Short Instructions on Use:

To offer a basic reply to any thread, scroll to the very bottom of the page and write in the text-editor box. Hit "Submit" when finished or "Preview Reply" first.

To more easily include links, smileys, bold, italics, or other gizmos, click the "Switch to Full Reply Screen" either before you start writing or even after you're finished and you'll be taken there.

To start a new topic, as before, go first to the logical category heading (i.e., Hostels & Other Lodging, General Discussion, etcetera). Towards the Upper LEFT hand corner you'll see the "New Topic" button. Click it and you'll be taken to a text editor screen. (this button USED TO BE in the upper right hand corner)

Find Active Topics by clicking the "Active Topics" link.

Private messages are done in much the same way as before. Click the username's link for a pull-down menu. Choose "Send a PM" and you'll be taken to the text editor to do so.

By clicking any username, you can choose to see all postings by this user, send a private message, or see his/her profile.

New (useful?) Feature: If you click the CALENDAR link, you'll see all birthdays for any given month. I can use this feature too to add notices about message board updates, "Parties with MadridMan", or the like. I THINK any user can use this feature in the same way.

And finally, there's the useful FAQ FILE which lists any possible questions+answers you may have about the message board's usage.

THOSE are the basics! If you have specific questions, go to the FAQ FILE linked above or just ask!

Saludos, MadridMan

##########

(original, FIRST POST BELOW. See upper portion for basic usage)

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS THREAD FOR UPDATES ABOUT THE NEW MESSAGE BOARD
And feel free to reply here with questions, comments, problems, and/or concerns.

MadridMan's ALL SPAIN Message Board will have a new format/layout in the coming days. There's a probability the board will be down for a short period of time, probably a matter of hours at most, but when you come back the you'll immediately see the difference.

The layout you initially see won't likely be the final one. I'll be tinkering with the new colors and graphics as time permits.

All previous registrations will remain intact and additional features will be available. Previous threads/postings will remain but will be at a new/different URL. The auto-forwarding-mechanism will take care of any old URLs floating about, forwarding the visitor to the new URL.

Thanks for your patience!

Saludos, MadridMan

WOW moving into the 21st century
why the upgrade? everything seems perfect to me,
dont make it to complicated for numptys like me

anyway you should be scouring the shops looking for turkey and stuffing to bother about upgrading the forum
get your priorities right
(oh and lets not forget a chef)

Trust me, the software is 10X more difficult for me to manage as well! But I'll get used to it, I'm sure.

It will allow for a bunch of new features. And one of the things I like most is its ANTI-SPAM-BOT registration process. New registrations will have to enter the digits+letter they see in a graphic in order to go forward - something SPAM BOTS can't do.

So stay patient while I'm tinkering with the look and layout specifics.

Saludos, MadridMan

i nearly made a fool out of myself then, i was going to ask if you could put a search by thing on, and after 2 1/2 years ive just found it!
its good but still does not narrow things down that much and i wondererd if you could put a better search on the upgraded site?
i tried real madrid and there were still loads of topics on madrid and it needs time to go through them all
if im doing something wrong please ignore this post

It's (probably) all about the syntax of one's search. Instead of, simply, Real Madrid you'd probably want to put the term in parenthesis, like "Real Madrid", effectively narrowing your search to the football/soccer team. Otherwise, as you found out, you get 1,000 results with the term REAL and another 1,000 results with the term MADRID. Same goes with most search engines when search syntax is very important - although almost no one knows how to use it.

Saludos, MadridMan

yep
you have cleared that up for me thank you
now i know how, i can now have some fun going over all the old topics
thanks again (simple when you know how eh!)

BOINK! Coming soon!

Boink!

And.... It's STILL on its way! Seems it may not get put-together until next week due to a busier holiday (Thanksgiving's tomorrow!!) week.

Saludos, MadridMan

FINALLY! The "new-and-improved" message board is on its way. Should "arrive" at about noon (EST) this coming Monday so expect about 1 hour of down time.

Remember, we'll all be going through some growing pains while we're getting used to is (including me!!) so be patient.

Consider this my Christmas present to you all.

Saludos, MadridMan

does that mean i cannot use the board until santa has been on christmas day?

Anyway THANK YOU very much and a MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and every message board member

Nah, billy the man, you can use it BEFORE Christmas Day. Consider it a pre-Christmas gift.

Will it be as easy to use as this one has been?

Please make it easy on us MM, change is hard!

It'll be hard for awhile, I'm sure, while we're getting used to it. There'll be a lot of features which you'll never use or even know are available to you. You can expect it be very similar to this board - but busier.

Saludos, MadridMan

It's happening Monday so prepare yourselves!

Is this the new one now then?

