Messages

46

Bulletins and News / Login issues

« on: January 02, 2014, 11:18:49 pm »

The login issue has shown up again. If you tried to login to the forum earlier today you may have been shown as banned. This is a bug in the forum software and nothing you have done. I know how to work around the problem now but I still have not been able to find the root cause. I'm looking into several different possible causes so be patient with me. Some have mentioned that it might be a virus or a hacker. I'm pretty sure that is not the case here. It looks more like a bug in the software. There are attempted attacks of the forum everyday believe it or not. What they almost always want is to put spam in the forum or swipe email addresses. They are looking to make money. They don't have any real reason to just do something like ban users randomly. I keep the forum software updated when new updates come out. Almost every update is to improve security. The authors of the forum software have done a pretty good job of shutting down the weak points.

47

The Coffee Shop / Re: THANKYOU RUSS AND STEVE

« on: December 03, 2013, 07:57:10 am »

Actually I don't think it was hacked. I might be wrong but it looks more like a bug in the forum software. Time will tell.

48

Bulletins and News / Re: Banned

« on: December 02, 2013, 08:46:05 pm »

I just did a partial restore to the forum. Waiting to see if the problem with folks being banned has been fixed.

49

Bulletins and News / Banned

« on: December 02, 2013, 08:25:29 pm »

I'm currently working on the issue with folks being banned from the forum. I hope to have it fixed soon. Sorry for the trouble.

50

The Coffee Shop / Re: My report

« on: October 11, 2013, 01:10:58 am »

Hi Judy, you know my prayers will include you. You bring kindness and smiles to this forum. Your spirit comes through in your posts here. That same spirit will give you a wonderful head start in fighting this challenge.   

51

Pattern Requests. / Re: Help from Italia

« on: September 28, 2013, 01:37:55 am »

Sorry Heiko, I removed your message in this topic. The link you shared to the pattern was very kind but I was not sure if it was a commercial pattern or not. It looked commercial and I didn't want to take a chance. If you had the copyright permission to share the pattern I'm sorry for the deletion. If you did not then we have to take them down for legal reasons. PM me if you have any questions.

52

Bulletins and News / Hidden Email Icon

« on: September 26, 2013, 01:01:22 am »

For privacy and security reasons I have removed the email icon that was visible in every post on this forum. There is an option in the set up when you sign up that is suppose to allow you to hide your email address from other forum members. This option had stopped working for some reason. I am investigating why this was not working and will repair it as soon as I know it will work properly again. In the mean time if you wish to have the email address from any forum member you will have to PM them and ask for it. Please don't share your email address in an open post. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience but it needs to be done to make sure your privacy is maintained.

I'm pretty sure this temporary/permanent solution will work but please keep an eye out for me. I had to modify the php code and that is not a language I'm fluent in. Let me know if you see other instances that might reveal your email address or if my fix does not work for you.

Steve Good

53

Brag Forum / Re: I will no Longer Post in this Forum

« on: August 24, 2013, 12:33:49 pm »

Hi Tommy, I'm so sorry to hear that you felt let down by Russ. To be honest I don't follow the forum as close as I should so I didn't notice the issue until I read your email. Let me make it clear that Russ is just doing as I ask so it's my fault not his. I understand that it seemed insensitive but no ill intent was intended. Russ does what he does as a volunteer. I really appreciate his help and the forum would go away without that help. Because of this I don't ask that he spend any more time than he has to moderate comments. Sometimes that may seem insensitive but it's actually just him trying to get things done in a reasonable amount of time.

Let me apologize and ask that you please come back to the forum. You would obviously be missed. I won't tell you that things like this won't happen again because they will. I just want to assure you that when they do there is no malicious intent.

54

The Coffee Shop / Re: iS it just me or.....

« on: June 25, 2013, 01:35:23 pm »

Hi Folks, most of you know that I don't participate in the forums too often. That's intentional because I want this forum to be a place for the readers. I was asked to participate in this thread so I though I would put my thoughts in.

