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Login to post Forums » Feedback » I am so anoyed with the GRM board at the moment.

March 22, 2009 10:37 a.m. dean1484 HalfDork

I just spent 45min-1hour writing up a very long detailed post on SRS / airbags and the complete idiocy of the new MA inspection laws.

I went to post it and I get an error telling me that the title was to long (more than 50 characters)

I went to correct it but my post is gone. WTF is with this!! why is this little detail not noted above the box where you put the title? Why does it even let you put more characters in than it can handle? Why doesn't it warn you that if you screw this up all your work will be gone permanently? In other words WTF I am annoyed.

I was going to vent about the stupidity of the new MA inspection in relation to the SRS systems and parts availability now all I do is rant bout this.

One more reason why I hate this new board format. I know it is free (well my subscription paid for it). You should be aware that part of the reason many subscribe to GRM is the board. It was one of the reasons I subscribed (10 years to). I feel as if I am getting diminished value now. I know it is better for you but honestly for we the end consumer I think it is just annoying. More and more I find my self getting frustrated at things and just surfing away. This in turn has made the arrival of my GRM mag a less than exciting event as it just reminds me of the frustrations I have here.

BTW did you get my comments regarding the board layout? I had bashed you in the past and was asked to send comments with specific things that could be improved. I took the time to carefully put together what I thought was a comprehensive review of the various things I felt could be improved. I never even got an acknowledgment that you got it. Did this go in to the abyss that my last post went in to?

First the idiocy that I may have to scrap a perfectly good running non modified car due to the new MA inspection laws due to the lack of dealer support for the SRS system that they are now mandating much stricter inspection of. (I have no way of properly fixing the problem) And then the idiocy of the 50 character rule and it deleting all my work to present a useful well thought out post that others could use comment on.

Sorry GRM staff but right or wrong I am really POed at the moment!
March 22, 2009 10:43 a.m. 4cylndrfury Reader

Geez guys, your free cookies arent as good as the 50$ a box sweedish onesWTF?!?!

Breathe dude..chill...be mad at youre stupid state...which is stupid and the SRS issue seems a valid and justifiable reason to be upset, but dont take it out on these guys
March 22, 2009 10:57 a.m. MitchellC HalfDork

Learn from your mistakes... type any "epic" posts in a word processor. I've had posts get lost in pretty much every board format, vbulletin included.
March 23, 2009 12:07 a.m. dean1484 HalfDork

I know but it should at least say 50 characters or less under the title line. I am better now... .. . Still annoyed but better.
March 23, 2009 8:14 a.m. Tim Baxter Online Editor

Dean, you're right, it should. Let me add that to my to-do list.
March 23, 2009 12:03 p.m. Wally UltraDork

The first time hurts the most. I had an essay detailing how I'd perfected cold fusion in my basement and was so devestated by it's loss I've posted nothing of value since.
March 24, 2009 8:14 a.m. dean1484 HalfDork

Wally wrote:

The first time hurts the most. I had an essay detailing how I'd perfected cold fusion in my basement and was so devestated by it's loss I've posted nothing of value since.

I guess that makes me a imbred-stup-jumping-post-horing-vergin. I apologise for my indescressions.

Lets face it I can not top cold fusion. . . The whole "flux-capacitor thing" is so yesterday you know.
March 24, 2009 8:33 a.m. mistanfo Dork

Man, it always gets me hot under the collar when I get a good post (IMHO) and it disappears. Of course, it doesn't happen often, but just often enough that I've killed more than one keyboard when I pound it in frustration. Heck, maybe I should grab a keyboard to use with my laptop, just in case. And yes, being mandated to do something by the state that the manufacturer won't support blows. What sort of car are we talking about, and what is wrong with it? Possibly resistors FTW?
March 24, 2009 11:45 a.m. John Brown MegaDork

But Dean-O what kind of car are we talking about?
March 24, 2009 3:28 p.m. dean1484 HalfDork

1994 mustang (v6 auto) Wife's favorite car. I gave it to her as a present years back. The problem is the front right impact sensor. It is saying not mounted correctly (SRS code 44). I removed cleaned and remounted and the error code is still there. BTW they are hardwired to the SRS ECU so no connections to check. My friendly Ford dealer confirmed that this means that I need a new sensor but they can not get them any more. No longer available and the even better part is ht they are a 1994 only part not interchangeable with later SN95 cars

The car is really nothing special (to me). It has a Saleen body kit on it (looks cool and actually increased the highway MPG a couple points) But other than that it is stock ford 3.8 auto goodness. I personally don't really like the car all that much but it is my wife's baby.

I have implemented another solution that is not so good but gets it to pass inspection. It involves the use of a "single shot timed relay" to control the SRS light. It makes everything look like it is A-ok. However I really don't like doing this as the car is designed to use airbags as part of the safety design. With them not working it makes the car less safe. Not a good option in my book. So what to do now? I can get the car passed the inspection but it still doe not fix the SRS problem.
March 31, 2009 10:41 a.m. VWguyBruce Reader

Tim, thanks for looking into this. It always sucks losing your post like I just did.

Bruce
April 5, 2009 8:10 p.m. dean1484 Dork

Pssst Tim,

You have not fixed it and it nuked another one of my posts 55 characters in my title and it wiped out everything in the post telling me that the title is to big WTF. Dang it this is very frustrating. It was a long post of stuff from my parts bin for the 2009 challenge people. Ya I know the dam store thing you have started but no that is not the answer and will just get me more aggravated and furthermore it is not the point!

