a room will become very muddled and hard to follow if too many people are posting at once, cutting across the conversation. Make sure you are aware of the context when creating a reply, and help everyone else by making the context clear in your post by specifically quoting what the reply is apropos.
The best way to defuse an argument is not to argue. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and to express it, but having expressed it there is no need to repeat it. Your opinion is there for all to see, in a previous post, and doesn't require saying again. And wait before posting. If things get heated, leave it for a few hours - or even the next day or two - before posting any reply. This avoids feeding the argument, and allows time for all parties to reflect and maybe realise it was all a misunderstanding (see also "Emoticons" below).
Be thick-skinned. You won't get the best value from this forum (or any Internet forum) by being sensitive and assuming posts are deliberately aiming to offend. They're only words on a page (or computer screen) - they cannot physically hurt you unless you allow them to. Become robust, don't be a snowflake. Learn to disregard how people express themselves, and look for the message underneath. If you can't do that and it all gets too much, stop reading. Also, try to read your own posts through the eyes of others: how did you come across to them? Could you have been misinterpreted? Bear in mind posts are frequently read in isolation so must be reasonably self-contained.
Another aspect of netiquette is the standardised use of abbreviations for commonplace expressions. A brief list of these is available in the Glossary (click), section Netiquette.
Above all, remember this: everyone on this forum is anonymous. Even if they claim to be using their own name, you have no proof of that. What people write could be misrepresentation, or pursue an agenda that is not what it appears. All the reader can do is form an opinion of the writer's personality, based on the sum of their posts, and take a view from there. We (the long-term members of the forum) have accumulated opinions about each other, who can be trusted, who to take with a pinch of salt (and when). As a new member, remember that we don't yet know you.
For example: a poster didn't like the answer he was given (remember nobody here is under any obligation), and became increasingly vociferous and abusive when numerous regulars said he was being unreasonable. Then some other user names posted in his support. It turned out they were all the same person (or at least the same household), and all linked accounts were deleted and banned by the moderators.
This is a technical forum (not a social forum, even though some of us use it socially); typically posts are a technical query replied to with a technical answer or a discussion leading towards a technical answer, so do not expect everything to be wrapped in sugar and do not take offence if it isn't. And it's no good thinking that just because you want something, somebody will provide it for you or it is even necessarily possible. If you hope to get something done, you need to capture the attention and interest of someone capable of doing it and willing to spend the time - and you won't do that by being bolshy.
Emoticons ("Smilies")
It is very easy to be misinterpreted when text is your only means of communication, and relatively brief text at that. This is particularly true of users unused to forum posting, and possibly unused to being authors in general. Keeping to formal language and purely to the matter at hand will help, but everyone goes off into a bit of banter now and again, and the problem is to ensure that the intended meaning is how everyone reads it - don't forget that colloquial meanings, and precise connotations, of words vary from region to region, and the users on this forum span the whole of the UK (and beyond). It will be particularly difficult for users for whom English is not their first language.
It is rarely appropriate to write down exactly what you might say face to face with somebody. A great deal of communication goes on non-verbally in that situation. You might say something, how I react through facial expression or gesture will indicate to you whether a remark was taken as an insult or a joke, and you are then able to correct or reinforce the understanding through your own expression, body language, or what you say next. Writing is a one-way process - you only get feedback once you have committed your words to text and made them public, and then it is too late.
Careful use of written language is one defence against this problem. Another is the invention of "emoticons" - emotion icons. These originated in pure text, creating faces when viewed on their side. Thus:
:-) or :) smiling face;
:-( or :( sad face;
;-) or ;) wink;
:-P or :P stick tongue out;
etc.
The idea is that the user, if there is any risk that a remark may be misinterpreted, accompanies it with a suitable emoticon to indicate the non-verbal element of the message. The forum software provides actual graphics that will be substituted for recognised text smilies, or you can choose from a selection using the emoticon tool on the post editor toolbar (clicking the face icon, possibly on a drop-down menu that looks like a three dots - meaning "more options", opens a pick list).
