293 replies to this topic

[NatashaFatale]

Our little forum is growing! More threads & more members – all because of this great show – the more the merrier, I say!

It's been requested to have a technical thread to help people navigate the basics of posting on this forum. The main USA Help section also has some helpful basics, but this thread will go into much more detail. It's all about the technical how-tos here, so for Burn Notice show-related questions, please see the Cliff Notes Thread where you will find an easy-to-read list of the most popular/most common threads. Huge thanks to Philippa for her work on the Cliff Notes & for getting this Technical thread going.

This first post will list all the main FAQs & will continually be updated as needed or requested.

Please let me know if there is any thing else you'd like to see covered here. Feel free to send me pm or post your question on this thread, as there are lots of very technical savvy people on this forum who are always glad to help. Also, suggestions on how to improve these answers/directions are always welcome – if anything isn't clear, please let me know & I can edit it. Anyone wanting to help contribute answers please do via pm or a post. I've already borrowed some how-tos/questions from the Cliff notes thread so apologizes for any mis-typings.


A Huge thanks to everyone for your input & tips, including (but not limited to) : PhilippaConnors, FiRocks, GetBurned, Curator, GolferGal, JennaV, LGia, kusa23, vestokes, Karendipitee, krocla, mrohr, Saqqara, Spider5 and anyone else who has sent me suggestions or posted tips!

(this is a work in progress, so please be patient with typos, broken links, formatting, etc. Please pm me if a link is broken)

Note: Due to recent forum upgrades, some of the photos/instructions below will be slightly different, I'll try to update them when I have time.

FORUM UPDATE Nov. 2012:

As you may know, the USA Network forums were hacked on Nov. 4th & went down until Nov. 21st. In fact, all the NBC Universal forums went down: Syfy, Bravo, NBC, etc. (NBC Universal is the parent company of the USA Network) so it was system-wide, not just ours.

Some of you may remember from the forum upgrade a few years ago, that all the NBC Universal forums were merged together into one main system. They did testing before the forums went back up this week to make sure this doesn't happen again, so hopefully this will be the last the time the forum is down this long.

As basic internet safety, since it's possible the hacker may have gotten member emails & passwords, IF you use the SAME password here on the forum as you use for a password for your personal email account associated with this forum, then you should change your email password to be safe.

You'll also notice the forum has a slightly new look. If you have any questions about how to find or do anything, please send a PM to a moderator, like myself. If you are still having login problems, you can contact me via Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatashaBN

And if you are having login problems, it's always a good idea to clear your cookies, or at least clear the USA Network ones, and restart your browser & log in again.

***Update: Forum is being wonky, so if you get a blank page or an odd page about IPs, just give it 2-10mins, restart your browser or clear your browser cookies (do a google search on how to clear cookies for your browser Firefox, IE, etc) & you should get back on.

Here are some quick updates on new features/how-tos from the Nov.2012 Upgrade:

A. To insert a spoiler, in your post, click on the "Special BBC Code" box (next to font) & select Spoiler, then enter your text you want hidden in spoiler tags.

B. To do the "jump to page number" function, you have click on the bottom or top left part of the thread where it says: "Page 1 of 1699" like on the "Gues the Quote" thread and a little dropdown box will pop up, then you can enter the page # you want to jump to.

C. The search box at the top right (to search a topic or forum) doesn't seem to be working quite yet - hopefully soon.

D. Inserting a text hyperlink

1. Copy the URL you will want to hyperlink eventually.
2. Write your post and then highlight the text you want to hyperlink.
3. Click on the hyperlink icon (the 2 chain links), which should bring up the dialog box.
4. Paste the URL into the URL box and click OK.

Karendipitee's example: Burn Notice homepage here

The minor change is that the dialog box no longer shows you which text you are linking. But if you highlighted it beforehand, that's what it will link. Hope that helps.

E. Tags: For those of you who may not have made a new topic yet, when you make a new Thread now, you can assign "tags" , which can be useful for finding threads on same tag topic (depending upon, of course, if someone went back & tagged all the past threads ever made - a moderator has this ability, but not the time, so if there are threads you'd like tagged, let us know which ones ).

For example, when JennaV makes the B-day threads, since we no longer have a subtitle line (where she usually puts the date of the bday), she now makes the date a "tag" instead. I've tagged this Tech thread & the "Forum is back up!" thread with the tags "Technical" - so if you click on that tag, all the threads about Technical issues come up.

Another example, if all Threads about Fiona were tagged "Fiona", and when you click on that tag, it would pull up all threads that are tagged that.

If you want to add tags after you've made your Thread, click "Use Full Editor" & add tags there (Select a maximum of 10 tags).


F. New Update: Autosaving posts!
We now have an "Autosave" feature - hooray!!!

How Autosave works:

1. Type your post for at least 1min & 45 seconds (almost 2 mins) (I think 30secs is the norm for other forums, but I guess ours is special ) This is probably most handy for when you are writing lengthy posts & don't want to lose all you wrote.

2. You'll see this show up automatically at the bottom left under the post box: "Last auto saved: 23:42:31" (or whatever time it is). If you click on that, a box pops up to explain: About Saved Content: As you type, the text editor content is automatically saved so that if you had to reload this page you can restore what you've written so far.

3. If you leave the page (either get disconnected or click a link leaving the page), return to the thread page you were replying on.

4. Pretend to start typing a reply again, and in the bottom left corner, Click on “View Auto Saved Content (Today, 11:44pm)” (or whatever time it is).

5. A box pops up that says: Saved Content: and has your text in it. Hit the “Restore Content” button & it’s back in the post!


I tested it a bit, and it seems to work for me in all these situations:

a. I typed up a post (did not submit) then disconnected my internet, got a blank page, hit the back button & my text was still there in the post (in lain form, not formatted, until I toggled the edit mode & put it back to rich text). & it also worked when I disconnected internet & restarted browser - was able to restore my text (clicking on View Saved Content, then hitting Restore Content).

b. I typed up a post (did not submit) then click away from it, back to the main forum page. Then I clicked back on the thread, and went to type new post & was able to restore my text (clicking on View Saved Content, then hitting Restore Content)..

c. I went to 2 different threads, started typing up posts in each (did not sumbit), clicked away on other threads, then came back to those threads & each thread had saved the text I wrote up, so I was able to restore both posts for the 2 different threads I was on.

I wonder how long it keeps your content saved in a thread - I'll find out tomorrow or in a few days when I test it again.

So cool!!!!!

G. Quick Messaging: When you hover your mouse over someone's name in a thread (above their avatar) a little box pops up & you can click "Send message" which is a quick way to send someone a message.

I also recommend going to your Settings (click on your name in top corner of forum), in Notification Options, and check-marking this option: Show inline pop-up when I have new personal messages (latest will be shown). (This is handy for when you are online on the forum & the message pops up instantly). Otherwise, you'll just see it the normal way - the little envelope icon at the top next to your name will have a little "1" on it, to let you know you have a message.

H. Word format to Posts: Another fun fact from phillesfan: When you copy a post from a .doc file, the formatting & spacing transfers perfectly (in the past, everything had to be formatted again when pasted here).

I. Copying a Post Link: We used to be able to click on the Post# in the top left corner of a post & the link to it would pop up (so you could copy it). That doesn't seem to happen anymore, so instead, to copy a post link, do this: Right click on the post# & then select 'Copy Link Location' from the menu (if you don't have a mouse, you can hold down the control button & click on the post# to get the option to 'Copy Link Location').

J. DOB: For those few of you in the past who weren't able to change your Date of Birth on your profile, you should be able to do it now. Go to your Settings (click on your name in top corner of forum), Profile Settings, Birthday: And you can either choose dashes (-- -- --) to hide the date, or enter the date you want. If the date change doesn't seem to stick for you, let me know.

K. Photo re-sizing: Oh, and for those of you who post pics in your posts, you can click on the photos & little handles will show up in the corners & you can click on those to resize the photo. I've tried it, but the resizing doesn't actually stick - my pictures pop back to their orig sizes, so I'm not sure what's up with that.


TECH THREAD UPDATE **PLEASE NOTE**NEW FORUM LOOK/UPGRADE AS OF MAY 18th 2010**

From Admin:

Users experiencing issues logging in or out of the forum should clear their cookies (specifically any cookies forforums.usanetwork.com and SNAS if possible).

Internet Explorer users can click here for information on deleting cookies. Firefox users can click here. Please note that if you delete ALL of your cookies, this will also remove the saved login info for every site you visit, so make sure that you can remember all of your logins before proceeding.

Other issues, such as the "blank page" problem, are currently being worked on.

The only other updates from Admin are that we have so far are that this was a NBC Universal upgrade that they are going to be doing to all their network/show forums NBC-wide, so they are still working out the bugs.

And a few new forum tips: - There are some new settings for signatures and avatars. Signatures are limited to 2 images with a maximum size of 700x250 each. Avatars can be up to 100x100 pixels with a file size limit of 50KB.

- There's also a personal photo option now, which is the image that appears near the top where it says "Signed in as [name]". For some reason this is separate from your avatar, though these can be up to 200x200.

- The number of posts required for a custom title is now 1,000 instead of 10,000. (This is the name title under your avatar; if you have over 1,000 posts you can custom it by going to your Profile & edit profile, in profile info-member title. For example, you can see under my avatar I put my title as Secret Agent)
- And there should also by a higher saved PM limit (300) and a "fast reply" at the bottom of every thread.

-To make SPOILER TEXT: Edit your post (hit 'edit' at bottom of post and for 'spoiler' option: you need to click on the turquoise/green box icon near the top Left that says "Special BBC code" & when the pop-up box opens, select "Spoiler" & then 'enter the text to be masked'.


AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED TECH THREAD:

How do I post a reply in a thread?
At the very bottom of the thread, Simply click in the white box that says "Reply to this post" & hit submit when ready to post it.

How do I post a new topic?
At the very bottom of the forum is the "Start New Topic" button – if you want to start a brand new thread this is the button to use. It would be helpful if you first please make sure there isn't already a thread on the topic, this helps keep the forum less cluttered – please see the Cliff Notes for the most common threads/questions on the forum, thanks. Over the past seasons the show has been on we have covered many many topics, and we'd love to have you contribute your thoughts on them. We already have threads for all BN-related press, episode discussion threads, music/song discussions, clothes, cars, etc. etc. You can always do a Search (see "Searching the Forum" section below) to double check to see if you topic is already here.

If you do post a new Topic, you will have to put in a "Topic Title". It's very helpful when posting a "Topic Title" to be as specific as possible. For instance, just putting "Season 2" as the title is too generic & broad -- it would be better to put "Season 2 - viewing episodes online?" or "Favorite Season 2 villains". By the way, there is already a thread about Where to View episodes online here & also the Streaming Online Summer 2009 schedule here, so please don't start a new thread about it - just add a reply to the one already created.

If you are posting a new topic about news you found about Burn Notice or cast members, it would be great if you could post either in the Spoiler Thread or in the threads already created for BN news/press, seen here in the Cliff notes thread. Anything spoiler-related should always be put in the Spoiler thread or enclosed in "spoiler" tags to "hide it" so everyone is aware it is a spoiler. See the How do I insert a quote/photo/link/spoiler? section below.

Note: When you see text in someone's post saying you can read the link here (underlined & usually in blue) you can click on that underlined word, and it will take you to the link/thread they are talking about.

Editing Posts
Oops, you made a mistake - how to fix it?
Make sure you are logged in. Hit Edit (on the bottom of our post) & from there you can also hit "Use Full editor" fix it & hit "Save Changes". This also works if you started a thread & you want to edit the thread title. At the bottom of your post, you will now also see in tiny writing: This post has been edited by (your username) NatashaFatale: Today, 08:31 PM

Deleting Posts
Can i delete a post that i have made in the forum ?
When you are logged in, at the bottom of your post will be a "Delete" button along the bottom right, along with Edit, Quote, Reply buttons. Hit "Delete". Then a little box will come up and ask if you are sure. If you are having trouble deleting your post, you can ask one of the moderators to help you.

Merged Posts
I posted a new thread -why has my post suddenly disappeared?
So you've posted you new thread post, and you see it on the forum - and then later see it's gone? Most likely Admin moved it, or merged it, into another thread where its topic belongs. Check your private messages to see if you got a pm about it. Only Admin/mods can merge posts. For instance if you made a new thread about Madeline's smoking, most likely it was merged into the Definitive "Smoking in BN" Thread that already exists. This helps keep the forum uncluttered & easier to navigate. It's nothing personal at all - it's just a way to keep the forum organized since we have thousands of posts. Your post was simply added to the end of that thread, so it's still there & people can see it & reply to it, per normal.

If you still can't find where it is located, you can find where your post is by going to the drop down menu above your Avatar - click on your username & drop down menu will allow you to choose "View member profile", and there under "Profile Options" select "Find member's posts" & it will list the posts you've made. If it's still not showing up, perhaps it didn't get posted after all -- sometimes the forum kicks you back to the main page instead of posting your post (for some odd reason) see section at end about: if you get "kicked out/off" the forum.

Quoting Posts
How do you quote someone, so it shows up in your post?
At the bottom of that person's post, you will see the "Quote" and "Multiquote" buttons. Hit the "Quote" button that is in 'their post', and their post will show up in your text box in it's own little quote box. Now type your own text, preview it, & if you are happy with it then "Submit". You usually do this if you want to reply to something they said or a question they had, or if you just thought they were really cool. Remember it's not always necessary to re-quote someone's entire post just to reply to a thread.



Quoting excerpts of a post
As for quoting only a part of a post - click "reply" on the post you wish to quote, and then keep only the part you wish to keep by editing the post. You can use ellipses (...) to indicate that it's only a portion of a person's post. In other words you don't want to change the wording or meaning of another member's post, merely excerpt it.

Quoting multiple posts - How do you quote part of a post or multiple posts from one thread, or from one thread into another thread?
You can click on the "Multiquote" button on each person's post you want to quote, while all in the same thread.
A little black tally box will pop up near the bottom that says "Reply to 2 posts" (or however many posts you quote), click on it. You'll see their posts in quotes show up in your reply box, & then you type up your reply, hit Submit.

However, what if there are two posts that you wish to excerpt but they're on different pages? It works the same exact way as above.

Forum Navigation
We use the words Forum & Message Board interchangeably when we talk about this forum.
Within the Forum you will find Threads that have different topics that discuss, well, topics.
Within Threads you will find Posts which members make in reply to that topic.
When you type up a message & you hit "Reply" you are making a post.

Within the Forum: The most recent Threads are at the top of page one, just under the Pinned Threads.
Pinned Threads: At the top of the BN Forum are pinned threads that Amin deems most important. Only Admin can put them there (or they will put them there by kind request if you ask them). These are usually posts from USA Admin, or Threads that keep the forum organized, like the Cliff Notes thread that lists the most popular threads in handy lists.
Within Threads: As you read a thread, the original (start) post is 1st is at the top of that thread's Page 1. Additional posts come after it. So you'll find the most recent posts at the end of the thread. Some threads are many pages, so just click on the last page to read the most recent posts.

To read the most recent post in a THREAD, click on the Last Page, or click on "Last Post by":



When you are reading a thread and you get to the bottom of the first page, to see the next page, click on next page number at the bottom left. Where the arrow is in above picture.

On the right side of this picture you will see "Next Newest" - this takes you to the Next Newest Thread, an entirely different thread. If you click "Next Oldest" - this takes you to the Next Oldest Thread, an entirely different thread. To stay in the current thread you are reading, you need to hit the page numbers on the bottom left to see the next pages, don't use "Next Newest" or "Next Oldest."

To do the "jump to page number" function, you have click on the bottom or top left part of the thread where it says: "Page 1 of 1699" like on the "Gues the Quote" thread and a little dropdown box will pop up, then you can enter the page # you want to jump to.

To get back to the main forum page, at the top of your screen you will see "USA Network Forums - USA Network Originals - Burn Notice", so click on Burn Notice and you will be back at the main page of the forum.

Make sure you allow pop-ups for this site if you are having problems.
(check your browser settings to make sure you allow pop-ups from the USA network forums. For example, in Firefox, on the Firefox menu bar, select Preferences, select the Content panel, under Block Pop-Ups, you can add Exceptions, like the USA site.)

You can always use your browser's Back/Forward buttons to help you navigate.

How do I insert a quote/photo/link/spoiler?
When you create posts (or even pm's – private messages) there are two ways to insert a quote/photo/link:

This is the best way & easiest:

1) Buttons!
In your post you are typing, there is a button to insert each of these right above the area you are typing in. Hit the green/white button ("Insert Link", "Insert Image" or "Wrap in Quote Tags") you want, then insert (paste or type in) the link/text in the box that pops up. That's it!




Here are step-by-steps on buttons:

A.) Inserting Photos
1. Copy the DIRECT link of the photo from your photosharing site (Photobucket, et.), a direct link starts with "http://...... .jpg"
2. Come to your post on the forum & Hit the green/white button "Insert Image", then paste the link/text in the box that pops up.
3. Preview it to make sure it looks right. That's it!
Note: see section below on web etiquette & not hotlinking photos from someone else's site.

B.) Inserting Links (to photos, websites, news articles, etc)
1. Copy the DIRECT link of website, news article, or if it's a photo (uploaded to your photosharing site like Photobucket, etc.), a direct link starts with "http://www...... .jpg"
2. Come to your post on the forum & Hit the green/white button "Insert Link" (next to the emoticon yellow smiley), then paste the link/text in the box that pops up.
3. Then it will let you give it a name, for instance "Burn Notice"
From my sample, it will look like this posted & is clickable: Burn Notice
This will take people to the link directly when they click on it.

C.). Inserting Quotes
1. If you want to 'reply' to a quote that someone else posted on the forum, see the directions above on Quoting Posts.
2. If you just want to enclose something in quote tags in your post, then you just Hit the white quote button (looks like a quote bubble) to "Wrap in Quote Tags", then type in or paste the text you want quoted. That's it!

D.) Inserting Spoilers
1. Anything spoiler-related should always be put either in the Spoiler thread or enclosed in "spoiler" tags to "hide it" so everyone is aware it is a spoiler - this includes upcoming episode news & photos.

2. To make SPOILER TEXT: Edit your post (hit 'edit' at bottom of post and for 'spoiler' option: you need to click on the turquoise/green box icon near the top Left that says "Special BBC code" & when the pop-up box opens, select "Spoiler" & then 'enter the text to be masked'. It looks like this:

Spoiler

Spoiler Text here!!!!

3. *Tip* You can enclose a spoiler photo within the Spoiler!
a.To insert a photo within the spoiler: First insert your photo url into your post using the "Insert Image" button (below "Fonts"), then highlight that, and click the Special BBC Code drop down menu (next to "Fonts") & choose Spoiler, a little box will pop up in your post that shows your photo url in the spoiler box, hit OK.
b. You can also do it by enclosing the photos in [ img] tags - Click "Insert Special Item", then "Spoiler", then in the text box type in [ img] [ /img] tags around the direct link to the photo, see section below about using Tags to insert photos/images. (but without the extra spaces before the 'img')


This is a more advanced/FYI (For Your Information) section on inserting photos/links/quotes/etc:

2) Tags!
Instead of using the buttons, you can go the advanced way & type in your own tags (also known as BB code) at the front & end of each link. Each link needs a front [tag]and end[/tag]. The last tag has to have the backslash bar in it, which denotes the end.

