# Upgrade of Forum



## jar546 (Dec 7, 2015)

It has been a few years and we have had many updates for security reasons and to work out a few bugs.  We are now officially antiquated in the world of the web and software and are essentially in need of an upgrade of our software.  We have worn out version 4 and will be upgrading to the new (2 years old) 5-Connect.

I am waiting for the IT people to evaluate the situation and hopefully keep the costs down.  You will see a new look but the functionality of it will be the same with some improvements, including some that have been asked for.  Overall this will be good for the maintenance of the site to keep up with changing web-based coding and in functionality and security.

As usual, this will cost money and I have been holding off on a major upgrade for 2 years but at the end of my procrastination to keep costs down.

Now is a good time to renew your Supporter or Sawhorse subscription if it has expired or go to Paypal and contribute money to info@thebuildingcodeforum.com

Thanks,

jeff


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## cda (Dec 7, 2015)

jar546 said:
			
		

> It has been a few years and we have had many updates for security reasons and to work out a few bugs.  We are now officially antiquated in the world of the web and software and are essentially in need of an upgrade of our software.  We have worn out version 4 and will be upgrading to the new (2 years old) 5-Connect.I am waiting for the IT people to evaluate the situation and hopefully keep the costs down.  You will see a new look but the functionality of it will be the same with some improvements, including some that have been asked for.  Overall this will be good for the maintenance of the site to keep up with changing web-based coding and in functionality and security.
> 
> As usual, this will cost money and I have been holding off on a major upgrade for 2 years but at the end of my procrastination to keep costs down.
> 
> ...


How about a box on the subscription page, for a go fund the software box, for people to contribute, plus the will see it costs to run the site????


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## conarb (Dec 7, 2015)

Jeff:

Don't go to vBulletin 5, it's a disaster, theier are other CMS platforms that are much better, to read about vBulletin's problems *read this*.  The Journal of Light Construction went to 5 in August and they still can't make it work while losing most of their members, why do you have to upgrade anyway?


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## cda (Dec 7, 2015)

conarb said:
			
		

> Jeffon't go to vBulletin 5, it's a disaster, theier are other CMS platforms that are much better, to read about vBulletin's problems *read this*.  The Journal of Light Construction went to 5 in August and they still can't make it work while losing most of their members, why do you have to upgrade anyway?


The crank handle on the server broke.


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## jar546 (Dec 8, 2015)

conarb said:
			
		

> Jeffon't go to vBulletin 5, it's a disaster, theier are other CMS platforms that are much better, to read about vBulletin's problems *read this*.  The Journal of Light Construction went to 5 in August and they still can't make it work while losing most of their members, why do you have to upgrade anyway?


vBulletin 5 has been out for over 2 years and the issue with the upgrade is understanding the layout internally.  The bugs have been worked out but you need to know how to use it because the internal program has been completely rewritten but offers more usability than what we have.  I started looking into other programs too but the transfer of data is the biggest concern.


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## JBI (Dec 8, 2015)

Whatever the 'powers that be' decide will be fine as long as the board stays up and running.


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## ICE (Dec 8, 2015)

cda said:
			
		

> The crank handle on the server broke.


Actually, I think the hamster died.


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## conarb (Dec 8, 2015)

jar546 said:
			
		

> vBulletin 5 has been out for over 2 years and the issue with the upgrade is understanding the layout internally.  The bugs have been worked out but you need to know how to use it because the internal program has been completely rewritten but offers more usability than what we have.  I started looking into other programs too but the transfer of data is the biggest concern.


Jeff:

The JLC came back online on August 18th after being down a few days for the downgrade, I *started this thread* when I saw it was back up and there was no activity, there was still activity on that thread yesterday four months later, I'd say the majority of the members have stopped posting and have gone elsewhere.  As or now there are 3 users and 90 guests logged in, they used to have about 20 times that number of users logged in during the daytime.

Again, why do you need to do this?  If it ain't broke don't fix it.  It's a free forum, I'm thinking of dropping out of there, it's too hard to use, lacks a lot of features of the old program, and most of the better contractors have left leaving mostly small remodelers.


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## jar546 (Dec 8, 2015)

conarb said:
			
		

> Jeff:The JLC came back online on August 18th after being down a few days for the downgrade, I *started this thread* when I saw it was back up and there was no activity, there was still activity on that thread yesterday four months later, I'd say the majority of the members have stopped posting and have gone elsewhere.  As or now there are 3 users and 90 guests logged in, they used to have about 20 times that number of users logged in during the daytime.
> 
> Again, why do you need to do this?  If it ain't broke don't fix it.  It's a free forum, I'm thinking of dropping out of there, it's too hard to use, lacks a lot of features of the old program, and most of the better contractors have left leaving mostly small remodelers.


We can't be stagnant which we are right now.  The usability of the forum is behind today's technology and I can't sit back and become obsolete while the rest of the world flies by.  Change is good and behind the scenes I am getting email and PM requests to do things that we currently cannot.  In addition, I am losing money with banner advertising due to the limitations of the software so in essence, not changing or upgrading is costing us money,

Now I have a question for you.  Exactly what were you able to do on the old software at JLC that you are unable to do now?


