TGIF 8-30-13

On the right

I agree with Callie on the DogPedia issue.  That should be an option for those who might want to go there, Most of it is fairly basic information which those who frequent here find unnecessary.  

It also annoys me that I get logged off after every session, and it doesn't remember who I am the next time.

After all that rain we've been having all summer, now I am getting frustrated at having to water my flowers every day.  There is just no pleasing me, I guess!  My hanging baskets have huge root systems now, and they wilt at the slightest drop of sunshine!

No plans for this weekend yet, although one of my granddaughters has her 5th birthday next Wed, so I imagine that could change.  They are not very good at thinking ahead....

I "replied" to Tina's post above and it got "lost" when I refreshed the page.

Tina -- if you  click on "My Channel" and the "Quick Links" and Account Settings -- go way down the page and it allows you to indicate whether or not you want ANYONE to be able to message you.             I think the choices were "no one", "only friends" and "anyone".

I think it was somewhere in that same section where I asked for the "daily digest" hoping it would be a list of "not read"

And just as a reminder to all -- Jonathan is from the UK -- Jon - you made the comment it would be:

"mad of me" .... (something like mad to assume something -- meaning you thought it would be totally ludicrous to assume that thing).

Despite the fact that I **live** with a Brit I had to stop and mentally filter that one -- why??

"mad" in American English means "angry" or "irate" typically.  If you stretch a point we understand "madhouse" is typically something busy or chaotic -- (but even historically we'd refer to a place for crazy people as "an insane asylum" not a "madhouse" -- even tho current  use simply means chatoic.  But say to an American "You're mad" -- even in a teasing tone and you just told them you think they're angry.  NOT that they just had a "crazy" or ludicrous idea.  

This is merely something I noticed - I'm not trying to nitpick -- but I learned a long long time ago -- it's easy for Americans to sound brash and rude to Brits and Europeans .... but the same thing happens to us ... it's overly easy for us to think someone is being rude to us where there is no rude intent at all.

But in discussions like this I just wanted to encourage all of us to make sure we're truly understanding each other.  

You mentioned a "bank holiday"??  That is a completely unknown term in the US.  We don't get them (We would all WANT them if we did *smile*).

My husband and I have been married for 16 1/2 years.  Just last week we found yet one more small turn of phrase that means something utterly and completely different to the two of us.  Because we "courted" via email and online we're pretty aware of such things and we find it humorous.  

Karen's husband is also British (altho my husband would hasten to have me add he is Scottish, **not** English .... **rolling my eyes**).  But in the past years there have been many threads devoted to linguistic differences.  it's one of the good things the Internet does -- it makes us stretch and grow.

Sorry forgot to say... If you prefer a more familiar view of the forums, click THE FORUMS and you'll be back to something you recognise. Hopefully. We're going to be adding lots of ways to get there even quicker soon. But hope this helps for now.

Depending on what you put on the "splash page" it could be helpful.  What did you have in mind?

Can you share with me the link you are using where you get 'site root'?

http://community.dog.com/f/

If I use the same link except /g/  I go to a different page without the site root stuff.

What is a splash page?

I didn't have any trouble "translating" Jonathan's comments despite the fact I'm not British or married to a Brit or a Scot.  I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night either.  lol  Just teasing you Callie. 

Hi marty_ga OK. Understand. So we're trying to cater for all dog owners and not everyone has the same base level of understanding as you guys.

So a couple of things:

1) You can filter the grid to exclude Dogpedia articles. If you click the Content dropdown box, you can select All Forums, Blogs, etc. It doesn't seem to remember that setting yet (but it will). This will give you a grid view of all the most recent items that you choose.

2) Dogpedia will be an option. We're just tweaking formatting. And because of that it takes over the grid view of the site. Once we've finished improving the design of this section, we will reindex it and take it out of the grid. But in the meantime, my first point will help you focus on what's important.

3) In terms of log out, usually, this is a setting on your browser. Or you may have cookies switched off. I don't have that problem. But by all means tell me what browser you use and we can investigate.

Jonathan

Hey calliecritturs It's way too late here to get into a banter (discussion) about linguistics. 

But point taken, I embrace difference, even the Americanisation (case in point) of our language. That said, what I meant was, It would be a demonstration of madness on my part if I was to make promises I knew I couldn't keep. Not anger, but craziness.

TheDogHouseBCMPD Re splash pages. I was thinking about a list that's something like this. A splash page would give you fast links to all the main things you can do on the site, for example:

Start a new conversation thread

Reply to a conversation thread

See what you’ve not yet read

Review unanswered posts

Post a picture

Add to your blog

Look something up in Dogpedia

Search the site

Feedback your experience

We are also planning to incorporate mini forum features into the grid so you can share, read and reply to posts within the individual grid item.

Again can't promise to do all these things, but am really interested if you think this would help.

JackieG See I am not completely unintelligible.

testing one two three.......lets see if this works before I try to really post.

@JackieG

 I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night either.  

Jackie, that's hilarious! 

I'm not British, nor am I married to a Scot or Brit, but for most of my adult life, I've watched way too many programs on PBS and BBC America.  I knew they were having a subliminal effect on me when I called our favorite Chinese restaurant a few years ago and told them I wanted to order some "take-away."  

I (and many people in my family) say "bloody" a lot, in lieu of other curse words.  I don't know if it's just a family thing . . . it may have something to do with our New England upbringing (Massachusetts and Connecticut).  Anyway, I knew what you meant by "mad," Jonathan -- I actually like that turn of phrase.  When I read your posts, I "hear" a British accent in my head!

Marty -- do you find that birthdays for 5-year olds are much different than they used to be when we were kids?  My friends and neighbors plan parties that Martha Stewart would be proud of!

Yeah, most parties do seem to be big productions nowadays.  This family doesn't do that though...just family and good friends for cake and ice cream.  Mom is not a very good organizer, so it's probably for the best!  Hailey did say she wanted to go to a bouncy house this year, but I haven't heard anything about that.

Jonathon, I'm using Firefox, and I don't think cookies are disabled.  I understood your usage of mad, although  I had to think about for a minute...rather like "mad scientist!"  

I think those ideas on a splash page sound pretty good to me. I think I'd like that.

Hannah wants to have a Birthday party and I guess we should do one for Aaron since its the 1st one. His will be easy, family and friends, cake & food, done. But Hannah's should probably involve some of her friends from school and something for them to do, and I'm not a good planner/organiser either, plus the thought of all those kids makes me anxious. I think maybe paying the skating rink or bowling alley might be money well spent.