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siLLy puPPy View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: I get a question mark instead of a hyphen
    Posted: March 20 2014 at 21:37
This has happened since i've joined this site. When i write a review the hyphens always turn into question marks. Is this something inherent in the site or is it something incompatible with my computer? I use ubuntu linux not windows or a mac. This isn't earth-shattering but it is annoying so if anyone knows anything about this i'd appreciate a little feedback :) Thx
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 12:56
I get that too if I'm copy pasting an already existing review from open office to the review box. It doesn't show at first, but then when I post it, the hyphens metamorphose into ?s. 
I have no idea why, but I think it's something to do with the moon's gravitational pull.


Edited by Guldbamsen - March 21 2014 at 13:15
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 13:09
That happens to me a bit when I'm adding an album or a review that has a lot of characters not in the English alphabet (accents, umlauts, etc) - sometimes those won't translate properly.  I have to either copy such characters from a web page or summon them from my "symbols" menu in Microsoft Word ("symbols"? they make it seem like any non-Anglo language is some crazy alien thing), and I often have to go back and edit the review/album to just insert the basic Anglo character, thereby just making me look ignorant rather than deranged.

The moon is probably responsible somehow, as you say.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 16:18
It's a bit tricky Steve-o and I know how you feel. I will have to check with my boys, I know that both Keishiro and Andy are far more experienced with the current PA software ( of which I understand exactly zero of), than what I'll ever be, and they Will hopefully be able to explain what the delio is:)
My guess is that the review boxes and those you use when adding albums and such are so old school, that they have immense difficulty in communicating with modern day writing programs.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 17:30
It's because the PA main site's text encoding system does't include the em dash (the long dash that Word autocorrects the hyphen (-) to). When you're writing a review in Word, be conscious to change the em dashes back to hyphens, and the question marks won't show up.

The moon, of course, does make the question marks form, however. It's the tides and such.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 17:32
I've decided to simply live with the mystery. I love what it does to accents as well. I don't know how other diacritics fare, but accents turn words into something completely new. 

Oh, and it's a good system to force you to go through the review one more time, so it's not all bad.


Edited by LinusW - March 21 2014 at 17:37
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:22
So it's settled. The moon is responsible and we must blow it up before any other shenanigans occur. I say we post billboards for all the human race has to offer like Burger King, plastic rings that strangle wildlife, creationalism. All that good stuff! Thanks for the response. I am only minorly computer literate. I spend too much time listening to music to care about these things too much

Dead
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:27
BTW i am noticing that PA is a bit outdated when compared to MMA or JMA. Is there any plan to update this site in a technical manner or is it to remain the way it is until the end of the human race which as it stands will probably be soon. I'm not complaining. This site is totally beautiful as it is but it is showing its age just a tad however much i love it Heart
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:28
Or use plain text format to write your reviews, problem solved
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:31
Originally posted by LinusW LinusW wrote:

I've decided to simply live with the mystery. I love what it does to accents as well. I don't know how other diacritics fare, but accents turn words into something completely new. 

Oh, and it's a good system to force you to go through the review one more time, so it's not all bad.


You are so right about this. Mysteries are good and i have caught stupid spelling and grammatical errors as well. I am just perplexed by this. It's certainly not keeping me from spewing my opinions on my musical tastes!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:32
Originally posted by aapatsos aapatsos wrote:

Or use plain text format to write your reviews, problem solved


I have tried not copying and simply writing it from scratch on the site and it still happens. That is why i'm here inquiring about this. I have tried every trick i know to get around this and it happens every time Confused
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:38
^ that never happens to me. Either when I write directly here or transfer from a "Notepad" text, the review appears ok. Maybe try a different browser or keyboard settings? Sorry I can't help more
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 19:57
Originally posted by aapatsos aapatsos wrote:

^ that never happens to me. Either when I write directly here or transfer from a "Notepad" text, the review appears ok. Maybe try a different browser or keyboard settings? Sorry I can't help more


Hey, thanks for responding to this totally irrelevant annoyance in the big scheme of things. It must be an incompatibility of some sort with computers, operating systems, whatever. Of course the moon is totally to blame and we can nuke it to pay for this indignancy but please don't waste any more time on this as there are more important things to tend to on this site Approve
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 20:08
Originally posted by Andy Webb Andy Webb wrote:

It's because the PA main site's text encoding system does't include the em dash (the long dash that Word autocorrects the hyphen (-) to). When you're writing a review in Word, be conscious to change the em dashes back to hyphens, and the question marks won't show up.

The moon, of course, does make the question marks form, however. It's the tides and such.


Andy, i would be thrilled to see a deer as an astronaut. Love your icon ! Star
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 21 2014 at 22:18
Originally posted by siLLy puPPy siLLy puPPy wrote:

So it's settled. The moon is responsible and we must blow it up before any other shenanigans occur.

Just call on Gru !!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2014 at 07:48
If you're copying and pasting from, say, a word document, often you have to delete things like ' / ` etc, but then just replace them with the same characters! Works every time.

Sadly many bios of bands on here are riddled with `?'s!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2014 at 10:05
Originally posted by Tom Ozric Tom Ozric wrote:

Originally posted by siLLy puPPy siLLy puPPy wrote:

So it's settled. The moon is responsible and we must blow it up before any other shenanigans occur.

Just call on Gru !!



The band here on PA with their outstanding album Cosmogenesis? Or the character from the movie Despicable Me? Maybe they should team up and quash these threat to our universe Big smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2014 at 10:47
Originally posted by siLLy puPPy siLLy puPPy wrote:

BTW i am noticing that PA is a bit outdated when compared to MMA or JMA. Is there any plan to update this site in a technical manner or is it to remain the way it is until the end of the human race which as it stands will probably be soon. I'm not complaining. This site is totally beautiful as it is but it is showing its age just a tad however much i love it Heart


Without wishing to denigrate our beloved site owner I would hazard a No in answer to your question whimsical hound. It was asked quite some time ago of MIN MAX if the functionality of JMA and MMA could be incorporated into PA (e.g. album tagging which would of course be dah bomb diggity) but it was explained to us that this was not possible from a technical website design and programming perspective. (or if you prefer, Guldbamsen's Gravitational Moon Pull Theory) Stay clear of cheese on Thursday's and you'll be fine


Edited by ExittheLemming - March 22 2014 at 10:51
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2014 at 11:03
Originally posted by siLLy puPPy siLLy puPPy wrote:

BTW i am noticing that PA is a bit outdated when compared to MMA or JMA.


I think it’s a deliberate design from the site owner, so that you know then you come here, that the Music on PA is totally outdated compared to that of MMA and JMA………no sorry, sometimes I just get those crazy thoughts coming, can't help myself.


Prog is whatevey you want it to be. So dont diss other peoples prog, and they wont diss yours
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 23 2014 at 21:31
Originally posted by tamijo tamijo wrote:

Originally posted by siLLy puPPy siLLy puPPy wrote:

BTW i am noticing that PA is a bit outdated when compared to MMA or JMA.


I think it’s a deliberate design from the site owner, so that you know then you come here, that the Music on PA is totally outdated compared to that of MMA and JMA………no sorry, sometimes I just get those crazy thoughts coming, can't help myself.




Welll...

Ploofy

Sploof!
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