Yup! This is it! Looks just like the old one, doesn't it?

(hehee.. actually, it's coming at at around noon-to-1pm East Coast USA time)

When you wake up tomorrow you'll all find the new message board.

Saludos, MadridMan

So here it is - for now. I'll be tweaking the settings, layouts, and colors for the best possible fit. Hope you can all figure out how to use it. If you have questions, just ask and I'll try to answer. I'm learning the new software too, though.

Saludos, MadridMan

Short Instructions on Use:

To offer a basic reply to any thread, scroll to the very bottom of the page and write in the text-editor box. Hit "Submit" when finished or "Preview Reply" first.

To more easily include links, smileys, bold, italics, or other gizmos, click the "Switch to Full Reply Screen" either before you start writing or even after you're finished and you'll be taken there.

To start a new topic, as before, go first to the logical category heading (i.e., Hostels & Other Lodging, General Discussion, etcetera). Towards the Upper LEFT hand corner you'll see the "New Topic" button. Click it and you'll be taken to a text editor screen. (this button USED TO BE in the upper right hand corner)

Find Active Topics by clicking the "Active Topics" link.

Private messages are done in much the same way as before. Click the username's link for a pull-down menu. Choose "Send a PM" and you'll be taken to the text editor to do so.

By clicking any username, you can choose to see all postings by this user, send a private message, or see his/her profile.

New (useful?) Feature: If you click the CALENDAR link, you'll see all birthdays for any given month. I can use this feature too to add notices about message board updates, "Parties with MadridMan", or the like. I THINK any user can use this feature in the same way.

And finally, there's the useful FAQ FILE which lists any possible questions+answers you may have about the message board's usage.

THOSE are the basics! If you have specific questions, go to the FAQ FILE linked above or just ask!

Saludos, MadridMan

Wait, NO ONE CAN SEE a text-editor box at the bottom of this (or any) thread???? I've gotten two PMs about that!!

Sorry, folks! I've sent an email to the tech support person and hope we'll have an answer tonight but, well, it's Christmas Eve so you never know. Sorry for the problem! The software says that all registered users should be able to use the message board. I've even registered a temporary account to see what you see - and I SEE that you DON'T SEE the text editor box!! ARGH!!!

Please keep checking back! Thanks.

Saludos, MadridMan

Ta-Dah!!! It works!! (I'm MadridMan in disguise!)

Woo Hoo!!!! FINALLY, IT WORKS!! "I don't need no stinkin' technical support!" I figured it out on my own and it works! And on Christmas Day, no less. WHO SAYS NO ONE WORKS ON CHRISTMAS EXCEPT SANTA??! hehehe... This is my gift to you.

Saludos, MadridMan

YES WERE UP AND RUNNING SUPER

"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE"

looks like the site is a good one thanks very much

looks like its congratulations to Kipper for being the first to post on the new site
(after MM/johnQUser)

well done kipper :: :: ::

We won't count "JohnQUser" - because he was/is me as a tester.

I'm not a big fan of the new "Posting Icons" or "graemlins". Anyone else agree? They seem to have been drawn by an 8-Year Old. Should we keep them or dump them?

Let the "tweaking" continue!

Saludos, MadridMan

i could not get the posting icons to work (dont worry that will be me)
but the smiley in the left hand corner works
and i agree with you about the gremlins could be better
DUMP THEM (but only for better ones if possible) because i do enjoy useing/seeing them
great site im finding differant things all the time
great idea of whose online and calender thanks again ::

just seen how the posting icons work they are on the topic page

Thanks so much!!! I love the new board!!! :: ::
Merry Xmas !!!!!
Karen

when online i know what guest are but what are spiders?

Hi, everyone! Hope you all had a nice Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday.

Hehehe... "Spiders" are also known as "Web Crawlers" and are:



Once again, this is not the final "look" to the message board. I'll be trying different color schemes but doubt it'll be as shockingly-bright as before. Still, I WILL attempt to inject some "Spain-ness" into the layout.

Saludos, MadridMan ::

Excellent, at last I can post - don't know why i couldnt the other day, but never mind - i hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

All's working now, sallyanne. And the problem with the message board was not you, it was the software. Oddly enough, when it was installed, it did not allow anyone (but me!) to reply to messages. Go figure! A message board where you can't reply or post new topics!!!

Had a lovely Christmas, yes, thank you. Hope you had the same.

Saludos, MadridMan

Since the upgrade, has anyone experienced difficulty logging in? For example, that you attempted to log in and you got a "Wrong Password" message?

Saludos, MadridMan

Wow!!! I love this new look!!!! It is more user-friendly Great job, MadridMan...

great site MadridMan, Congratulations and Happy New Year guy.
glad to see it evolving in a positive way. take care

Thanks, all! And I see pedmar has found the AVATAR option in the "My Profile" to better personalize your profile in postings. I hope to add to this library a selection of Spain-related avatars as well.

Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan if i press reset on the shout board will it wipe everything off?
and at the top of the page it says google ads did i see Madrid tapas or was it Madrid tips? because it keeps changing and my eyes aint what they used to be
oh and can you put anything as an avatar? (clean i mean)
amigo de gracias (cant you tell ive just come back from Spain?)

and them there smilies are rubbish
http://smiley.smileycentral.com/download/index.jhtml?partner=ZNxdm117&ac=0

billy the man, by clicking "Reset" on the Shout Box you only erase that which you have written in the text-box, not the contents of the Shout Box, so no problem.

The Google ads at the top change nearly constantly and I have no control over that, nor what ads appear.

And yes, you can choose any avatar. I hope to add more Spain-related Avatars as time goes on. I'll post that news here when I do it.

And I agree, the smilies ARE rubbish. I really dislike them. Thanks for the link. I won't be using those because they require you to download and install a program on your computer, something I won't do just for "smilies", but I will seek others. I'll look into adding others from http://mysmilies.com/

Thanks a lot for your input! And I welcome others, as well.

Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan can you help please?
when adding a link off the internet i can only copy and paste how do you shorten it
i.e. when you put on link HERE
thanks billy

billy the man, whenever entering a link you can either paste it directly (as everyone already knows) or you can do as I do and others. You can use your keyboard directly if you know the keystrokes. If not, click the box below the text editor box which says, "Switch to Full Reply Screen". From there, you can click the link button for pop-up fill-in-the-blank boxes to more easily show your links as words rather than the long WWW address.

Saludos, MadridMan

absolutley baffled

but i WILL get there
i just hope you cannot read some of the post i deleate trying

I'll see if I can do this on the new board and give a step-by-step instructions.

1. Click on "Switch to Full Reply Screen."

2. Once you are in full reply screen mode, click on the icon that is "create a link to a webpage." It looks like a little globe, and it is the second icon from the left.

3. A window should pop up that says "Enter the complete URL for the link you wish to add." (That's what mine says; I use Internet Explorer. Not sure if it'd be different in Firefox)

4. Paste your link's URL (address) into the box here and hit OK.

5. A second window should pop up immediately that says "Now enter the title of the webpage you are linking to." Create a name for the page. As an example, I created the Art in Madrid link to a New York Times article about Spanish banks supporting art in Madrid museums. Art in Madrid

Hopefully this makes sense for you!

I've just added a load of new Spain-related "AVATARS" to the message board.

Those few whom have already chosen the original (and boring) "Stock Avatars" can keep them if you like or you can change them to the new Avatars.

"What are Avatars?" you ask? Avatars are the things you can add to your profile to better personalize your postings. For example, I have a little guy pounding away on a computer keyboard. See it at the left? You can have one too.

"How do I add an avatar to my profile?", you ask? Follow the instructions below:

• Click on "My Stuff"
• Click on "Profile"
• Scroll down towards the bottom and choose "Use a stock avatar"
• Click the link below it which says, "Change"
• A pop-up window will appear with the new library of Spain-related Avatars to use
• Select one by clicking on the image, scroll right & left using the << >> links
• Click the "Use this Avatar" button
• Then finally, click the "SUBMIT" button to save changes

From that point on, until you change it, that image Avatar will appear next to all your message board postings.

Here is the current library of images from which to choose:



If you'd like to see other kinds of Spain-related Avatars available, suggest them here in this thread.

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks, these are so cool, it's hard to choose.....

MM...these avatars are so much better than the previous ones. They fit the theme of the board. I was excited to see one for San Miguel beer. It's one of my favorite beers, also because it is my middle name...San Miguel (not beer!)hehehe!

MM
quite a few of the avatars are not avaialble in the choices

ignore this post im sorry ive found them and i cannot delete this post myself SORRY

Glad you all found them. Again, if there are others you'd like to see just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Saludos, MadridMan

We need a horreo from Galicia

jmvaco, how's this horreo from Galicia below? You'll find it now in the Avatar image library. Your wish is my command.



Saludos, MadridMan

great looks first time seeing it, good going buddy.

Hi all, this is my first post and will be arriving in Mardid in late May 2009. I will be staying at the Husa Princesa which is on Calle de la Princesa road and need to know where all the Internet Cafes are that are close to the Hotel. Wifi fees are very expensive at the hotel, so I want to skype my family back home in Australia while I am in Madrid.

It's been wayyyyy to long since I last visited - and WOW!!!!! Site looks fantastic as does the Board. MM - you've come a long ways since the early days! Kudos and WOW!