Attachment Error? - Pics and pdfs...

[therapidone]

Greetings,

Earlier this year, I tried attaching docs to posts here & was successful. In looking at the "How Many Ericson 30+ built" thread under the Design and Function forum today, I noticed that one attachment of mine, a pdf document, still shows up as a link to the attachment. However, a later post of mine (post #23 in the thread dated 5/15), included an attached pic to demonstrate the boom position of the E/30+. Originally, much to my surprise, it was displayed within the text of the post, as opposed to a link to the attachment. In fact, somebody else's (Seth?) posting in the thread commented on the pic. Now, it doesn't appear at all, either as a pic within the text or with a link to the attachment? What happened? Is there a policy regarding this? Please advise.

Regards,

Ed

 

[Sean Engle]

I'm having trouble locating the post in question...

Could you provide the URL (or tell me the thread number or thread title) for the post mentioned above (find the listing, and then (in IE), right click on it, and open in a new window - place that URL in your reply... like this:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3221

Thanks,
//sse

 

[therapidone]

And I thought I was being specific!

Greetings Sean,

To respond to your request:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showpost.php?p=17927&postcount=23

But I'm going to take the time to take you to task on asking me to do this:
A) I gave the forum name
B) I gave the thread name
C) I mentioned post #23 in the thread & listed the date of that posting!

I'm not at all upset by your asking me for this, it's just that, as the subject caption indicates, I thought I was being very specific when I started this thread so one wouldn't have any difficulty finding that to which I was making a reference because I didn't want to waste anybody's time on a rather trivial question.

If you look at posting #24 in the same thread (the next one in the thread), Seth comments about the pic...so I'm using that as evidence that the pic was:
A) attached, and
B) able to be viewed.

As I mentioned in my initial posting in this thread, not only was it attached successfully, but when the posting appeared in the forum, the pic was actually displayed within the text rather than simply having a link to an attachment.

BTW, I find the whole site worthwhile & would contribute if it weren't for the fact that I find myself unemployed. Otherwise, I would make a contribution to the running of the site. I recall your circumstances when you had to sell your boat. Have you been able to recover in the employment market?

Regards,

Ed

 

[Sean Engle]

Whoops!

Sorry Ed, when I first read your post, I took a quick look for the post in question, but did so looking for your 23rd post - not the 23rd in that thread. I was also in the middle of final exams for the quarter, and was a bit distracted... Anyhow....

Looking at the thread as it exists now, from what I've read, you're saying that the image you attached to the reply did not show up at some point, no? There's no reason for that image to have been removed by me or any of the moderators - so most likely what you experienced was a momentary failure of the software to pull up the associated image at the same time that the text is pulled from the database.

I know that Pair Networks (our host) has some activity that happens almost weekly which temporarily disrupts the MySQL database server - resulting in a short string of error messages (I've been watching it for five years now - so it appears to me like scheduled maintenance or something). Perhaps you attempted to pull up the thread at the moment this was happening, resulting in the lack of the image.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened at that moment if you had refreshed your screen, and pulled up the data again (I'm betting the problem would have not reappeared). Refreshing your page (just hit F5 when in IE and the page will reload) is one way to ensure that what you're seeing is what you think you're seeing...

Anyhow - the first step in trouble shooting is reproducing the error in question. If you (or anyone reading this) see a consistent error in the behavior of this bulletin board software, please email me. Once I can confirm the problem, then we can take steps to address it.

As an aside, I should point out that images are set to display when attached, and pdf files are not (they just show up as a link or an embedded document in the post). This could change in the future as the database gets larger - this board is capable of putting up thumbnail images instead of the full size ones - enlarging them to full size on demand. We'll see in the future if we use that feature...

If you have further concerns about this specific issue - or would like to talk to me about it offline, please feel free to email me.