Even emoticons can be interpreted several ways though. :P for example: is that friendly or rude? The graphic (on this forum) is shown smiling, but that may not be universal
. How should be interpreted? Beware. (Tip: by looking at the raw BB Code for it comes up with "geek", but how would the casual reader know that?)Images & Media
Sometimes an image can explain a problem (or a solution) far more effectively than mere words, and 'still' (non-video) image files such as JPG or PNG can be attached to a post and inserted into the post itself. Some browser/OS combinations allow a file to be dragged into the post directly, otherwise click the "upload a file" button below the editor window (if you don't see it, try "more options").
When uploaded, the file becomes an attachment to the post which readers can access. To display the image within the post itself: once the file had been uploaded, position the text cursor at the place you want to include the image and then insert by clicking "Thumbnail" or "Full Image". It is preferable to insert only a thumbnail wherever possible, as this reduces the displayed length of a topic and the download time on slow connections. Exceptions to this are only where the image is absolutely essential for even a casual reader of the discussion, in which case you must take care to ensure the image is not excessively large - a limit of 640 pixels horizontal will present on most screens without scrolling.
There is an upload size limit of 5MB per image file. If the file is larger than that, either convert it to a smaller file (eg reduce the resolution or the JPEG quality setting) or upload it to a photo hosting web site (eg Photobucket), Dropbox, or some other web space and see below.
Other document formats such as .txt, .pdf, and .zip can also be attached to a post by this mechanism, but there is a limited range of file types that are permitted. A trick, if it should become necessary, to attach an "illegal" file type is to zip it. Zipping also serves to preserve the file information as well as its content in the .zip container file.
As noted above, inclusion of links in posts is not permitted until the user has accumulated sufficient post history. Once cleared, there are other options for including large images and other media - eg video - in posts, but the media has to be uploaded elsewhere on the Internet and referred to by link. The media button on the post editor (the icon looks like a couple of strips of photographic film) provides an input form for a link to the externally-hosted video, and presents a player window for it embedded in the post itself. In the event that your particular host is not supported, just insert the web link directly into the post without using the media tool.
Privacy and Copyright
Let's be clear about this: anything posted on a public forum (including this one) is visible to the world, anything included in a post (pictures, code listings, whatever) is available for the whole world to download and use as they please. Whether or not you wish to retain any kind of rights over the content you post, you have no practical control over it whatsoever.
If you don't want your content used or abused without constraint, don't post it. Having posted it, it's out of your control - even if you later delete it.
Code Listings and Terminal Output
We prefer that instances of code dumps or screen captures from command line sessions etc are embedded within a code box. This has several advantages: the fact that it is in a code box identifies it as separate from the discussion in the post; the font in the code box is fixed-pitch, so tabulated data lines up properly and everything looks as it would in a terminal window; the display of the code box when reading the post is restricted to a maximum width/length with scroll bars (tablet users can swipe within the widow) - this means that a casual reader with no need to view the detail of the code box text can easily scroll past it and not have a huge length of normal post text to find the end of.
For example (the code is much longer than the window it is displayed in):
Code:
60 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/3 The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (2 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
59 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/4 The Looking Glass War (2 of 2).ts - Already decrypted.
58 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/Smiley's People_20150127_2202.ts - Already decrypted.
57 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/8 The Secret Pilgrim (3 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
56 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/4 The Looking Glass War (1 of 2).ts - Already decrypted.
55 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/2 A Murder of Quality (1 of 1).ts - Already decrypted.
54 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/7 Smiley's People (3 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
53 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/8 The Secret Pilgrim (2 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
52 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/6 The Honourable Schoolboy (3 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
51 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/7 Smiley's People (2 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
50 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/5 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (3 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
49 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/5 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
48 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/7 Smiley's People (1 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
47 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/5 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
46 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/6 The Honourable Schoolboy (2 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
45 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/Smiley's People_20150203_2200.ts - Already decrypted.
44 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/3 The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (3 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
43 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/Smiley's People_20150106_2208.ts - Already decrypted.
42 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/Smiley's People_20150210_2201.ts - Already decrypted.
41 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/6 The Honourable Schoolboy (1 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
40 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - /media/My Video/The Complete Smiley/8 The Secret Pilgrim (1 of 3).ts - Already decrypted.