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## conarb (Dec 8, 2015)

jar546 said:
			
		

> We can't be stagnant which we are right now.  The usability of the forum is behind today's technology and I can't sit back and become obsolete while the rest of the world flies by.  Change is good and behind the scenes I am getting email and PM requests to do things that we currently cannot.  In addition, I am losing money with banner advertising due to the limitations of the software so in essence, not changing or upgrading is costing us money,Now I have a question for you.  Exactly what were you able to do on the old software at JLC that you are unable to do now?


Jeff:

The reason I posted the link above is so you could follow the last 4 months of complaints, if you didn't read through *at least read through December's complaints*, apparently some people can't get in at all anymore, maybe it's the browser they are using.  All I can say is it takes a long time to post anything with error messages popping up all the time, refusing to take posts, then posting them later after you have posted something else.  They claim they have several people working on it to try to make it more user friendly and it is "usable" now but not nearly as good as before what they call the "downgrade."  I use a Firefox UBB extension to use UBB code but it doesn't work well at all now. At the end of that thread I just posted this question: "Does JLC know how many posters they have lost, or how much activity has dropped since the "downgrade"?  We'll see if we get an answer. If they had  a program like your "Sawhorse" I doubt that many wold continue to pay, I know I wouldn't.


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## jar546 (Dec 8, 2015)

conarb said:
			
		

> Jeff:The reason I posted the link above is so you could follow the last 4 months of complaints, if you didn't read through *at least read through December's complaints*, apparently some people can't get in at all anymore, maybe it's the browser they are using.  All I can say is it takes a long time to post anything with error messages popping up all the time, refusing to take posts, then posting them later after you have posted something else.  They claim they have several people working on it to try to make it more user friendly and it is "usable" now but not nearly as good as before what they call the "downgrade."  I use a Firefox UBB extension to use UBB code but it doesn't work well at all now. At the end of that thread I just posted this question: "Does JLC know how many posters they have lost, or how much activity has dropped since the "downgrade"?  We'll see if we get an answer. If they had  a program like your "Sawhorse" I doubt that many wold continue to pay, I know I wouldn't.


I just signed back up with JLC (i did belong a long time ago), posted twice including uploading a picture.  I am not seeing any problems just yet.  Using Chrome as my browser.


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## ICE (Dec 8, 2015)

I took a look at JLC forum....not impressed at all.  They have lots of adds, which to be honest, wouldn't bother me.  But the rest of it looks drab and unappealing.


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## conarb (Dec 8, 2015)

ICE said:
			
		

> I took a look at JLC forum....not impressed at all.  They have lots of adds, which to be honest, wouldn't bother me.  But the rest of it looks drab and unappealing.


Tiger, it was a lot better before the upgrade, and the upgrade itself was a lot worse when it was implemented a few years ago.  It seems like each "upgrade" is both an attempt to monetize the forum and also make the forum more user friendly to social media and smaller format devices.  In the JLC's case there was not much we could say being a free site, in this case we (at least some of us) pay for it.

Maybe we should have a vote, pay more money and keep it like it is, or go to vBulletin 5 and make it free.


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## fatboy (Dec 8, 2015)

I personally, do not have the time, nor expertise, to research forum databases. If Jeff feels we need to make a jump, I am all in, and will throw dollars at it. Go for it Jeff.


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## cda (Dec 8, 2015)

Now is a good time to renew your Supporter or Sawhorse subscription if it has expired or go to Paypal and contribute money to info@thebuildingcodeforum.com

Thanks,

jeff

Ok time to get off the horse, empty the piggy bank,

And help update the software!!!!

How old are we?

Keep the site going!!!!


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## jar546 (Dec 9, 2015)

So here is where we are one last time:

*We will not be changing software companies because we are with the leader of the industry that has a phone number you can actually call and get answers and help.  The 2nd best choice only does business via email which is inexcusably inefficient.

*The upgrade in question is currently running on over 700 forums on their cloud service, countless other sites like ours that have their own server and is over 2 years old.  The bugs have been worked out but due to changes is browsers and OS's, like ALL software, it will always have to update to fix NEW bugs.

*We will lose the ability for users to have photo albums but I am not aware of anyone that uses that except me anyway.  Posting on threads and attaching photos is still a basic function that won't change.

*I signed up on another forum that uses the upgrade vB 5 Connect and it worked fine for me, including attachments/photos.

So, the upgrade will take place in the near future and I DO expect to have some initial bugs in our system that we will have to work out.  The basic layout and way you read and post will not change but the look will be more modern and it will help us to be more url friendly and SEO friendly which is important for growth.

This is a free forum for 98% of the users and the 2% that have stepped up to the plate deserve to have the best out there.  We have a fantastic, professional group that I am more than proud of and even more thankful for due to the amazing amount of information that this forum holds.

Jeff


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## TJacobs (Dec 9, 2015)

What fatboy said.  We all need a little pain now and then...