(for demonstration purposes, inside the tags I have put an extra space before the first letter & before the backslash, don't put the spaces when you type it for real):

a. Quote tags typed out looks like: [ quote]paste their quote here[ /quote]
Looks like this posted:
QUOTE paste their quote here
b. Quoting someone's name with their quote typed out is: [ quote="Natasha"]Burn Notice Rocks![ /quote]
or it will look like this typed out: [ quote name='Natasha']Burn Notice Rocks![ /quote]
Looks like this posted:
QUOTE ("Natasha")Burn Notice Rocks!
c. Linking to a thread/site typed out is: [ url]http://www.usanetwor...ies/burnnotice/[ /url]
Looks like this posted & makes the link is clickable & takes the person to the site: http://www.usanetwor...ies/burnnotice/

d. Linking to a thread/site & you want just a name to show up (not the whole address) typed out looks like this:
[ url="http://www.usanetwor...rnnotice/"]Burn Notice[ /url]
Looks like this posted & is clickable: Burn Notice

e. Emoticons
Emoticons are those little smiley faces that you can add to your post, that look like this In the drop down menu you can see more to choose from, just click on the one you want & it will insert itself into your message. And you can also click "Show All" in the drop down box to see more emoticons. To make a smiley emoticon, just type a colon : with an 'end parentheses' ) right next to it. To make a winky emoticon , type a semicolon followed by an 'end parentheses' ). Note: If you have as many emoticons in your post, oh, say as I do in this one, you might get this message: You have posted a message with more emoticons that this board allows. Please reduce the number of emoticons you've added to the message

f. Inserting a spoiler typed out is this: [ spoiler]type your !!!!spoiler here[ /spoiler]

Anything spoiler-relatedshould always be put either in the Spoiler thread or enclosed in"spoiler" tags to "hide it" so everyone is aware it is aspoiler - this includes upcoming episode news & photos. To make SPOILER TEXT: Edit your post (hit 'edit' at bottom of post and for 'spoiler' option: you need to click on the turquoise/green box icon near the top Left that says "Special BBC code" & when the pop-up box opens, select "Spoiler" & then 'enter the text to be masked'.

It looks like this posted, and you click the 'show' box to read it:

Spoiler

Spoiler Text here!!!!

*Tip* You canenclose a spoiler photo within the Spoiler

a.To insert a photo withinthe spoiler: First insert your photo url into your post using the "InsertImage" button (below "Fonts"), then highlight that, and clickthe Other Styles drop down menu (next to "Fonts") & chooseSpoiler, a little box will pop up in your post that shows your photo url in thespoiler box, hit OK.

b. You can also do it byenclosing the photos in [ img] tags - Click "Insert Special Item",then "Spoiler", then in the text box type in [ img] [ /img] tagsaround the direct link to the photo, see section below about using Tags to insertphotos/images. (but without the extra spaces before the 'img')

Spoiler

IMG]http://img571.images.../samspoiler.jpg[/IMG]

(again, remember fordemonstration purposes, inside the tags I have put an extra space before thefirst letter & before the backslash, don't put the spaces when you type itfor real)

g. Photo tags typed out looklike this: [ img]http://img528.images...vethiscolor.jpg[/img]

Looks like this when posted:



To insert a photo into your post or signature, you should have the photo uploaded on a photo sharing site like: Photobucket, Flickr, Imageshack, etc. Don't direct link pics from another site - that's called 'hotlinking' and other sites don't like that.

TECH THREAD CONTINUES BELOW... FOR THE REST OF THE TECH THREAD PLEASE SEE My post 5 posts below this one. With the new forum upgrade of May 2010 apparently you can't have as long of posts as I have!

Edited by NatashaFatale, 30 November 2012 - 01:25 AM.

[vestokes]

Wow! You should have called this tread everything I wanted to know about posting on a message board but was afraid to ask. Great job Natasha

[elisetx]

OMG This is great! I've just recently gotten brave enough to add a signature. Who knowa what will happen next Thanks.......

[Curator]

...
Logging In Problems
If you are having problems logging in, it may be due to the forum upgrade that happened in Aug. 2008. After that, you no longer logged in with your screenname & password, you now login with your Email & password. If you have ever had a previous account on any NBC forum (SciFi.com, NBC.com, etc.) then you may need to login here under that account email/password. Still working on hearing back from Admin on login problems.

Wonderful job! Clear and concise. And you may have actually found the cause of some of my login problems (at times on my laptop I seem to be logged in, but when I try to post I just get diverted back to the welcome page). I am pretty sure sometime in the past I did have an account on SciFi.Com due to "Stargate" but I didn't keep up with it and for the life of me I can't recall that login.

Edited by Curator, 18 March 2009 - 07:06 PM.

[Nato624]

Thank you so much! This is a great idea. I have been very interested in all of the screen caps...so I can't wait to learn how you all do that!

[NatashaFatale]

TECH THREAD PART II (CONTINUED FROM POST#1 ABOVE)

(Sorry for the poor formatting, pasting text into here made the words run together - I'll get to fixing it later on)


g.Photo Tags typedout look like this: [ img]htt p://img525.images...thisiscolor.jpg[ /img]






QUICK Steps on how to add photos to posts or signatures (updated Nov 2012):

Here's how to put pics in a post:

1) Click on the white box (to reply to topic), as if to start typing. Click on the "Insert Image" button, which looks like tiny square picture of a green tree.

2) A pop up box will appear - then paste the url of the photo you want to add, hit OK.



Here's how to put pics in signatures:

1) Click on your Settings (also called your Control Panel). You can get here by clicking on your Name in the top right corner of forum, a little drop down box should show up - click on Settings there.

2) In Settings, click on Signature.

3) In the box titled Edit Signature, Click on the "Insert Image" button, which looks like tiny square picture of a green tree.

4) A pop up box will appear - then paste the url of the photo you want to add, hit OK.

Note that for signatures:

• • Up to 2 images
• • Images up to 700 x 250 pixels
• • Any number of URLs
• • Any number of lines

More on how to add a Photo:

To insert a photo into your post orsignature, you should have the photo uploaded on a photo sharing site like:Photobucket, Flickr, Imageshack, etc. (you can set up free accounts & you can have your settingsbe private or public, it doesn'tmatter, the link will still work to show just that one photo you are linking).

Copy the DIRECT link from there & paste it inside your post using the 'insert photo' button, or put it between the img tags.

PLEASEEE read the sections below on: Avatars,Signatures & Screencapping for more about Photos.

How do I insert a photo/scanned photo/scanned news article into a private message or forum post?

Basically you'll want to:
1. Have the photo/scan already on your computer. 2. Upload your photo/scan to a photo sharing site online.3. Copy the "DirectLink" and in your private message or post, use the "insert image" button.

Here are the steps in more detail:

1. Have the photo/scan already on your computer.
This means the photo should be in an uploadable form to put it on your photosharing site, usually a jpg,jpeg,png, gif, etc. (see your photo sharing site for formats). This means, on your computer, the photo name will be something like: my photo.jpg

a. If you are scanning a photo/article, after you scan it, when you hit "save as" it will probably already give you the option to save it as a .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, etc.b.You should remember where you have the photo saved on your computer - you can really save it anywhere on your computer, as long as your remember where! For example on a pc, most people usually save it to:C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\My Documents\My Pictures. On a mac, most usually save it to your Desktop or Pictures folder.2.

Upload your photo/scan to your photo sharing site online of choice.Such as Photobucket, Flickr, Imageshack, etc. Then it will have a"Direct Link" you need to copy.How to upload: Click the"upload\" or "browse" button, find your picture on your computer, and open it (you don't necessarily see your pic at this stage). If it prompts you again, Click "submit" or"upload" button.

You should see your photo now & depending on your site, maybe a notice that says "Images uccessfully uploaded".

a. If you don't have an account at a photo sharing site, it's easy and free to get one. I like using Photobucket, and you can always go back to find your pictures there - follow the directions on the site you pick to join now/register. You can have your settings be private or public, it doesn't matter, the link will still work to show just the photo you are linking.

b. If you don't want to create an account anywhere you can use the free photo sharing site Imageshack --just upload your pic and copy the direct link (but the photo won't be saved there for you to find again on Imageshack unless you create an account to store your images).

3. Copy the "Direct link"Make sure you copy the DIRECT LINK's fulladdress. A full address starts with: http://.... and ends with .jpg(or whatever format you photo is in: .png, .gif, etc.).

4. Then go the forum, login, go to your private message or your post, then hit the "Insert Photo" button, then "paste" the fullDIRECT LINK from picture you copied from your photo hosting site.The full link starts with "http://...

What if my photo/scan is too big?
If the photo you upload is a huge size, you can either:

1. Make it smaller

a. See the Screencapping section below about using photo editors to resize/crop photos.

b. Or, Most photosharing sites can resize pictures for you right when you upload them. Photobucket, for example, under the "Upload" button it says: "Reduce Size to" and you can choose a size you like.