39 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - DECRYPT: [/media/My Video/The Complete Smiley]
38 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/The Complete Smiley]
37 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/nfs/*Then edit options in folder]
36 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/nfs/*Create folder with mount name (opt+)]
35 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/nfs]
34 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/host=192_168_1_13]
33 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/mac=ABABABABABAB (only needed for wakeUp)]
32 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/domain=WORKGROUP]
31 25/09/2016 19:05:17 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/wakeConstantly?]
30 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/password=Password]
29 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/shareFolder=off]
28 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/user=User]
27 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/folder=My Video]
26 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3/wakeNow?]
25 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX3]
24 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/*Then edit options in folder]
23 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/mac=ABABABABABAB (only needed for wakeUp)]
22 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/wakeConstantly?]
21 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/host=192_168_1_14]
20 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/password=Password]
19 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/shareFolder=off]
18 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/user=User]
17 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/folder=My Video]
16 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/wakeNow?]
15 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4/domain=Domain or Workgroup]
14 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/HDRFOX4]
13 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb/*Create folder with mount name (opt+)]
12 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]/smb]
11 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - Special folder, overriding recursion.
10 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/[ModSettings]]
9 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - /media/My Video/Family Guy does Star Wars/Family Guy_20130718_2304.ts - Already decrypted.
8 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - /media/My Video/Family Guy does Star Wars/Family Guy_20130717_2302.ts - Already decrypted.
7 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - /media/My Video/Family Guy does Star Wars/Family Guy_20130716_2303.ts - Already decrypted.
6 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - DECRYPT: [/media/My Video/Family Guy does Star Wars]
5 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/Family Guy does Star Wars]
4 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - DECRYPT: [/media/My Video/Auto-Shrink]
3 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - [/media/My Video/Auto-Shrink]
2 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - /media/My Video/Weatherview/Weather for the Week Ahead_20160921_0030.ts - Already decrypted.
1 25/09/2016 19:05:16 - /media/My Video/Weatherview/Weather for the Week Ahead_20160923_0031.ts - Already decrypted.This is achieved by selecting "code" ( </> symbol) from the post editor tool bar (possibly on a drop-down menu that looks like a three dots - meaning "more options") and pasting the text into the dialogue box that appears, or create a code box directly by enclosing the text in [code]...[/code] tags. For info see Help >> BB Codes (bottom right corner of forum page) or http://hummy.tv/forum/help/bb-codes.
Note the </> tool is not the same as the >_ tool. The latter is [icode]...[/icode], meaning "inline code", used for inserting a short snippet of code within a line of text, and does not confer the same ability to "viewport" a listing.
As mentioned above, you can go back and edit your posts to correct errors of presentation - so there's no excuse.
Post Formatting Tools
Further to the above, there is a wide variety of formatting available - not all of which is accessible from the WYSIWYG (What You see Is What You Get) editor toolbar. The forum software stores posts in a form of plain text encoding known as BB Code (BB = Bulletin Board, the old name for what we now call an Internet forum). We can write posts and include the BB Code formatting ourselves if we want to - just type it in and it will be interpreted in the editor (usually) and control the formatting when the post is displayed. See http://hummy.tv/forum/help/bb-codes for help to the options available.
We can also turn off the WYSIWYG editor, and see/edit the raw BB Code version of the post without interpretation. To do that, click the [ ] icon at the right of the toolbar ("Use BB Code Editor", possibly on a drop-down menu that looks like a three dots - meaning "more options") and the WYSIWYG toolbar greys out (becomes unavailable). To get back to WYSIWYG, click the settings icon again.
As noted previously, even the emoticons have BB Code text equivalents, eg typing ";)" gets you a wink
. To make a section that would otherwise be interpreted as BB Code appear as-is, enclose it in [plain]...[/plain] tags.You want your query to be as easily understood as possible, so laying it out neatly by the proper use of paragraphs to separate different lines of thought, and using indentation or bullet points to group associated paragraphs together is an enormous aid for those willing to understand your problem and respond with help.