Thanks,
//sse

ps: On the career question - no, I am still 'hauled out' - at the University of Washington here in Seattle - having my old 'keel' torn off and a new one fashioned which will soon be attached. At 44, its interesting to be surrounded by people half my age, much has changed since my last time through...I'm really enjoying it.

And on the question of your support - don't worry about it. EY.o is blessed with many very kind and generous members. Your involvement with this group is important in that you have knowledge and insights to share. That information is enough to make your contributions significant; they help prospective owners feel confident when they're considering the purchase of an Ericson hull - and THAT is the true nature/purpose of this site.

Finally - I just changed the title of your thread (I hope you don't mind) - so when people do searches it'll come up - also reads better in the summary for the subject matter...

 

[therapidone]

My oops!

Greetings Sean,

When you first asked for the additional information yesterday (around noon EDT), I thought you must have time on your hands. And what do I find out? You're in the middle of finals! Why are you even taking the time to answer such an unimportant question?? Thank you, nevertheless.

You're right...when I went to the thread again after reading your reply, the pic was not visible when I looked at the post in question--that's #23 in the thread if you need to know But, when I hit F5, the pic appeared. This makes at least 3 times that I've looked at the post & not seen the pic. So now my question is: does everyone have to hit F5 to see it? If so and there isn't any indication that a pic is there, how would one know to do so?

Don't bother answering this until your finals are over...unless you can't help yourself!

Regards,

Ed
P.S. The name change on the thread provides a much better insight as to what it's all about.

 

[Sean Engle]

...when I went to the thread again after reading your reply, the pic was not visible when I looked at the post in question... But, when I hit F5, the pic appeared. This makes at least 3 times that I've looked at the post & not seen the pic.

Huh - that's really goofy. I edited your post - try it now and let me know if it's behaving the same way.

Which browser and OS are you using?

//sse

 

[therapidone]

Worked like a charm!

When I looked at it this time, the pic came right up, but there was a difference. There was a note about an attachment just above where the pic displayed--this never happened before, and it is probably because of your actions.

I'm using IE 6.0.2900.2180.xsp & then it goes on for awhile. The OS is XP.

Regards,

Ed

 

[Sean Engle]

Hummm... That is goofy. I just removed the tag from your post which controls where in the post the image appears. Without such a tag, the "attached images" line comes up automatically.

I'll go to Jelsoft and see what I can find on this. What kind of connection are you using (broadband or dial-up)?

//sse

 

[therapidone]

dial up...now that I'm home a lot more, I can move to FIOS via Verizon for about the same money as a 2nd phone line and Earthlink dial-up (@ 9.95/mo) costs...but someone had to be home for them to come & do the work.

 

[Sean Engle]

Oh, well - perhaps that was part of it as well. If you were using dial up, the image may have taken longer to be read (called for in the thread) and pulled up. Have you ever had other images (in other threads) behave in this manner?

//sse

 

[therapidone]

Not certain that I would know

I'm not sure...but then, if a pic doesn't appear and it isn't referred to in the text, how would I know? However, I do see other pics without much of a wait at all--at the very least, I can see the beginnings of its being downloaded & then I either wait patiently or head to the kitchen 'til it completes .

 

[Sean Engle]

It really depends - and can vary depending on the source of the image, it's size, your method of connection, and how many commands are being executed to pull it up.

In some situations, if the tag is straight forward (on a page, with a straight reference to an image that is in or near the same root file structure), it may be faster than a database ref (a tag citing a database reference citing a image), which is what this bulletin board is doing.

In the first circumstance, it's a short straight reference, and in the second, the speed of response is complicated by the fact that you're also depending on the MySQL database to serve up the image name, etc. Add to this the speed of the connection as well as the size of the image itself, and you have the resultant response time.

The additional tag in your thread, telling where in your text to have the image appear adds yet another layer onto the reuqest.

I'll take a look on Jelsoft's site and see what they say about it - if there have been any other issues raised on this question - but I really the answer is pretty clear...

//sse