2. Make a Thumbnail

Some photosharing sites give you the option to create a thumbnail of your pic-- and then when the person clicks on the thumbnail, they can view the full size (a new page opens with your full size photo). In this case, you would copy the "Thumbnail size for forums" instead of copying the "Direct Link". And you would NOT use the "insert image button" in your message, instead you just paste the FULL "Thumbnail size for forum" link in your message. The "Thumbnail size for forum"link will usually start with this: [ URL=ht... and end with [/URL].

If using Photobucket, you have to first create a thumbnail by: Open Photobucket & upload your pic. Now under your pic there is a tick box just below the pic -- Tick it. At the bottom the page there are 3buttons, click the one that says "Generate HTML and IMG code" --Click it. A page full of codes should come up -- Copy the Link that says: "IMG clickable thumbnails for message boards - recommended". It will be a really long link that starts with [ URL] and end with [/URL]. Click on that link - it will be highlighted blue & say"copied" (or go to Edit at the top menu & choose"copy") & You can now "paste" the link into your message/post.

If using Imageshack, it already automatically creates a Thumbnail link for you called "Thumbnail link for forum", and it would look something like this (but without the extra spaces):[




Remember if you use the Thumbnail link that already starts with [ URL]... you do NOT need to use the "insert image button", nor do you need to put your photo in [ img] tags, because the photo sharing site has already done that all for you. You just paste the FULL"Thumbnail size for forums" link into your message you are typing.


Thumbnails are great if you posting multiple LARGE photos or scans, so you don't have towaste a lot of space. This way you can post the photos right next toeach other, or you can post pages from an article you scanned, like this article.



What if I get an Error Message saying: Sorry, dynamic pages in the IMG tags are notallowed?

Doublecheck to make sure the link is correct. Direct links should startwith "http://...... .jpg", and if it is a jpg/jpeg photo the linkshould end with .jpg. Nothing should come after the.jpg. If your photo file is in png form, then the link should endwith .png. If it is a gif file, then it should end in.gif. Nothing should be after those extentions. It couldalso mean you are trying to insert a countdown clock of some sort, which theforum doesn't usually accept (but I've seen a few around). It alsomight be because ?, = and some other characters aren't allowed when posting animage. So for example, image.php?photo=alfnsjlfnsa;g wont work, or if it endsin something like .jpg&fhfdsi than you just delete the stuff after .jpg. Maybethere was just an extra question mark in there, so double check your link.




PM-PrivateMessages aka Personal Conversations

How do I send someone a message?

A coupleof ways you can send someone a private message:

1. Knowthe screenname of who you want to send it to:

A.Find any post that person has made, click on their screenname & you will see a dropdown menu - choose "send message".

B. If you are viewing their profile, you can also choose "sendmessage."

C. Login,at the top of the forum go to "My Controls", choose "Compose a New Message". In the "Recipient's Name" box type intheir screenname, such as "NatashaFatale". Apparently with the new upgrade of May '10 you can no longer cc others.

2. A whitemessage box will show up & you type your message there. You canadd links, photos, etc, just like a post. Type in your message, adda title. Hit "Preview Message" before you send it, if youwant to make sure it looks right.

3. Hit"Send Message" when done.

If theysend you a message back, you will get an email notification & on the topright of the forum screen you will see "1 newmessage". You can now reply to their message, and so forth

Personalbeefs (if you must) with other members on the forum are better handled via pm,and not on the forum. Private messages are private and should bekept between those members, unless agreed upon otherwise.

Searchingthe Forum

If you canfind here what you are looking for, you can do a Search on theforum. If you click on the "Search" you see listed at thetop of the forum, a little box will pop out for you to enter a word in -- thiswill search the ENTIRE USA network forum (all shows) – it's a bit much, so Iwould recommend you do your search this way:

1. At thetop of the of the forum, Hit SEARCH, then choose "More SearchOptions"

2. On thenew Search screen, enter the keyword you are looking for, select Search Where:Burn Notice Forum, select Result type: either show as topics, or show as posts.

3. Click"Perform search"



The searchfunction can come in very handy if you are trying to find a specificthing. For example, if you want to know: What was the song whenMichael jumped from the helicopter? – do an Advanced Search on"helicopter" (or even just "song") and all theposts about that song will come up (Time Bomb, by Jessy Greene). Or, for example, you aren't sure if someone has posted the latest BN articlefrom the Miami Herald – do an Advanced Search on "miamiherald" andsee what comes up.

*TIP* I also suggest that the words you doa search on be enclosed in quotation marks, so "miamiherald" or "Miami Herald"would be good type in the keyword search box. Otherwise it willinclude posts that include Miami, as well as Miami Herald. Also, youcan checkmark the "Match Exact Name" box when you are on the Advanced Search page.

Also youcan search within a particular thread by going to the bottom of that thread,you will see a box that says "Search Topic" and in the "EnterKeywords" box, you can enter the keywords you want to look for WITHIN thatthread.

GoogleSearch

You canalso use Google.comor Goodsearch.com(and donate to one of JD's charities, Life RollsOn!) to help with a search. For example, say you wanted to rememberthe episode where Fiona told Michael "I need youalive." In the Google search box, type in (including using thequotes): "I need you alive", fiona

It's bestto use quotation marks around the words you are searching for, this narrows thesearch to what you are specifically looking for, and not just any site that hasthose words on it.

You'll seeresults listed there that include threads (about episode Truth &Reconciliation) from this forum. And on the google search, you canalso hit "blog search" and it will also pull upthreads from this forum as results.



Logging In Problems

If you arehaving problems logging in, it may be due to the forum upgrade that happened inJuly 2008, so the USA forum is now tied into NBC's database (NBC is USA'sparent company). After that, you no longer logged in with your screenname &password, you now login with your Email & password. If you haveever had a previous account on any NBC forum (SciFi.com, NBC.com,etc.) then you may need to login here under that account email/password.

CLEAR YOUR COOKIES: Users experiencing issues logging inor out of the forum should clear their cookies (specifically any cookies forforums.usanetwork.com and SNAS if possible). Internet Explorer users can click here for informationon deleting cookies. Firefox users can click here.Please note that if you delete ALL of your cookies, this will also remove thesaved login info for every site you visit, so make sure that you can rememberall of your logins before proceeding.

Duringthe upgrade of 08, here are some tips that members used to get logged in (someworked/some didn't) but they may not work anymore now that we've had anotherforum upgrade in 2010:

1. Checkall spellings/caps

Theemail associated with this account is XyZy@xxxxxxx.xxx

2.Check your cookies.

Somewebsites won't let you login if you don't have your cookies enabled (cookiesare small coded files that Web sites write onto your hard drive to keep trackof the pages you've visited) so if you find yourself suddenly un-logged in, itmay be because you just cleared your cookies, so just log back in. To find out how to make sure your cookies are enabled for this site, go to theHelp section on your on web browser (internet explorer, safari, mozillafirefox, etc) or do a google search.

3.Get a new password sent.

If youcan't login, pretend you forgot your password and click the"forgot password" to get a new numerical password sent toyou – then you can log into your account and change it to thepassword you want.

4.New password not working? Keep requesting more.

Onemember had to wade through a list of new passwords but finally gotin - just keep trying, despite initial messages of 'that name &email are already in use' when trying to login with their correctemail address and password.

5.Login with any past NBC-related login.

If you're registered(currently or ever in the past) on another NBC site (NBC.com, Scifi,MyNBC, etc.) try using that login. You may end upwith that NBC.om identity/username here on the USA forum.Your email may be listed as also being registered on NBC.com, so tryyour NBC.com password. What if you don't want your oldNBC.com username to be your USA Forum username? Go toNBC.com & log in there (won't let you? request a password beresent) & try to change your username (on your NBC.com login youhave one chance to change your username, after that you can't changeit) and then try logging on back here at USA.

6."Register" with your original email instead of logging in.

(Thisworks for me)

a.Click on "register", type in your email address (& checkmark the"I understand" box), hit Submit.

b.You'll get this message: You may already be registered with myNBC! Youappear to have already registered an account with this emailaddress.

Ifyou'd like to continue, we will merge your existing information withthis new registration. If not, you will have to use a new emailaddress.

c.Choose Yes, continue registering this account. Checkmark: I agree to the Termsof Use and Privacy Policy.

d. Message:This email address is already registered.

Ifthis is your email address please provide the correct passwordassociated with this account.

e.Enter your original password, hit Continue, you'll either get:

1.Error message: The following error has occurred: Your Email/Passwordcombination was incorrect. Please try again.

2.Good message: You're almost done!

f.For either message, click "Save" in order to complete yourregistration on the USA Network Forums

Itmay ask you to Enter email/Display name (do so if it lets you, if there are noboxes to type in, just ignore it)

HitSave button

g. Youmay get another bad message: The following error has occurred: Therewas a communications error that has been logged. Try again.

Ignoreit.

h. Justclick back on the main USA Forum - does it show you logged in? ifso, yay!

5. Re-register as a new member

If you've triedit all and still no luck or you get: "Your email address wasnot found", likely you'll have to register again. Whenyou re-register, You may or may not be able to get yourold user/screenname/handler/handle name back. Some peoplejust add a "2" or extra underscore "_" to theirusername so people know it's still them.




Site problems

Sometimesyou may not be able to connect to the USA Network Burn Notice message board dueto the USA Network forum servers being down. You'll be able to tellwhen this is happening if a. the site won't load on your computer; b. when yougo to the main USA Burn Notice site and on the bottom left sideof the screen you'll see the Community box that says: The Burn Notice MessageBoard - Here's what fans are talking about on the BN Message Board, Click atopic Below to Join in the Discussion! Normally there are at least 4topics listed. If it is empty, the forum is down. What doyou do? Nothing you can do but wait for it to come backup. Grab some yogurt & pop in a BN DVD. Usually it isback up within 10mins to a few hours.