Note that some forum viewing software (eg Tapatalk) does not support the full range of formatting, eg the strikeout code [S]...[/S], so posts can end up looking different in one viewer/browser to another. It used to be the case that WYSIWYG editing was not available to users of Safari on iOS, but that has been eliminated by a forum software update (but also note that the experience can be variable according to the exact combination of iOS version, browser, and iPad model). If the WYSIWYG editing isn't working for you, set your forum default to BB Code editing.
Special Characters
Should you need to insert special characters into your posts, eg º Ω μ ² ✘︎ (whatever), there is a guide HERE (click).
Post Chaff: Predefined Signatures, Salutations (etc)
Your forum settings allow you to create a signature panel that appears below each of your posts (but note that users can select whether they want to be shown sigs at all). It is useful to list things relevant to this forum in your sig panel, such as what (Humax) equipment you own. Then, in any particular discussion, it is often unnecessary to remind people what you've got and therefore the context of your comments or questions.
Unfortunately, some forum access software such as Tapatalk defaults to attaching its own signature text to the text of every post, in addition to any forum sig you might have set up. Unless the user changes it, it says something like "sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk". We don't want to know and don't care! Unlike forum signature panels, the reader has no option to turn it off other than to turn off all content you post, so please turn it off at your end (check the app settings). More explanation:
When writing a post, note that it is not a letter. You do not need to open with a salutation ("Dear Everybody"), nor sign off ("Regards, Fred"). We know who you are – your post carries your forum name whether you like it or not.
"This is my first post, please be gentle". So many newcomers make that mistake. We know how long you've been a member and how many posts you've made, the information is there for all to see. You will be taken to mean you are diving in without any kind of preparation (let alone reading the Newbie's Guide) and expect everyone else to rally around and save you the bother. DON'T DO IT.
"Likes"
On this forum we have just one method of indicating approval for a post, and that is the "Like" (some other forums have various types of Like - technical, informative, etc). What's more there is no "Dislike"* (as much as some of us would like one) - although you can remove a Like you placed yourself. Adding or removing a Like is done by clicking the "Like" or "Unlike" link near the bottom right of the post (next to "Quote" and "Reply"). By Liking a post, your forum name is added to the list of likers, and the author of the post gets another kudos point.
* Update: there is now! Hover over the "Like" button to be offered a range of options - only "Like" and "Love" count towards kudos, but posts in The Hummy Arms section do not score kudos points at all.
Different users interpret the Like in different ways; but for guidance: in my opinion a Like should be awarded if a post shows endeavour, and merit, and is of particular interest/use to you, or if you are in strong agreement with an opinion (thereby removing the need to express support in a post), or is a particularly pithy remark or wise crack. Awarding Likes for minor posts risks devaluing the scheme (if it isn't devalued already).
Relatively few forum uses ever award Likes, possibly because they don't know about them or what that funny link is for. This is a pity, because a great number of people have found the content extremely useful at times, and ought to be giving a Like as a vote of thanks to the people who have toiled to create the content.
Private Conversations
"Conversations" is what this forum calls Private Messaging, and is rather like web-based email (although there can be multiple participants in a conversation). You can access your conversations through your control panel (click your username near the top right), and start a conversation with somebody by clicking their avatar and click "Start a Conversation".
It is not good forum etiquette to seek a personal reply to a problem through a conversation (and the reason I created this post in the first place). The forum is about sharing knowledge, and we contribute to the forum in the expectation that the knowledge becomes available to all. Also, an enquiry directed to one individual might not be within that individual's knowledge, or he might be off-line for a few days, so you would probably get a more informed answer more quickly by posting in the open forum than through a private message to somebody you don't know personally (and who will probably be irritated, as above).
Reserve conversations for discussing matters which are not ready for public consumption, and only with people you have already established a relationship with, unless you really are trying to address that person specifically.
In the event that, for some reason, you have been unable to understand and follow the instructions (above) for posting in an existing topic or starting a new topic, but are nonetheless somehow able to start a Conversation, please ask for instruction on posting on the forum rather than asking the question you intend to post on the forum!
If that is all clear, welcome to the club and enjoy the forum.
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