Damn I'm having trouble navigating BS!

[pdub]

I'm going to bed groucho. Old man has got to get some rest. My offer stands, let me know if I can help with the clicks. Tomorrow, though.

[malc]

If you are loggedin, on the top right screen will be your name.. Beside that is "messages"
I sent you a test, hoping you can find the reply so you can reply to the ones you want to talk to.. I know I ain't one.. Merely trying to help..
I tried to PM malc.. It said I had to subscribe.. When I tried you, went thru easy! Dunno why..I subscribe to neither..

I received your e mail about the PM crapola.....😅

[Monster]

I did this write-up in 2009 and hopefully it's still relevant enough to get you there ...

I've seen several members state that they would be interested in learning how to post pictures and/or have an avatar in their posts, so I thought I would try to help out.

PHOTO POSTING 101 COURSE
To post pictures or setup your avatar on the forum, first you must have a photo hosting account (e.g. www.photobucket.com ), where you can download your pictures to. They are usually free accounts.

A full size image for posting in a thread should be no bigger than Large (640x480), to prevent the viewer from having to scroll across to see the right side of the picture.

Most of these sites have a resizing option that can be used appropriately for where you want to post it. On Photobucket, right below the Upload Images and Video button, is the text "Use CTRL to select multiple files (more options)", where by clicking the blue link "(more options)", you can setup the default picture size for all future uploads.
Select Large (640x480) by clicking the associated button, then click the "SAVE" button at the bottom of the screen.

When you have an image on your hosting site and sized appropriately, then copy the URL (e.g: http://www.mypage.com/mypic.gif). In PhotoBucket, hover the curser over the picture you want to use.

A pop-up window will come up at the bottom of the picture with various types of codes.
Move cursor down to the bottom box (IMG Code) and left click once in the white box.
That will block (highlight) the code.
Then copy that code (either right click and then click copy or just use CTRL+C)
Come back to BangShift and paste the code in your new post dialog box (either right click and then click paste or just use CTRL+V).


AVATAR 101 COURSE

At this stage, I will presume that you already know how to post regular pictures and how to edit and resize pictures from a photo hosting site (e.g. PhotoBucket). An avatar is only slightly different, but needs to be absolutely correct to work properly. You do not necessarily need to get a perfect 128 x 128 picture size, as the forum software will do some resizing if necessary. If the pic is not square, it will come out on the page looking squished or stretched.

An avatar image file needs to be either Tiny (100x75) or Small (160x120) and may take some experimentation to get just right.

On PhotoBucket, when you hover the curser over the picture you want to use, a pop-up window comes up at the bottom of the picture with various types of codes. Move cursor down to the second box down (Direct Link) code and left click once in the white box. That will block (highlight) the code. Then copy that code (either right click and then click copy or just use CTRL+C)

NOTE: the two major differences for the avatar from a picture are: the size and you must use the Direct Link box code in your Profile.

Next, go to the BangShift site and locate the "PROFILE" link in the red toolbar at the top of the board and left click once.

This takes you to your Profile page.
In the "Modify Profile" gray box to the left of the screen, locate the "Forum Profile Information" link and left click once.

Now you can edit your profile information, which your avatar is the first section.
Locate the third "button" down; I have my own pic: and click once so that a green indicator shows in the "button".
Then copy your avatar image code in the text box after "Specify your own avatar by URL. (ex: http://www.mypage.com/mypic.gif)" (either right click and then click copy or just use CTRL+C).

Last step, but very important, when you are done editing your profile, scroll down to the bottom of the page and locate the button "Change Profile" and left click once.

DONE !!

[Monster]

I've had several members ask how to edit their Signature lines so they can update their Power Tour years of participation. Follow these instructions;

You can set and change your signature by going to your username in the upper right corner > click to get the drop down > select User Settings. On that page, select the Account tab and then go down to the area that says "Conversation Detail Options". On the right side, you will see the option "Edit Post Signature". If you click that link, you will get a popup editor that will allow you to enter/edit your signature.

[groucho]

I've had several members ask how to edit their Signature lines so they can update their Power Tour years of participation. Follow these instructions;

You can set and change your signature by going to your username in the upper right corner > click to get the drop down > select User Settings. On that page, select the Account tab and then go down to the area that says "Conversation Detail Options". On the right side, you will see the option "Edit Post Signature". If you click that link, you will get a popup editor that will allow you to enter/edit your signature.

My drop down does not include "account tab" or Conversation detail options"

[Loren]

I'm not sure if Groucho is the type of guy who wants to talk on the phone or really meet people much, just for now wants a simple instruction for the task at hand.