Moderating

Admin/moderatorsare around to delete spam, merge duplicate posts, etc., but overall forums areself-moderated (moderated by members), so please be courteous and kind in yourposts, and follow the general forum terms & rules you signed up for and agreed to when youfirst registered. Try to respect all opinions and also please don'ttry to flagrantly provoke someone. Please no namecalling. We encourage discussions even if they differ, and you canalways agree to disagree. Trolls are people who post inflammatoryremarks on a site deliberately to cause trouble - just ignore them, don'tprovoke them, and their posts will go away.



Inaddition, the writers from Burn Notice graciously post here, and many membershave been here a long time because of the welcoming atmosphere, so we'd love tokeep things going that way.



Adminanswers questions when they are able. If you do encounter anyproblems or need to report something serious or report someone, please contact the moderating teamdirectly. If you see a Spam post, please "report" it tothe mods by hitting the "Report" button on that post to alertthem. If you need to report someone, hit the "Report"button on that post, which will then ask you to fill in why you are reportingthat post, and the moderators will take a look at it.



About theModerators:

NatashaFatale,JennaV, and PhilippaConnors are the moderators of the BN forum. We took onthese duties this past June at the request of USA_Admin. Our primary duties areto delete spam, move and/or merge duplicate threads, and assist with any otherissues that might come up. We strive to make the forum as easy to navigate andas welcoming as possible for all members, new and long-term alike. As with allcommunities (both online and in "real life"), it is not alwayspossible to please all people all of the time. If personal issues with anotherforum member come up, we encourage you to contact that member personally. Suchmatters are best handled privately (via PM) as it does not involve the entirecommunity at large. If you still need help, let us know via PM how we canassist you and we will try.



How do I add an avatar/icon?

(thelittle photo next to your screenname)



1. Go gothe forum, login, go to the "my controls" tab.

2. Hit"Edit Avatar Settings".

3. Nowyou can either:

A. Choosean avatar from one of the USA network galleries

B. Uploada new image from your computer.

You canuse your own photo or find a photo you like online. Thismeans the photo will already have to be on your computer & the photo shouldbe in an uploadable form, usually a jpg,jpeg,png, gif, etc. Thismeans, on your computer, the photo name will be something like: myphoto.jpg




There are some new settings for signatures and avatars.Signatures are limited to 2 images with a maximum size of 700x250 each. Avatarscan be up to 100x100 pixels with a file size limit of 50KB.

Isaw a photo online I like & want to use it for my avatar - how do you get Iget it on my computer?

If you seea photo online that you want to use, you can right click on that photo andchoose "save as" to save it to your computer (if you don't use amouse, hit Control + click on the photo & you will see the options to"save image as" pop up). Make sure you tell it where tosave it (usually your desktop) or remember where it was saved so you can findit later. You may need to edit the size of the photo or crop, so seethe Screencapping section on photo editing.

Thephoto won't let me right click on it or says it is "disabled" - whatdo I do now?

You'llhave to "screencap it" - see the Screencappingsection. This means you will take a screencap or snapshot of yourentire desktop screen (and with the photo you want pulled up) and then you haveto crop out the excess area you don't want, and resize it to a size you like.

4. Hit"Update Avatar" & you're done!




NOTE: The BN forum says Avatars must beno larger than 50 KB & the following file types are allowed: gif,jpg,jpeg,png. Avatars can be up to100x100 pixels with a file size limit of 50KB.



Resizing- huh?

a. Seethe Screencapping section about using photo editors to resize/crop photos.

b. Or,Most photo sharing sites can resize pictures for you right when you uploadthem. Photobucket, for example, under the "Upload" buttonit says: "Reduce Size to" and you can choose a sizelike: 100x75 (tiny) -- this is like an avatar size. Thenjust save the photo back to your computer by right clicking on that photo andchoose "save as" to save it to your computer (if you don't use amouse, hit Control + click on the photo & you will see the options to"save image as" pop up).




I added an avatar, it worked fine at first, but now it's not showing up - whatgives?

It mightbe your browser. FiRocks has this tip: Are you oninternet explorer? For some reason it tends to do that on that browser. Closeit, open it again, then go into your control panel and go to "changeavatar" and then try to change the one you already changed and that shoulddo the trick. I know, it's all wonky but it will work eventually! Good luck!



For moreon avatars, see the screencapping section below on how to make one from ascreencap, resize it, crop it, etc.



How do I add a signature/banner?

(thelittle photos that show up at the bottom of every post you make)



NEW: Signatures are limited to 2 images with a maximum sizeof 700x250 each.



1. Firstupload your signature photo/banner to your photo sharing site of choice(Photobucket, Flickr, etc)

a. Thismeans the photo will already have to be on your computer, then you upload it tothe photosharing site. The photo should be in an uploadable form to put it onyour photo sharing site, usually a jpg,jpeg,png, gif, etc. (see yourphoto sharing site for formats). This means, on your computer, thephoto name will be something like: myphoto.jpg

Isaw a photo online I like - how do you get it on your computer?

If you seea photo online that you want to use, you can right click on that photo andchoose "save as" to save it to your computer (if you don't use amouse, hit Control + click on the photo & you will see the options to saveit pop up). Make sure you tell it where to save it (usually yourdesktop) or remember where it was saved so you can find itlater. You may need to edit the size of the photo or crop, so seethe Screencapping section on photo editing.

Thephoto won't let me right click on it or says it is "disabled" - whatdo I do now?

You'llhave to "screencap it" - see the Screencappingsection. This means you will take a screencap or snapshot of yourentire desktop screen (and with the photo you want pulled up) and then you haveto crop out the excess area you don't want, and resize it to a size you like.

Resizing- huh?

a. Seethe Screencapping section about using photo editors to resize/crop photos.

b. Or,Most photo sharing sites can resize pictures for you right when you uploadthem. Photobucket, for example, under the "Upload" buttonit says: "Reduce Size to" and you can choose a size like:

100x75(tiny) -- this is like an avatar size

160x120(small) -- like a signature size

320x240(medium) -- like a signature size

NOTE NEW: Signatures are limited to 2 images with amaximum size of 700x250 each.

2.Copy the "Direct link". Make sure you copy the DIRECTLINK's full address. A full address starts with: http://.... and ends with .jpg(or whatever format you photo is in: .png, .gif, etc.). So the DIRECT LINK tothis sample banner/signature's full address is: http://i498.photobuc...sig.jpg

3.Then go the forum, login, go to the "My Controls" tab,then "Edit Signature".

4.Once you're there, there are 3 ways to insert the photo into your signature.

A. Hitthe "Insert Photo" button, then "paste" the fullDIRECT LINK from signature photo/banner you "copied" fromyour photo hosting site. The full link starts with "http://...."

B.Or, you can just type in the

1. Screencap 2. Screencap cropped to fit pic 3. Text edited out with Photoshop

Butfor those of you who want to know the basics, the old school way, you can do it& your computer likely came with a basic photo editor you can use (pc'shave Paint, macs have iPhoto or Preview).



First:

A. Play the video (this works for anything - any DVD you are playing on yourcomputer*, any BN episodes on the BN site, on hulu, on youtube, etc) until theframe is displayed.

B. Pause the video



*Note: Macusers: If you are using the "DVD Player" that comes with a mac, itwon't let you use the shortcut keys to screencap/printscreen. Idon't know how to get a screencap from the "DVD Player" on a mac yet(if someone does, please pm me!). I think they don't want to allowscreencapping for some reason. I'd recommend using a differentDVD/video player. I use a free downloadable DVD/media player called VLC MediaPlayer and it works great for playing DVDs, etc. It evenhas as "snapshot" option so you can screencap dvds (and you can alsouse the shortcut/printscreen buttons).



Second:

A. Followthese basic steps for almost any photo editor:

1. To"print screen" on your pc (Prt Sc) or Alt+Prt Sc or on mac (Apple+shift+3 or Apple+shift+4)

2. Openprogram & photo

3. Choosethe Crop button & select the portion of the page you want to keep.

4. File-> Save As, save as a jpeg.

B. Uploadit to your photo sharing site of choice (Photobucket, etc).

C. Copythe "Direct Link" and insert it into your post/signature using theInsert Photo button or tags.

D. Ifyou are using the photo as your avatar, just follow the directions above forhow to add an avatar.



Mac userstip! Thanks to mrohr: Apple-shift-4 allows you to screencap just *part*of the screen (you can use the mouse to box a portion of the screen, and itscreencaps just that boxed part). It means you wouldn't need tocrop your screencapped picture *after* taking it.



For pc – using PAINT:

**Update**If you can avoid using Paint, avoid it. Apparently in older versions of it, youcan't save as JPG because Paint does not support that file format: MSPaintbefore Win98SE does not support any other format but Bitmaps, or something likethat. You'll know if your pics turn up black. You can try saving the pics as.bmp, as Photobucket says regarding file types: "bmp. Photobucket convertsbmp files, which are not appropriate for the Internet, to jpg files, whichare."



(I findPaint is very basic & very limiting - I'd REALLY REALLY recommend trying afreeware photo editor, like Irfanview, instead.)

1. Pressyour "print screen" (Prt Sc) button

Sometimesthe print screen button may be shared with another key. Typically it'sactivated in conjunction with the Fn key (next to the left CTRLkey). This allows you to copy the image on your screen – it copiesthe whole page, so you have to crop out the image you only want shown, and tocrop you need a photo editor like Paint.

