Hurin

Well, yes. . . to the user they all appear similar. But then again, the user isn't concerned with management tasks in the back-end.

It's not that that other BBSes allow it, it's just the they coded their flood control. More on this below. . . Again. . . this is not an option or setting. Those running VB did not choose to make it work that way. That is just the way the VB developers coded their board. I would be willing to bet a large sum of money that, in the VB back-end, there is no setting that will allow VB to function like IPB in this respect. It's a difference in functionality, not a setting. I also feel compelled to point out that IPB is generally considered to be the best forum software available (though the version here is in need of an update). Saying that VB is "ahead" of IPB merely because they implemented their flood control differently (in a way 99% of people probably wouldn't notice) seems a bit odd to me. H

No, that's not an apt analogy. Yes, you can assume that each forum will have the ability to post, quote, reply, etc. But you're talking about changing how a program functions behind the scenes. A better analogy for what you were requesting (and other requests in the past) is you opening said Word Processor and saying: "I want the print button to bring up print preview first, before it asks me which printer I want to use. . . like ACME's WordWizard does." Which of course, is just not possible and not within the capabilities of an end-user (or even an administrator) unless the software developer has had the foresight to add that option in a place where the user can set it. Software just isn't as flexible as you seem to want to believe. It only provides options that the developers can foresee. So, back to our current situation: I mean, do you really think in the Forum's back-end somewhere that there is likely to be a checkbox for "Assert Flood Control on Submit rather than Reply/New Post?" This and other conversations we've had with you regarding the boards only serves to demonstrate to me that you don't have a firm grip on these types of concepts. As for the rest of it, I really don't care to deal with it. I would direct everyone once again to the words that were apparently so insulting: That is insulting nobody's intelligence (as you put it). It is merely a statement of fact and it is forgivable that someone would assume that it would intuitively mean something to you (that different software behaves differently). I frankly don't have the time or patience to salve your (once again) bruised ego. But, if it is any consolation, I have learned something: That humor or good-natured jabs that are intended to both answer your question (briefly) and prompt you to consider that your request might not be as simple (or as important) as you seem to think, are totally and utterly lost on you. But instead, just start another round of you claiming that you're being disrespected or insulted. So, in the future, I will either answer your question as matter-of-factly as possible (though that didn't help Azrael). . . or. . . if I don't have time to explain the underpinning facts or concepts in enough detail to satisfy you, I'll just simply ignore. That's the best I can do. Because, apparently, brevity or levity is seen as insulting. Are we done now? Or will there be indignant, righteous anger? H Edit: Bah! I should have re-read the post today before responding. I assume that "special thanks to Hurin" part was thrown in after my initial read yesterday. Now I get to feel like an a-hole for being so. . . ahem. . . direct!

You posted the version and copyright of different forum software and then ask why ours doesn't work like theirs? And when it's pointed out as matter-of-factly as possible with absolutely no extraneous language or anything even remotely insulting that (as is readily apparent by reading the bottom of our forums). . . we don't use that software but instead use IPB. . . you claim that someone is insulting your intelligence? Let's try this from another angle: Tim is using Bob's computer Tim: Hey! Where's the big clock? Bob: What big clock? Tim: The big clock. It's a "gadget" for Windows Vista. Bob: Well, this computer isn't Vista. It's Windows XP. Tim: How dare you insult my intelligence!?! Bob has said nothing wrong. Rather, it's probably the case that Tim is lashing out because he's a bit embarrassed that he had lept to conclusions and also possibly because he failed to recognize that the computer he was using was XP instead of Vista. I'm not sure if you realized that we weren't using the same forum software when you posted the version of that piloting site. And I'm not sure that you recognize that it would be expected that different forum software behave differently (though you now apparently do). But based on your prior complaints ("go to last post" etc.) , I'm pretty darn sure that you don't really appreciate exactly how much (or little) control we have over every tiny aspect of how "off-the-shelf" software works. We don't write this stuff. We just manage and moderate it. Most of this type of feedback would be better directed to IPB themselves. I've often had users at my real job ask me to make Microsoft Word do things that it simply can't do. . . and they don't seem to grasp the concept that a Network Administrator can't just "rewrite" Word on a whim. It basically comes down to this: Either You posted the information you did knowing that we didn't use that software. In which case, you needed to have the obvious pointed out to you: That different software behaves differently. Or You posted the information you did and did not realize that we were using different software. In which case you needed to have the obvious pointed out to you: That we use different software. And different software behaves differently. Take your pick. But either way, please stop trying to pick a fight with the Staff (again!). H