Me, I've given up on private messages, sometimes they work and sometimes not, some have disappeared, ah forget it. I'm sure with a little effort I could figure it out but I don't need them anyhow. People can call me an a-hole out here if they want... ;)

Also, subscribing etc., naw. I just read through most of it anyhow, and find where things left off. The blue arrows do work for me to find the last post, whoever made it.

Avatar change? Let's see...I'll give it a try, not knowing what I'm doing just wandering through.

I know Steve already posted all the instructions, but here is just another take, what I did myself right now this morning.

This is a lot of things, but only because it's all broken down into every move. I'd say, open two windows, this one and another which you're logged into so you can switch back-and-forth between the screens and follow along.

----------

1. Clicked on my name, got a drop-down thing.
2. Clicked "my profile", the first one.
3. Took a moment. Got my profile page with the avatar on the left. My God, I've been a member since July 2008...jeez.
4. Putting the cursor on the avatar photo brought up a red bar on the pic that said "edit avatar"...I clicked on that.
5. I get the choice of entering a URL (from some other website) on one box, or browsing an image from my computer on the other one. I clicked on "browse", over to the right.
6. In my case I found (on my computer) where my photos were, opened the one I wanted (I suppose I could have entered the file name as well if I knew it), and that image showed up. I did not have to necessarily use an outside hosting site such as Photobucket (as in the old days). I had however already sized my photo down using the pictures manager on the computer to 350x350, I don't think larger pictures work right. If I used the URL option to get the pic from Photobucket I would have needed to size it down to 350 there first. In any event the pic that comes on the screen has dotted lines to crop it into square by dragging the corners. Having used that to make the pic as best as I could get it , there is a red button for "save", which I hit.
7. Nothing happens for a while and then, dang, the photo shows up. It's another old p.o.s. Jeep. '63 Willys J-10, cost me a hundred bucks once.
8. Going back to "forum", I see the avatar has changed.

Now to put in a Sig line or photo:

1. Back to the start, from the forum. Clicked on my name, got the drop-down menu, tried different stuff to get it figured out...then hit the 4th one down, "user settings".
2. From that I get a page with spaces to type in my info etc. but ignore all of those.
3. Up near the top next to "profile" there are gray words "account", "privacy", "notifications". I click on "account".
4. On the next displayed page: halfway down, next to "detail options", there is (in red) "edit post signature". I clicked on that.
5. A box shows where I could type something. It already said "sigpic" in small letters, presumably I could have entered a photo file name if I wished to have a picture as my signature. Instead I clicked on the last letter of sigpic and spaced back to eliminate it, then typed in "clueless wanderer", which would do fine for right now. Now the box just has the words "clueless wanderer", nothing else. From there maybe I could have found a way to make the words bigger or smaller or something but instead just left it at that.
6. Then I hit "save". It said, "signature saved". A red box saying "OK" shows. I hit "OK"
7. It went back to "user settings / account". I didn't hit or change anything else. I didn't hit "save changes" either. Instead I went back to "forum".
8. I now have the signature "clueless wanderer". Hmm.

Again, that looks like a lot of processes but once you knew what you were doing it would go fast. It worked for me anyhow.

---By-the-way I rarely get the post I just made show up when I made it. I have to go back to "general discussion" or whatever, then back to the thread from there and I'll see it. Again, whatever...doesn't matter.

As far as whether this site is as easy as others, or who among the owners cares or not, I (without actually knowing) don't think the forum is the big money-maker for this place which is more about the "front page" where they actually pay guys to write and get most ad revenue from. They maintain the forum for fun, for feedback, as a service etc. although I'm sure that for them it's a royal pain-in-the-ass sometimes. They care enough to keep it here. Since it ain't costing me anything yet I get a lot out of it I'm happy to work with however it is.

[groucho]

I'm not sure if Groucho is the type of guy who wants to talk on the phone or really meet people much, just for now wants a simple instruction for the task at hand.

Me, I've given up on private messages, sometimes they work and sometimes not, some have disappeared, ah forget it. I'm sure with a little effort I could figure it out but I don't need them anyhow. People can call me an a-hole out here if they want... ;)

Also, subscribing etc., naw. I just read through most of it anyhow, and find where things left off. The blue arrows do work for me to find the last post, whoever made it.

Avatar change? Let's see...I'll give it a try, not knowing what I'm doing just wandering through.

I know Steve already posted all the instructions, but here is just another take, what I did myself right now this morning.

This is a lot of things, but only because it's all broken down into every move. I'd say, open two windows, this one and another which you're logged into so you can switch back-and-forth between the screens and follow along.