Shortcutkeys:

pc: Prt Sc= print screen or 'screencap' screen to copy an image of the entire screen

pc:Alt+Prt Sc=To copy an image of the window that is currently active.



2. Open uppaint (All Programs –> Accessories –> Paint)

3a. Updatedstep: When you go into Paint, you should make sure you have the 'dottedrectangle' tool above the 'paint bucket' selected (from the toolbox on theright side of the Paint screen). If you don't, it won't paste - it will justshow up black. So hit the 'dotted rectangle' first.

3. Fromthe Edit menu -> choose Paste (or Right Click –> Paste; or Cntrl-V)

4. Cropthe pic - removing the parts you don't want.

a. Use the' rectangular selection' button in the upper right corner to highlight theimage you want to keep. (Click on the rectangle box, then click onthe picture and drag the box to include what you want to keep).

b. Use theEdit menu, and Copy, to copy this selection into memory (Cntrl-C)

c. Now useFile, and New, to start a new blank picture. (Don't save the old one.) Use yourmouse to drag the lower right corner of this new blank picture up and to theleft, until it is close to the size of your cropped image (that's still storedin memory.)

d. Now useEdit and Paste, to place your stored image over top of this new, smaller, blankpicture.

e. Save it(see step 5)

5. File–> Save (I like to save files as a JPEG. JPG pictures are what are used onwebpages for fast loading ... they send quickly by email too.) **NOTE: Olderversions of Paint you cannot save files as jpgs - they show up as blackedout. Save as bmp instead, then upload to Photobucket, which convertsbmp to jpg, or so they claim.

6. Youcan now upload your jpeg photo to your photo sharing site of choice(Photobucket, etc) and now you have a direct link to use if you want to put itin a post or use it as your signature photo, etc. Success!



By doingthis, you've reduced the file size of the picture from something probably inexcess of 1 MB, to a size of probably only a few hundred KB (ie: the amount ofmemory the picture takes up has been reduced to one fifth its original size).Now it will load a lot faster. Saving it as a Jpeg/Jpg makes it asmaller size, so it's better to use for small avatar sizes, as well.



Rememberalso that hitting the Prt Sc button only copies the current image on thescreen. To take another screencap, you have to hit Prn Sc again(thus, erasing the old screencap, and only the new screencap will show up whenyou paste it into Paint). You'll find that you have to repeatedlypause the video if you want to take several screenshots.



For mac –using iPhoto:

A maccomes with iLife, which includes iPhoto, which allows you to do some very basicediting.

1. To"print screen" on your mac, use the shortcut keys Apple+shift+3.

You willsee "Picture 1" show up on your desktop. If you hitApple+shift+3 again, "Picture 2" will show up on yourdesktop. Which means you can take as many screencaps as you like,and they will get numbered 1,2,3, and so on. They are in png format.

2. Rightclick on Picture 1 -> Open with iPhoto (if you don't use a mouse you canhold down the CONTROL key & then click on the photo with your mouse to pullup the options; if iPhoto is not one of the options, choose Other..., hitApplicaitons & look for iPhoto)

2a.You should duplicate the photo so you always have the original, if you haven'talready. So go to the Photos menu, hit Duplicate. Now edit the duplicate to thesize you want it.

3. ClickEdit

4. To Cropthe pic - remove the parts you don't want – hit the Crop button (or just skipto next step).

f. Dragthe box to include what you want to keep. Hit Crop again.

e. If youwant to resize it, hit "Constrain" and choose the size you want, orchoose Custom - for example, type in 90 x 90 to make it avatar size or size youwant.

5a. Hit "DONE"

5b. Dragthe cropped photo to your desktop.

6. You cannow upload your jpeg photo to your photo sharing site of choice (Photobucket,etc) and now you have a Direct link to use if you want to put it in a post oruse it as your signature photo, etc. Success!



For mac –using Preview

1. To"print screen" on your mac, use the shortcut keys Apple+shift+3.

You willsee "Picture 1" show up on your desktop

2. Doubleclick on Picture, it should open in Preview. If not, right click on it &open it in Preview (if no mouse, hit CONTROL & click on photo, selectPreview)

3.Choose Tools > Select Tool, and select the portion of the page you want tokeep.

4.Choose Tools > Crop

5. File-> Save As. If you haven't already made a duplicate of the original pic,Save as a jpeg with a different name than your original pic, so you don't loseyour original pic. So if the original is named "Picture 1", name thenewly cropped one "Picture 1a" or something you want.

6.Now if you want to see how big that picture is, go to Tools, Get Info & youwill see the size/KB.



On a mac,you also might have ImageWell which is easy to use to crop & resize photos,same as the ones above.



You canalso use these programs as a photo editors:

Photoshop (my weapon of choice! But it's complex & anexpensive program from Adobe

Illustrator- I lucked out & it came with the used mac I got)

Irfanview(freeware) (I've used this & liked it)

GIMP(freeware)

Paintbrush (freeware)

Tuxpaint (freeware)

Seashore(freeware)

Photobucketa free photo sharing site that has options to Edit your photo (resize, crop,add text, the basics, etc)

And lotsothers - you should find one you are comfortable with. As always,check out the product before downloading anything to your computer.



Free alternative to Photoshop?

You canget GIMP,it has the full range of tools, selections, layers, masks, filter, etc.. If youare not used to some of the concepts like how to use layers and masks andselection tools Gimp will seem complicated but these same concepts. All imageeditors have a steep learning curve. You can read their helpsections or how-to books to help you learn. Edited toAdd: I just tried GIMP out & it is pretty similar to Photoshop& it's free! I used their help section a lot to find what Ineeded.



Sceencapping Software

There areprograms available that allow you to take many screenshots at a time (with avideo) without going through the entire process of taking a screencap, pastingthe image, and saving the picture. Do a google search to findScreencapping or Screen Capture software.



PCs-Youcan try the image capture program in Windows Vista. Go to start, all programs,accessories, to Snipping Tool. If you have CyberLink Directorsoftware that comes with a HP, just hit "save as a snapshot" on it.

Also, youvideo player might have screencapturing. For example, if you haveVLC media player, under Video, choose Snapshot.



If youhave a mac, another member recommends a terrific software program called Captureme(it's free, but they do kindly request donations - you can disable that messageif it keeps popping up). You pop in a BN DVD or you can use theiTunes viewer to do the screen captures on episodes not on DVD yet (you candownload BN episodes off of iTunes), where you move through a given scene frameby frame, backwards or forwards. Then when you've gotten to the image you wantto capture, just open up the Capture Me software and that's it.



Where tofind BN Screencaps

There arealso sites that have BN screencaps already made for you, check out these screencap links.



I'vemade a screencap -- now how do I make it into a smaller size to use it as anavatar or signature?

The forumsays avatars must be no larger than 30 KB. I think you can go over that. 30KBis pretty small. You can probably get away with 50KB or bigger even. That's whyusually why avatars are small, and can only fit someone's face or thereabouts(the BN site will automatically make it fit the avatar size once you upload itanyway).

Thereare a couple ways you can make it smaller to make it smaller:

1. If youare using it as an avatar here on the Burn Notice forum, it will resize it foryou. Go to Edit Avatar Settings and "Upload a new image from yourcomputer" using the browse button & choose your photo. The forumsoftware should automatically make it the right size for an avatar: below the"browse" button it should say "Image Scale On(This will scale the image down foryou if it's too big in pixel size)"

2. Youcan use a free online site to do it for you, such ashttp://www.shrinkpic.../create-avatar/

3. Ifyou are unhappy with the way the forum resized your photo or you want to resizeit your self using a photo editing program (see above Screencapping section foreditors).

a. Youshould always make a duplicate of your original photo (in case you mess up& want to go back to it, or just if you want to use it again). You caneasily do that on by right clicking on the photo (or if you don't have a mouse,hit CONTROL & click on the photo) & choosing "Duplicate" on amac (and the similar option on a pc) and then use that 'duplicate' or 'copy' toplay with (edit/crop/resize).

b. Ingeneral, I find that if you "save as" your photo as a jpeg -- itmakes it a smaller size KB (the end of the file name should be .jpg or .jpeg). Sotry saving your photo as a jpeg first (using a photo editor on your computer).You can right click on it (if you don't use a mouse you can hold down theCONTROL key & then click on the photo with your mouse to pull up theoptions)& go to "Get Info" to see if it is a jpeg & what sizeKB it is. I find for most jpeg avatars, that they tend to be around90x100 pixels, 80x100, 100x100, 120x110 pixels or thereabouts.

Toresize it, see Screencapping sections on photo editors: using Paint, usingPreview, using iPhoto.

4. Youdon't need an online photo account to make it smaller, but if you do have one,they can help you. Some have the option to upload photos as avatar size. Forinstance in Photobucket,you can choose to upload in "Tiny size (100x75)". In Photobucket, youcan also go to "edit photo" and resize or crop the photothere. Then just right click on the photo & "save imageas" back to your computer/desktop. Then youcan upload it as your avatar.



Animated gifs

Ananimated GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) file is a graphic image on a Webpage that moves - for example, a blinking icon/avatar or asignature/banner. It\\\'s a set of images that are presented in aspecified order – it can loop endlessly or it can show one or a few sequencesand then stop the animation. There are a whole slew of ways to makeone, you can try doing a google search on how to make an \\\"animatedgif\\\" to see some.