I am so pissed at the moment I am considering things like canceling my subscription and asking for a refund. Ya I know. That is the pink mist talking and it will pass. But dam it this is such an aggravating thing!

You really must do something about this. I am on the verge of beating my flat screen to a pulp as I can not get my hands on the designers of this god awful software.

Bottom line is this sucks and there is nothing I can do but complain. Oh Well.

Is there anything I can do to help with this?

Dean
April 5, 2009 8:47 p.m. Supercoupe Reader

Wait a minute...you had to subscribe to use the forum? I used the forum first, then I subscribed.
April 5, 2009 9:47 p.m. dean1484 Dork

I subscribed to the forum and then I got the mag. I actually posted to Tim that I wonder how many people actually get the mag due to the website? I know that had this site been in place and all the frustration I have had with it (and me just liking the simplicity of the old one) I am not sure I would have ponied up the $$$. My mag showing up in the mail lately has just been a reminder of my frustrations I have here on the computer.

I am convinced I must just be a complete idiot. 2 times in as many weeks both with long posts. Dam full moon or something. I think I must have pissed off the all mighty Cone.. . . Ya that must be it... . . The great Cone is pissed off at me for taking the R compound tires off my 924s.

But I put Dunlop Sport 2000's on. Ok. I know probably not a good answer. I think I need more time in confessional (drivers seat on track). Maybe this offering will make the all mighty Cone go place there wrath on some one else.
April 13, 2009 11:39 a.m. aircooled SuperDork

A small tip:

I have been burned by boards after writing up long responses (not necessarily this one) so I have gotten into the habit of at least doing a select all and copy on the post before I hit the submit button. Then worst case, you can just paste it back into a new message.

The worst was one of my online emails that would time out and disconnect you while typing a long email (or typing it and coming back to it), that was frustrating.
April 14, 2009 5:51 p.m. 72SuperBrian New Reader

FWIW:

I love the GRM message board.

GRM is, thankfully, still an independent publication and they buy/build/race/play with the cars that people like me can actually afford.

Reading and posting on this site keeps my family sane, too - this place helps me not bore them to death with all of my car-related ideas. They don't have to hear about how I want to cut the rear floor out of my old Tercel and put a Chevy LSx in there, for example...

I've been a GRM reader since 1992 and I've only discovered this board a few months ago. Maybe it's because I never used the old board and I don't use any other ones, but I really enjoy this message board and I appreciate that it's free of charge.
April 14, 2009 6:10 p.m. tinman New Reader

Can't see the problem with someone adding the code:

maxlength="50"

to the subject box frankly. Maybe one of the developers or sysadmins want to chime in because this is a 30 second job, and quite worthwhile I think as the poster has a valid point.
April 14, 2009 7:38 p.m. dean1484 Dork

Don't ever under estimate what it takes to do something as simple as add a simple note to something out on the web. I am the admin of a couple sites and what seems like a no brainer can morph into an all day problem. I am not retracting anything posted above but I do understand Tim's situation and am just assuming that fixing this it is a tad more complicated than it seems.

The real fix is to either only allow 50 characters in the title / subject by just not letting you type in more or some how stop it from deleting you entire post when you hit the add post button if you have exceeded the 50 character limit and let you correct it and then post your comments.

As you can see that to "really fix" this it is not that simple.
April 14, 2009 7:43 p.m. Tim Baxter Online Editor

Actually, the real trick is that it's not the topic line with the limit, it's the "slug"-- the version of the topic line used for the URL on the topic. That slug is generated from the topic when it's saved so limiting/not limiting/using maxlength on the topic line wouldn't make much difference really, other than being a needless annoyance. The fix is to tweak how the slug is generated. Which I did last week.
April 14, 2009 7:50 p.m. confuZion3 Dork

You can do what I do too. Create your post first. Then go back and put in decent thoughts after it's posted. Then go back and edit the thing so that it actually makes sense. Then go back into it once more to add back in the important thoughts that you just deleted by mistake trying to make the thing make sense. Then stare at it for five minutes and decide it's better left unsaid. Then delete the post yourself.
April 14, 2009 8:01 p.m. MrJoshua SuperDork
confuZion3 wrote:

You can do what I do too. Create your post first. Then go back and put in decent thoughts after it's posted. Then go back and edit the thing so that it actually makes sense. Then go back into it once more to add back in the important thoughts that you just deleted by mistake trying to make the thing make sense. Then stare at it for five minutes and decide it's better left unsaid. Then delete the post yourself.
- bunches
Ive deleted so many political posts before adding them.

Ha-edit, apparently a plus sign turns into a solid block
April 14, 2009 8:10 p.m. Stuc HalfDork

... I'm confuZed!
May 1, 2009 8:31 a.m. dean1484 Dork

confuZion3 wrote:

You can do what I do too. Create your post first. Then go back and put in decent thoughts after it's posted. Then go back and edit the thing so that it actually makes sense. Then go back into it once more to add back in the important thoughts that you just deleted by mistake trying to make the thing make sense. Then stare at it for five minutes and decide it's better left unsaid. Then delete the post yourself.

A classic case of Internet A.D.D.

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