I don't subscribe to any magazines any longer. I do buy them off the rack.

Traditional publishing is going through major challenges right now. They are competing with the internet for their readers attention. That's not easy. A magazine needs to give value that makes the reader feel compelled to pay and wait for the product to arrive at their mailbox. The internet has that instant gratification thing going for it. 

In the case for the two scroll saw magazines I think they do offer that extra value. The Christmas issue alone is worth the price of a subscription. Like some of you I don't do much intarsia. The truth is I have not cut a pattern out of any magazine in years. That's only because I don't have the time. There are many that I would cut if I didn't spend so much time keeping my blog running. Like Sheila I think it would be a shame if we lost the magazines.

The idea of an online magazine sounds cool but there are issues that can be daunting. The legal issues are more challenging than they may look. Take it from a guy who has been contacted by lawyers more than once. There are people out there that watch everything we do and will protect their content. That's fine because they deserve to be protected. The problem is that it can be very difficult to know when you have crossed the line. I'll give you an example from my past.

I designed a pattern requested from one of my readers. They wanted a cross for a wedding. It needed to be two parts that could be assembled during the ceremony as a sign of unity. Sounded like a great idea and one that many of my readers could use. I designed it and posted it on my blog. In a very short time a letter arrived from a lawyer. I won't go into details of the letter but just let me say the financial consequences could have been severe.

I thought there was no way that someone could possibly have a patent on a cross. I was wrong. Here is the patent number. US D619926 S1. We can debate the patent laws but the fact is the person did have protection and a lawyer who was willing to take his case. I have had other also but it's best that I just keep them to myself. In none of these cases did I realize I might be doing something wrong. I strongly support artists right to protect their product.

Because of these very serious issues I would not be able to support the use of this forum as content for an online magazine. It's not that I would not support an online magazine. I just can't let the forum be used as content for it. The forum already puts me at some level of risk. I have control of that risk so I'm willing to accept it.

55

General Scroll Saw Talk / Re: Dollar puzzle

« on: May 13, 2013, 04:30:46 pm »

This paragraph from the U.S. Mint website should clear this up:

    Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who 'fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States. This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent. (Source U.S. Mint)


Again there are no laws broken in the US by making these puzzles unless there is fraudulent intent to misrepresent the money.

56

Bulletins and News / Spammers

« on: April 21, 2013, 11:34:19 am »

We are having more than normal spammer postings the last few days. Thanks for everyone who is reporting the spam. I am deleting the accounts as quickly as possible. I have decided to change the registration process to see if I can slow these punks down a little. I'm also trying to go through the thousands of accounts and weed out suspected spammers. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

57

Bulletins and News / The Coffee Shop forum

« on: March 26, 2013, 10:57:23 am »

The coffee shop forum is for topics not related to our hobby. Occasionally a topic comes up that may be controversial. We are much more lenient of what is allowed in this category as compared to the other areas of the Community forum. When you enter the Coffee Shop forum understand that you may see content that you disagree with. Russ and myself will monitor the forums and use our judgement as to when a topic needs to be shut down. You may not always agree so understand this when you enter the Coffee Shop.

58

The Coffee Shop / Re: We're back!

« on: March 17, 2013, 01:14:05 am »

Sorry it took so long. It took me quite a while to figure out what happened. Thanks for being patience.

59

Bulletins and News / Forum down 3/16/13

« on: March 16, 2013, 11:41:04 pm »

Well it was a long day trying to get the Community Forum repaired. I spent several hours working on it with no luck. I decide to restore from an older backup. Believe it or not this takes hours to upload. Still had trouble after the restore but I believe it is back to normal now.

60

The Coffee Shop / Re: Steve is that really a Mallard?

« on: May 28, 2012, 02:22:37 pm »

I was amazed how many duck experts there are out there. I got dozens of email letting me know it is a wood duck. I'm a city boy and never even heard of a wood duck. Good eye Gabby on seeing rubilacxE. Can't slip anything past you guys.