SEE GetBurned gifs (click on link)



Here's wayone of our members does it (thanks GetBurned!):

1.Download

http://www.geovid.com/Video_Avatar/



2. OpenVideo avatar

Click theDots where it says input file

Open themovie



3. Movethe blue bar where you want the animated gif to start and end

then clickthe Green Play button



There arelots of animated gif-making sites or software you can use (do a googlesearch). If you are using Photo Shop CS or extended then go to menus: Window --> Animation. An animation handling windowwill be open. Here is a tutorial. Another member (thanksFiRocks!) uses this free site at: http://www.online-image-editor.com/

Here isanother free site that will make the animated gif for you: http://www.gifworks....age_editor.html



If anyonehas a gif program they like to use, feel free to pm me & I an add it here.



Photo captions



By chimerada at 2009-04-05

Wehave a lot of fun the "What are they Saying?" Caption Threadmaking BN photo captions. Everyone should join in thefun! I'll try to add to this section when I get more info.

Thebasic steps are:

1. Addcallouts & text to your photo in a photo editing program.

2. Savethe caption as a jpeg to your computer.

3. Uploadthe caption to your photo sharing site & copy the Direct Link.

4. Inyour post here, use the Insert Image button or image tags to insert the DirectLink here.

Topmake captions, there are lots of programs you can use on your computer(depending on if you have a mac or pc), that may already be on your computer oryou can download them, such as these programs that some of our esteemed forummembers use (thanks ya'll!):

MicrosoftPublisher

ComicLife

Photoshop

MicrosoftWord

Photobucket



Lookin your photo editor for options to add "Callouts", or"Text" – most have something basic. If anyone has aprogram they use that's not mentioned here, please feel free to send me a pm!



Using MS/Miscrosoft Publisher:"Objects" toolbar...there's a "Autoshapes" icon, there youcan se how to add the talking/thinking bubbles (it calls them"Callouts").



If youknow Power Point, you can also try using that to add something to a pic andthen upload it to a photo sharing site.



If you know Photoshop, you'll see theoptions to add shapes & text, etc. The "layers"section will be really helpful. Essentially, you start with Layer 1– the photo, add a Layer 2 – the callout bubble, add Layer 3 – the text, addLayer 4 – a Binky cutout, etc… and with Layers you can manipulate one layerwithout changing the others – it's fantastic! Send me a pm or postin this thread if you have Photoshop & want to know more aboutlayers. I've also heard that the freeware photoediting program,GIMP, has layers, too.



Somephotosharing sites, like Photobucket, have options for you to edit yourphotos & add callouts & text, etc – just the basics. Youcan get a free account at Photobucket & most photo sharingsites. If you want, you can upgrade to their "pro" programand pay a fee you & may get more fancy editing options, but I haven't triedit (I prefer it free!).

After youhave uploaded your photo into Photobucket, click to Edit an image, the tool baroffers "Decorate." Hit the "Speech" or "Thought"button to add a speech or thought bubble and text. Hit"Text" to add just text., and there are other features one can playaround with, including also cropping and resizing. As a bonus, yourphoto is then already in Photobucket, you just have copy the Direct Link andpaste it into your post, using the Insert Photo button or image tags



UsingMicrosoft Word for making captions: I love using Word to make captions on bothpcs & macs. The thing you should remember is: Save your workoften. Sometimes the photos are too large a size for Word to dealwith & it may close unexpectedly. So you'll want to Save yourdocument continually as you are working on it, or you may lose all yourwork. (When are all done with it, you can delete the document tofree up space on your hard drive.)



To make acaption using Word + a photo editor:

1. Copy& paste the photo into Word. You can simply find the photo youlike on the web, right click on it (or if no mouse, hold down CONTROL + clickon the photo) and click on the option to "Copy Image". Ifthe photo is on your computer, open it up in your photo editor, selectCopy. This copies the image to your clipboard.

2. InWord, open the "drawing" toolbox for callout shapes & addtext/dialog. Go to View -> Toolbars -> Drawing.

3. In Word,Paste that photo into a New blank document (from Edit menu -> Paste).

4. Resizephoto. The photo you pasted onto your blank document will probablybe huge. You want it smaller, so simply click on a corner of thephoto & drag is smaller. The "formatting palette" willalso likely pop up when you click on the photo - you can use these paletteoptions to lighten/darken/crop/etc.

5. Toadd a callout box for dialog, on the Drawing toolbar, click on the Shapes box& choose Callout, select the Callout you want & click on your picture& it will show up. Drag a corner of the Callout to resizeit. You can thicken the outline line by using the line button &choosing the thickness.

6. Toadd text, click on the callout box and type your text! (you can change thefont/size/color like you usually do in Word).

7. Whenyou are done adding all your callouts & text, you'll need to get yourCaption saved as a Jpeg. You can't do that in Word. Youneed to copy & paste your Caption into your Photo Editor on your computer(like Photoshop, Paint, ImageWell, iPhoto, etc. On my PC i prefer the freewareIrfanview, on my mac I use Photoshop).

To dothis, in Word – from the Edit menu, select "Select All", and thenfrom the Edit menu select "Copy".

It isimportant to choose "Select All" to get all your of your photo &callouts & text you added to it, otherwise it will only Copy just one partof it.

8. Openyour photo editor on your computer. Open a new blankdocument/photo. "Paste" you caption into that new blankone. It may take a few seconds if your caption is a large size.

8. Makesure you resize your Caption it to a smaller size now. About 400-700 pixelswide works well for our forum.

9. "Saveas" a jpeg to your computer.

10.Finally, upload that into a public sharing site like Photobucket, Imageshack,etc. to host the photo & copy that DIRECT link location into your post hereusing the "insert image" button or tags, and let the Captioneeringbegin!



Photo fun is for everyone! Give it a try



Videoclips

…coming sometime, not sure when…





General Q&A



Is there a way to 'save' a reply as you go when typing so that if you get"kicked out/off" the forum, you do not have to think of and retypeeverything?

It'sunlikely there's any way to save your posts should you get booted off the forumfor whatever reason. You could try to retrieve the post you were working on byclicking the "back" button on your browser (sometimes that hasworked). Or try this great tip: If you are writing somethinglengthy: copy it to the clipboard every so often, so if you do get kicked offbefore you actually post it, you won't have to retypeeverything. Otherwise, you may just have to retype it all.



Whycan't I edit/update my profile? How do I get my birthday not toappear on my profile?

Your accountmay have been affected by the forum upgrade of July '08 (see the logging inproblem section above) which has the entire USA forum now tied into NBC'sdatabase. After the upgrade some of the "Edit ProfileInformation" options are no longer available, such as "hiding"your birthdate. The options available in Edit Profile now are toedit: gender, email, country, zip code, change password, add avatar, addsignature, board settings, etc.



Forexample, it's likely if you were a member before the forum upgrade of July2008, and if you had chosen before then to have your birthday 'hidden', thenafter the upgrade, it still remained hidden. But if you didn't haveit hidden initially, or if you joined after July 2008, then your birthdate isshown. The birthdate is a part of initial registration that everyonemust fill in, or they can't complete registration. The NBC databaserequires it be filled in when registering. The only way for this tochange would be for NBC to change it across all forums, which is unlikely.



Whycan't I post right away after posting?

You haveto wait 30 secs between postings, since admin has enabled "FloodControl." If you post again too soon, you'll just get a messagesaying: Board Message: Sorry, an error occurred. If you areunsure on how to use a feature, or don't know why you got this error message,try looking through the help files for more information. The errorreturned was: Flood control is enabled on this board, please wait 30 secondsbefore replying or posting a new topic.



Luckily,the forum will try save what you wrote, so you don't have to retypeit. Under the Board/error message it should say: Post Data Saved!The following post data has been saved. In some cases, using your browser'sback button will empty out form fields which results in the loss of any typedand unsaved material. You may select all of the text area below and copy beforehitting back.

1. Youwill see a Box with your text hopefully in it.

2. Hitbutton "SELECT ALL" under it.

3. Yourtext will be highlighted blue, Choose Copy (right click, choose Copy; or go toEdit at top menu bar, choose Copy).

4. Hitback button

5. Nowpaste your message back in & hit "Add Reply" again. Itshould work by now, since 30secs should have gone by.



Iused to be able to watch BN episodes on the USA Network site, but now I canonly hear it, no picture - what's up?

USA helpsite says: Please ensure that all ad-blocking software is disabled when tryingto view full episodes on USANetwork.com. Ad blockers will prevent the episodesfrom playing properly.



This kinda explains it: Sometimes the audio orvideo content embedded in a web page doesn't play in Firefox or Mozilla Suitebut it works in another browser like Internet Explorer. This usually happenseither because you are missing a plugin or because the web page is codedspecifically for Internet Explorer. This Article will help you solve these andother problems with audio and video content on web pages. One memberfound this out: If you use Firefox, you may have a plugin for FireFox called adblocker https://addons.mozil...efox/addon/1865 thatmight be blocking the ad in the video, and thusly preventing you from watchingvid. It does not have any problems with HULU with ads. This plug-in ad blockeris more for banner ads on websites. Just disable the plugin and thevideo will play fine in firefox.



It's alsopossible that the USA network has been upgrading their video software, andthat's why you were able to watch them months ago, but not now. Double check tosee if you are able to watch the same BN episodes on Huluor Fancast - That might help determineif it's your browser, or their site. Please note that Hulu &Fancast usually only have the full episodes posted if the USA site has themposted. When the USA takes episodes down, Hulu & Fancast taketheirs down.



Whycan't I access the forum (post, etc) using my iPhone or iPod Touch?

I knowsome other members have had the same problem using their iphone to access theforum. I looked around on the web, and I think that the problemisn't actually the forum software, but the ipod/iphone since it doesn't supportFlash.



I'mguessing that the USA forums use Flash, like a lot of sites on the web, and Flash is not supported on the iTouch & Iphone,so you will not be able to view flash sites and some other typesof videos on some internet sites.



