Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I update my profile information such as contact information and avatar?
Q: How come my avatar won't update after I attempt to upload a new avatar image file?
Q: When I attempt to access pages on MoutaineersForums.org, I see an "Oops! Something went wrong" error message. What is wrong?
Q: How do I include pictures in my posts?
Q: How do I delete pictures from my photo gallery?
Q: What if I have a question that is not addressed in this Frequently Asked Questions document or if I have a recommendation for a new item for the FAQ page?
Q: How do I update my profile information such as contact information and avatar?
A: Click on your username at the top right corner of the page where it says, "Signed in as ". That will take you to the web forms for editing your profile.
Q: How come my avatar won't update after I attempt to upload a new avatar image file?
A: There are two issues here. There is a bug in the current version of the message board software, as described here: http://communityserver.org/forums/thread/451823.aspx. There is a workaround. After clicking the Browse button and entering the path to your avatar file, don't click the Update button. Instead click on the Save Changes button further down on the page.
The second issue is that the avatar images are cached, meaning that a copy of the avatar is stored in a place where it can be retrieved quickly to improve the performance of the system. The cache is updated periodically from the slower database storage. Unfortunately, this means that it will take anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes for a newly uploaded avatar file to appear.
If after using the above bug workaround and waiting 15 minutes and refreshing the web page you are still seeing the old version of your avatar, please send a message to mail@mountaineersforums.org requesting assistance.
Q: When I attempt to access pages on MoutaineersForums.org, I see an "Oops! Something went wrong" error message. What is wrong?
A: This problem can happen if the web browser attempts to supply an old cookie that is no longer recognized by CommunityServer. The fix is to clear the cookie cache. In Internet Explorer follow the instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278835/EN-US/. To delete cookies in Mozilla Firefox follow the instructions here: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/pki/psm/help_21/using_priv_help.html#cookies_remove. For other browsers, follow the instructions in the browser documentation for deleting cookies.
If after clearing the cookie cache you are still seeing the error message, please send a message to mail@mountaineersforums.org including the web address that manifests the error.
Q:How do I include pictures in my posts?
A: How to Include Pictures in Forum Posts
In order to insert images in your posts, you must upload them to a publicly accessible web location — either in your Mountaineers Forums personal photo gallery, or on another Web site. If your pictures are coming from a digital camera you may first need to resize the images to make them suitable for publishing on web pages. Raw images from a digital camera are usually unnecessarily big which makes for long wait times when viewing the web page. You will want to load the pictures into a graphics program, resize the images to a manageable size and then save them in the JPEG format. 480 pixels or 640 pixels are good choices for the longer dimension. There are lots of graphics programs including some programs included with popular operating systems. Some digital image programs have a "save for web" command which takes care of resizing. There are also some web sites that allow you to upload an image and perform resizing. There are too many different options to discuss in this FAQ. If you are unsure how to go about resizing your images, you best bet is to enlist the help of someone who is familiar with the process to get you started.
Once your images are published on the web, you will need to know the web address for each image (not to be confused with the address for the web page containing the image). To find the address for the actual image, in a web browser display the web page containing the desired image, right-click on the image and choose Properties. The Properties dialog box will show the web address (also referred to as the location) for the image. Often, the address for the image file will have an extension (ending) of ".jpg" but in some cases such as images stored on the Mountaineers Forums file galleries the image will have a different extension. The best test for whether you have the right address is to open a new web browser window, paste the URL that you copied and then see that the web browser displays the image with a plain white background and no other text or images. Here is an example of a web address for an image stored in a Mountaineers Forums gallery:
http://mountaineersforums.org/photos/ipd/images/8285/281x375.aspx
Here is an example of a web address that won't work. It is the web address of a web page containing the image instead of the image itself:
http://mountaineersforums.org/photos/ipd/picture8285.aspx (Don't use a web address like this one.)
Once you have the right web address for your image, when you are writing a post all you need to do is click the "Insert/edit image" button in the Message toolbar (
). In the subsequent "Insert/edit image" dialog box there is a box called "image URL" where you can paste the web address. Click "Update" and you should now see your image embedded in your message.
Note: you may have noticed that the image dialog box will allow you to set width and height values different from those of the actual image. Embedded images also have handles on the image borders allowing you to resize images. If possible should always use the actual dimensions from your image by leaving the size fields blank and avoiding resizing an image using the resizing handles. These methods do not cause the image to be resized on the server. Instead they instruct the browser to resize the image. As such, if you have an image that is unnecessarily large and you set the width and height to be something smaller, you still have a slow download time. The best practice is to resize the image file to an appropriate size before publishing on the web.
Note: If you are including several pictures, you may find it easiest to work with more than one browser window. One window is used for writing the forum posting and additional windows are used to find and verify the web addresses for images to be included in the posting.
Q:How do I delete pictures from my photo gallery?
A: Navigate to your photo gallery and there should be choices for "Add Picture", "Manage Albums" and "Control Panel". Choose Control Panel and then on the left side of the screen will be a navigation menu where you can click on Manage Content and then All Photos. At this point you should see a listing of your pictures with a Delete button next to each one.
Q: What if I have a question that is not addressed in this Frequently Asked Questions document or if I have a recommendation for a new item for the FAQ page?
A: Post a message to the Help Desk forum or send mail to mail@mountaineersforums.org.