This may sound like advice from 1987, but maybe you should look for a "ground loop isolator" if your audio signal is analog and being upmixed to surround, it might still be useful. But, are you sure the TV is the catalyst? What happens to the sound if you unplug your TV or have it turned off? As Azrael said, it's possible that your speaker has gone bad. But generally an analog speaker won't hum. . . it'll just sound terrible. H

So, you're basically admitting that --though you're saying "just wait, you'll see"-- you have absolutely nothing upon which you're basing such a confident statement? Wouldn't a more appropriate statment be: "Maybe drivers will help? I guess we'll have to wait and see. . ." Really? Missed that. My 8800GTXes have performed essentially the same since release day aside from bug fixes and stability. Performance never went appreciably higher. The point is that there is no precedent for a video card increasing its performance by an appreciable amount (especially not enough to push it up a notch in the performance ranking) merely through driver updates. As for spin-doctoring. . . this is my favorite example. Note this post below it. Generally, when people need to start screaming: "It'll be okay! Wait for drivers to make this card great!" You know that there is a problem with the card and that it hasn't met expectations. And those who are bizarrely personally invested in the "video card wars" and unwilling to come to grips with reality are resorting to spin and wishful thinking. Best, H

We'll get our crack team of software developers right on that.

Looks like someone made a logo for Macross and then decided he'd throw a bunch of junk before it. Yet. . . no transforming mecha = not macross. Just. . . lame. Sorry. Just one opinion.

And you base this on. . . what? Ummm, it doesn't compete with it. It provides appreciably lower performance. Why is this "pretty good" when it's arriving a full six months later and you could have had better performance six months ago? It beats it by less than two frames per second in a very specific test while demonstrating inferior image quality (as pointed out by the reviewer multiple times). How about by buying a huge card that draws more power and performs slower than the competition in order to save a mere hundy or two? Again, you base this assertion on what? Wishful thinking? This is the song we always hear when a new hardware release is underwhelming. Seldom does it pan out to the extent that the rose-colored glasses-wearing wishful thinkers would have us all believe. I really don't understand how people get so invested in these sorts of things. When the 8800 came out, we had people (with no actual facts at their disposal) saying: "That's ridiculous! Look at its power draw! Look at how big it is! I'm waiting for ATi! They're not idiots like this!" Now that ATi has demonstrated that they are indeed worse "idiots" than nvidia, we've got the same people saying: "It's not that bad. . . just wait for drivers!" It stretches credulity. Not to mention the patience of people watching these debates and just trying to determine what's fastest today so that we can make our purchasing decision and move on without getting so emotionally invested that we actually feel the need to spin things due to some bizarre affection for a video card brand name.

Wouldn't this be a super-easy mod as well? I mean, can't you just paint some tint onto the inside of the canopy? I wouldn't know. Haven't modeled in over a decade. . . . I shake my little tush on the catwalk!

The XTX is months away. And what they've got out now doesn't even match or beat Nvidia's tier three card (tier two if you don't count the 8800gtx Ultra). So, what are the hopes that a die shrink and higher clocks will approach the speeds of the 8800GTX (ultra or not)? I'd say pretty slim. And, even were it to do so, I wouldn't call a card that shows up nearly a year late to the competition with only matching performance a "rival." I think the fandom for video card companies borders on the ridiculous. If AMD has the better CPU, I go with it. If Intel does, I get that. Same thing with video cards. The lengths some are going (elsewhere) to paint a rosey glow on the completely underwhelming performance of the long-awaited and long-delayed R600 is just sorta sad. People should be able to recognize a success and a lemon without getting emotionally involved (as others elsewhere have done). I wish ATi had a better high-end card. You can bet that nvidia's recent release of the 8800 Ultra at such an extravagant price was due to them knowing by then that ATi had absolutely nothing on tap that could compete with them at the high end. Competition is a good thing. Right now, there isn't any. H

It was at five seconds. But we had a spate of some really nasty spambots come through. The upgrade to IPB 2.2 should help the spam situation and allow us to set the flood control much lower. Shawn took some steps towards bringing the server's low-level software up to the IPB 2.2 requirments recently. So there has been some progress. In the meantime, I'll see about setting the current setting to a more middle-ground value. You're not the first to have mentioned this. I didn't realize you folks were posting so many things one after another!