With noFlash support…There are literally millions of websites that utiliseAdobe's Flash Player, some even completely Flash-based and without support, itrenders them useless. If you go to http://www.mac-forums.comand do a search on iphone & flash, you might see more about it (also a goodplace to ask questions).



Per this site, the Apple answer is: "TheiPhone cannot view Flash content. Steve Jobs has recently hinted that Flashsupport is not coming any time soon as he thinks the standard version is tooprocessor intensive for the iPhone and the mobile edition is too under-powered.It would appear that Adobe would have to create a version of Flash specificallytailored for the iPhone for Apple to consider including it."



Other infoon this topic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6



Whycan I only view the lo-fi version of the forum (no graphics/photos), why notthe hi-fi version?

There isthe hi-fi version of the forum (blue borders, graphics, you can see photos)which most of us would call the 'normal' version, and there is a lo-fi versionof the forum (very simple layout, all white, posts are listed on single linesor boxes) If you are only seeing the lo-fi version of the forum -- scroll tothe very bottom of any forum page & see if it says: "This is a"lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version withmore information, formatting and images, please click here." Clickon it to get the forum back as normal viewing.



If thatdoesn't work, you can also try clearing/deleting your cookies on your browser(go to your browser's help section if you don't know how), this should get youback to viewing the hi-fi version. According to this helpful person: "the lo-fi version [is] the onethat is meant for cell phones, pdas, etc...the two modes are different and thissoftware allows for both and detects which setting your pda/phone is on anddisplays the forum accordingly.....the mobile version is made to load fasterand navigate quicker.."



What'sthe little statement (title) under my avatar?

Theforum software must automatically change your"status" title when you hit a certain number of posts, soas your posts go up your classification does aswell. It's not a contest or anything to see who can get the mostposts, it's just something fun on the forum to have, and you can even make upyour own title once you reach 1,000 posts. Here's what they seem to stackup like:

1bar = Newbie = 1-9 posts

2-4bars = Member = 10-999 posts

5+bars = Member or make your own title = 1,000+ posts


After the May 2010 upgrade, the number of posts required for acustom title is now 1,000 instead of 10,000. If you have over 1,000 postsyou can custom it by going to your Profile & edit profile, in profileinfo-member title. For example, you can see under my avatar I put my title asSecret Agent.



The Handy Dandy Section

Handykeyboard shortcuts:

(hold down1st key, then tap 2nd key)

On a mac:

Apple(Cmd)+C= copy

Apple(Cmd)+V= paste

On a pc:

Ctrl+C=copy

Ctrl+V=paste

Mac:Apple+T opens a new tab on your browser

Mac: Apple+shift+Tbrings back a tab you closed

Pc:Control+T opens a new tab on your browser

Rightclicking: if you have a mouse, you can right click on an item (photo, document)and pull up Options for that item. If you don't have a mouse, hitCONTROL & click on the photo to pull up the same options.

pc: Prt Sc= print screen or 'screencap' screen to copy an image of the entire screen

pc:Alt+Prt Sc=To copy an image of the window that is currently active.

mac:Apple+shift+3 = print screen or 'screencap' screen

mac:Apple+shift+4 = allows you to screencap just part of the screen, click cursorto resize area you want capped



HandyAbbreviation guide:

BN=BurnNotice

JD=JeffreyDonovan

GA=GabrielleAnwar

BC=BruceCampbell

SG=SharonGless

MW=MichaelWesten

TPTB=The Powersthat Be

BG=Bad Guy

OT=OffTopic

IMHO=In myhumble opinion

IMO=In myopinion

BTW=By theway

BUMP='bumps'the thread to the top of the current page of the forum for all to notice itbetter

YKYAAW=You know you're addicted when

LOL=Laughingout loud

LMAO=Laughingmy *ss off

ROTF=Rollingon the floor

PM=privatemessage

And someforum-fan-made ones:

SOJ=Sunglasses of Justice (Michael'ssunglasses)

WOJ=Wheelsof Justice (the Charger)

BOJ=Bicepsof Justice (Michael Westen's big muscles)

CFAS=Chuck Finley Appreciation Society

NAASMW=National Association for theAdvancement of a Shirtless Michael Westen

Binky=the imaginary teddy bear that MichaelWesten has - why? because it amuses us



Remember,no question is too silly to ask, so ask away! Viva la Burn Notice!


SEE Post#1 for info about New Forum Upgrade as of May 18 2010 & Nov. 2012 Upgrade!

Edited by NatashaFatale, 25 November 2012 - 03:14 PM.

[Samfrench25]

You're the best Nat, seriously it must've taken you ages to type out all that you are a true asset to this forum I'm sure you noticed but I get my signature artwork from you so um..... credit to you lol.

[GolferGal]

...
Is there a way to 'save' a reply as you go when typing so that if you get "kicked out/off" the forum, you do not have to think of and retype everything?
It's unlikely there's any way to save your posts should you get booted off the forum for whatever reason. You could try to retrieve the post you were working on by clicking the "back" button on your browser (sometimes that has worked). Otherwise, you may just have to retype it.
...

Wow, Natasha! Thank you so much for all this info. It is very much appreciated!

I would like to mention that I have run into trouble getting kicked off the forum in the middle of writing a post. This is what I do if I'm writing something lengthy. I will copy it to the clipboard every so often, so if I do get kicked off before I actually post it, I won't have to retype everything. It has actually come in handy a couple of times.

[NatashaFatale]

Wow, Natasha! Thank you so much for all this info. It is very much appreciated!
I would like to mention that I have run into trouble getting kicked off the forum in the middle of writing a post. This is what I do if I'm writing something lengthy. I will copy it to the clipboard every so often, so if I do get kicked off before I actually post it, I won't have to retype everything. It has actually come in handy a couple of times.

Excellent tip, GolferGal! I will add that In fact, I got kicked off trying to post this very thread - argh! luckily I had it saved on word document, cuz I expect things to happen

You're the best Nat, seriously it must've taken you ages to type out all that you are a true asset to this forum I'm sure you noticed but I get my signature artwork from you so um..... credit to you lol.

Frenchy's my girl! You have learned well, my young Padawan.

ps-love your new "Mr. Bad Ass" Westen avatar, Frenchy!!!

Edited by NatashaFatale, 18 March 2009 - 08:54 PM.

[GolferGal]

Excellent tip, GolferGal! I will add that In fact, I got kicked off trying to post this very thread - argh! luckily I had it saved on word document, cuz I expect things to happen
...

Glad I could help. It's the least I could do after all that you do for us crazy BN fans!

Edited by GolferGal, 18 March 2009 - 09:07 PM.

[LGia19]

THANK YOU!!!!
Natasha, girl you are quite the talent!!! You must have worked on this forever! ( I never could get the double quote down.....among other things...LOL! But by George I think I got it now! ) Thank you for all you do on here, we'd be lost without you..... and all your artwork is amazing!!!!

Peace, Gia

[krocla]

WOW Natasha -- you are beyond awesome!! I'm still learning this technical stuff -- this is the only forum I've joined and posted in. Thank you, thank you for organizing and typing up all this knowledge!! It is truly appreciated (especially by me!)

[GAJazzy]

Natasha: You are absolutely amazing! Thank you for all the time and effort you put into this. Maybe I'll actually get an avatar and a signature at some point ...

[Samfrench25]

Excellent tip, GolferGal! I will add that In fact, I got kicked off trying to post this very thread - argh! luckily I had it saved on word document, cuz I expect things to happen

Frenchy's my girl! You have learned well, my young Padawan.

ps-love your new "Mr. Bad Ass" Westen avatar, Frenchy!!!

Only cos you teach so well obi wan

[PhilippaConnors]

I think FiRocks is gonna need to cue the Ewoks again!

Natasha, you're the best. Thank you SO much for doing this. I know it's going to be helpful for a lot of members to have this on hand. I'll be sure to add it to the Cliff Notes list of links just as soon as I get back this afternoon (I'm off to get my haircut and actually am running late, as I've gotta head into the city and I'm never sure about the traffic down there).

Thank you again!

ETA: FiRocks, if you see this - your beta reader is working behind the scenes to get things done. I'll drop you a note tonight!

Edited by PhilippaConnors, 19 March 2009 - 10:48 AM.

[PhilippaConnors]

Okay, I've updated the Cliff Notes thread and included the link to this fantastic topic. Thank you again for doing this for the BN community, NatashaFatale! You've been so generous to this community in so many ways...

[SCF]

T H A N K Y O U !!!!!!
Yes This is what I needed when I first logged on
And Now Too.
I was just thinking some questions today and Lo!
They are answered Here!!
I think that you should get this thread up at the top where the cliff notes thread is so that it will never disappear onto the 2nd page; to the endless confusion of new people who don't even realize that there IS a 2nd page (like me, not so long ago)
Again: Thankyou.

[GetBurned]

animated gif
Step 1
Download
http://www.geovid.com/Video_Avatar/

Step 2
Open Video avatar
Click the Dots where it says input file
Open the movie

Step 3
Move the blue bar where you want the animated gif to start and end
then click the Green Play button

If your making it from a dvd your going to need something like Xilisoft Video Converter
http://www.xilisoft.com/

for some reason it wont let me replay to NatashaFatale

[NatashaFatale]

*smooches* thanks GetBurned!

yes, I always seem to be having problems, whether it be logging in, getting messages, etc. -- hmm...how is it I ended up running the technical thread?

[GAJazzy]

My goodness, I now have an avatar, I think. I couldn't think of one but then it dawned on me ...