----------

1. Clicked on my name, got a drop-down thing.
2. Clicked "my profile", the first one.
3. Took a moment. Got my profile page with the avatar on the left. My God, I've been a member since July 2008...jeez.
4. Putting the cursor on the avatar photo brought up a red bar on the pic that said "edit avatar"...I clicked on that.
5. I get the choice of entering a URL (from some other website) on one box, or browsing an image from my computer on the other one. I clicked on "browse", over to the right.
6. In my case I found (on my computer) where my photos were, opened the one I wanted (I suppose I could have entered the file name as well if I knew it), and that image showed up. I did not have to necessarily use an outside hosting site such as Photobucket (as in the old days). I had however already sized my photo down using the pictures manager on the computer to 350x350, I don't think larger pictures work right. If I used the URL option to get the pic from Photobucket I would have needed to size it down to 350 there first. In any event the pic that comes on the screen has dotted lines to crop it into square by dragging the corners. Having used that to make the pic as best as I could get it , there is a red button for "save", which I hit.
7. Nothing happens for a while and then, dang, the photo shows up. It's another old p.o.s. Jeep. '63 Willys J-10, cost me a hundred bucks once.
8. Going back to "forum", I see the avatar has changed.

Now to put in a Sig line or photo:

1. Back to the start, from the forum. Clicked on my name, got the drop-down menu, tried different stuff to get it figured out...then hit the 4th one down, "user settings".
2. From that I get a page with spaces to type in my info etc. but ignore all of those.
3. Up near the top next to "profile" there are gray words "account", "privacy", "notifications". I click on "account".
4. On the next displayed page: halfway down, next to "detail options", there is (in red) "edit post signature". I clicked on that.
5. A box shows where I could type something. It already said "sigpic" in small letters, presumably I could have entered a photo file name if I wished to have a picture as my signature. Instead I clicked on the last letter of sigpic and spaced back to eliminate it, then typed in "clueless wanderer", which would do fine for right now. Now the box just has the words "clueless wanderer", nothing else. From there maybe I could have found a way to make the words bigger or smaller or something but instead just left it at that.
6. Then I hit "save". It said, "signature saved". A red box saying "OK" shows. I hit "OK"
7. It went back to "user settings / account". I didn't hit or change anything else. I didn't hit "save changes" either. Instead I went back to "forum".
8. I now have the signature "clueless wanderer". Hmm.

Again, that looks like a lot of processes but once you knew what you were doing it would go fast. It worked for me anyhow.

---By-the-way I rarely get the post I just made show up when I made it. I have to go back to "general discussion" or whatever, then back to the thread from there and I'll see it. Again, whatever...doesn't matter.

As far as whether this site is as easy as others, or who among the owners cares or not, I (without actually knowing) don't think the forum is the big money-maker for this place which is more about the "front page" where they actually pay guys to write and get most ad revenue from. They maintain the forum for fun, for feedback, as a service etc. although I'm sure that for them it's a royal pain-in-the-ass sometimes. They care enough to keep it here. Since it ain't costing me anything yet I get a lot out of it I'm happy to work with however it is.

As far as phone calls, ya never know who's gonna be a bit "chatty" in an accent hard to understand. LOL. As far as your tips....thank you for taking the time, but I see I have a learning curve to deal with now as my avatar's clipped and my sig failed badly.

[Loren]

Not really tips, more the point-by-point process.

The avatar thing will only make a square picture, no matter what, so you gotta give it a pic that will work with that (the size may have to be changed too). As far as the sig, that must have been the text in the box to do that. If that was meant to be a link, maybe it's not working so just try words for now.

I've heard PeeWee's voice (and laughing) on the videos of him hauling butt around, getting the supercharger on the Mustang worked out...it ain't too bad of a Southern Drawl...easier than the guy from India on the phone giving tech help...

[Monster]

I see I have a learning curve to deal with now as my avatar's clipped and my sig failed badly.

But you managed to change both, so well done. Keep in mind the picture size limits to avoid clipping of image. Also, the sig line needs to have all necessary bracket codes to work right too.

[groucho]

But you managed to change both, so well done. Keep in mind the picture size limits to avoid clipping of image. Also, the sig line needs to have all necessary bracket codes to work right too.

Yeah, changed both.................. POORLY! LOL. So, still a "fail" to me. I had to use a pic i didn't want in my av, and no pic shows in my sig.

[pdub]

groucho, bless your heart, you're making this be even harder than I make everything be myself. Amazing, I thought I had more trouble than anybody just walking around the house....

[67 Malibu]

groucho, bless your heart, you're making this be even harder than I make everything be myself. Amazing, I thought I had more trouble than anybody just walking around the house....

Me too. And personally, I like the avatar picture. But being a Camaro guy, go figure!