Is there supposed to be an 'r' in there?

Guys, big apologies. I never did see another copy of it. And I did look at each newstand/bookstore on my way through the train stations and airport. But, after a week of hot, humid, sweaty weather and following my wife around to every "cultural wonder" imaginable in Kyoto, I was just too burnt out and tired to look much beyond our planned route out of there (I'm no kid anymore! Travelling is pretty exhausting nowadays!). Anyways, sorry that I didn't get 'em. I hope the usual scan posters will obtain absolve me of my guilty conscience soon! H

Well, it looks like there's some interest in the scans. I'm actually heading to the airport from Kyoto today. So, if I can find a Dengeki mag in the airport, I'll pick one up. Otherwise, we'll have to wait for scans from the usual suspects. H

Yes, sorry. Meant the YF-19 w/ Fold Booster. Well, finally managed to find some Yamato Valkyries in their natural habitat! It's a totally strange experience to be able to "browse before you buy" for Valkyries.

Just saw one today at Yodobashi in Tokyo (Akiba). Looked pretty cool. Price was 4,530 yen.

In Tokyo right now. Saw a Dengeki Hobby Magazine (my first in person!) with some shots of the SV-51's tranformation process via an unpainted mold/prototype? There was also an image of the VF-0A with the fold booster all lit up (if memory serves). May actually buy the magazine. But I suspect others will have scans up (if they aren't already) before I get home a week from now. Best, H

Righto! (until Shawn returns from the Twilight Zone and makes it possible for us to update the forum software to be less spam-friendly)

Easiest way is to buy a recently re-released Max 1A and then pop a Roy head on it. You may want to color the red/yellow dot on the upper face. You may want to grab the wings off a Roy 1S as well since it will have the proper 001 number on it.

I love all the suggestions that just say: "Hey, why don't you make IPB ask who their favorite Macross character is and then have that character appear in an animated GIF. Then have it ask what color that character's eyes are. When that's completed, have a Valkyrie appear and then transform while doing a little dance." People, we are limited by what IPB's back-end can do. We're not PHP coders here. We can't just make it do anything.

While I don't normally like to pass the buck, I only have FTP access to the web area of the server and admin access to IPB. I don't have low-level access to the server itself. So, it's totally out of my hands. We need newer versions of PHP and MySQL before we can upgrade to the newest version of IPB. Those are things I can't accomplish with my current level of access.

They may have been clones, but they were still human. The order was implanted in their brains. . . hence their memories. . . since they were cloned. So, yes, they knew the order was there. But along with the order, I assume, was the directive that it remain secret. Were they "waiting for it?" Probably not. It was there just "in case" the Jedi ever became disloyal to the Republic/Empire. And of course, that's exactly what Sidious accused them of being.

Odd, you'd think that going to Vista would have shaken things up enough that the problem would not exist in it. But, was just goofing around with Vista, and it will still crash when I reply and go "tap tap tap" on the entery key. Like in XP, it's only every tenth time or so. Ah well. . . it's the same executable, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. One of these days I'll try an older keyboard. Even a non-USB one. But as it stands, things are tolerable. I'll just try to ignore it until another few Firefox versions come out.

Let's see how brief I can be: Forget Masters and Next Generation. Those are totally different animes in Japan and were artificially grafted onto Macross to form a longer series when it was brought over to America. They're as different as Star Wars and Star Trek. Likewise, ignore any Robotech spin-offs such as the shadow chronicles. Macross TV Series ("SDF Macross") = What officially happened. Macross Movie ("Do You Remember Love?") = A stylized retelling of the events in the series. Portrayed as a movie documentary within the TV series universe. Though the TV series story is official "canon". . . the slightly more modern mecha, character, and costume designs from the movie are likewise "canon" and are used in all future Macross animes. Macross Zero, Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Flashback 2012 are also canon. But do not cover events immediately surrounding those of SDF Macross and DYRL (movie). Macross II is not considered canon. It was done without Kawamori's (Macross creator's) involvement.