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## conarb (Dec 9, 2015)

So if we don't like it, say it is as bad as the JLC, our only option is just stop paying and become one of the free users.


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## conarb (Dec 10, 2015)

Jeff:

Activity on the vBulletin 5 JLC site since the downgrade is so slow that at 3:30 today *I count 4 posts all day*, prior to the change there wold have been dozens by now.


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## Keystone (Dec 11, 2015)

I previously participated in JLC, forum traffic slithered away and so have I. Every now and again I'll go on but not often.

I appreciate and support this forum, there's a ton of work put in that we'll never see and most I don't want to even know. Jeff and others have done a great job and I support what they feel is necessary.


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## ICE (Dec 30, 2015)

Somebody stole the forum and left this in its place.


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## ICE (Dec 30, 2015)

I noticed a new heading under forum statistics called Active Members.  What constitutes "active"


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## cda (Dec 30, 2015)

Ok got year end surprise

Looks good so far


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## jar546 (Dec 30, 2015)

I am still working on the system with the server.


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## mtlogcabin (Dec 30, 2015)

Test upload seem to work just fine


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## TJacobs (Dec 30, 2015)

I like it so far...


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## mark handler (Dec 30, 2015)




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## TJacobs (Dec 30, 2015)

Hey, a Like button even!!!!!!!


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## MASSDRIVER (Dec 30, 2015)

> I noticed a new heading under forum statistics called Active Members. What constitutes "active"


I noticed you are a vampire. What are doing up at 3 am? Getting rid of dead hookers?

Brent.


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## ICE (Dec 30, 2015)

> I noticed you are a vampire. What are doing up at 3 am? Getting rid of dead hookers?
> 
> Brent.


I have to be up at 3 if I'm going to be at the office by 5:30.


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## ICE (Dec 30, 2015)

> Hey' date=' a [u']Like[/u] button even!!!!!!!


Ya but you don't know who likes what.


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## ICE (Dec 30, 2015)

I can't be invisible anymore.  That's why Brent knows I was here at 3:00am.


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## jar546 (Dec 30, 2015)

> I can't be invisible anymore. That's why Brent knows I was here at 3:00am.


You can still change your settings to be invisible but your posts are time stamped.


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## mtlogcabin (Dec 30, 2015)

I click on New Topics at the top of the screen and get this


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## jar546 (Dec 30, 2015)

> I click on New Topics at the top of the screen and get this


Yes, one of the issues we are working on.  That is essentially there for brand new topics, not replies to existing topics.  Please click on "Latest Activity" for a list of active posts.

The issue with the "New Topics" is that it is part of a search function that does not specify enough, causing an overload.  We are trying to customize the search function or I will just remove the "New Topics" tab since we never had that in the past anyway.  Thanks you for bringing that up.


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## rogerpa (Jan 1, 2016)

Can't get threads to mark as read.


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## jar546 (Jan 1, 2016)

I can't see what you posted either.  did you try to post a picture?

How are you marking them read?

Thanks.


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## jar546 (Jan 1, 2016)

> I click on New Topics at the top of the screen and get this


This was fixed yesterday.  Thank you,


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## conarb (Jan 1, 2016)

I just tried to respond to a thread and got the "Invalid Server Response" several times losing the entire thing several times, I just got it twice typing this and didn't lose the material, that's the pop-up that has destroyed the JLC forum more than any others.


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## jar546 (Jan 1, 2016)

Not sure why that happened.  You are the only one to report that and it never happened to me.  If you screenshot and post the pic I may be able to look into it.


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## conarb (Jan 1, 2016)

> Not sure why that happened. You are the only one to report that and it never happened to me. If you screenshot and post the pic I may be able to look into it.


Okay, I'll see if it happens and take screen shot when it does, so far it hasn't happened during this post, but if I keep typing maybe it will, so far it hasn't so I'll stop and wait until it does.


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## rogerpa (Jan 1, 2016)

> I can't see what you posted either. did you try to post a picture?How are you marking them read?
> 
> Thanks.


The problem seems to be predominately with the "forums upgrade" threads. I tried to post a "snipit" but got too many


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## rogerpa (Jan 1, 2016)

> I can't see what you posted either. did you try to post a picture?How are you marking them read?
> 
> Thanks.


 The last 9 threads show as unread. I've read them all. I also tried using "Mark Channels Read" without success. This seemed to work on the JLC site.


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## pyrguy (Jan 3, 2016)

Using tap talk I cannot mark threads as read. I have threads that I've actually read and used the mark read button with no luck

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk


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## jar546 (Jan 3, 2016)

> Using tap talk I cannot mark threads as read. I have threads that I've actually read and used the mark read button with no luckSent from my VK815 using Tapatalk


Working on tapatalk issues starting tomorrow


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## pyrguy (Jan 3, 2016)

Couldn't mark threads as read on the laptop either

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk


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## Msradell (Jan 3, 2016)

That's interesting because I don't have any trouble marking threads as being read on my laptop. I'm using Windows 10x64pro and IE 11 just for reference.


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## pyrguy (Jan 3, 2016)

I've got an older macbook

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk


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## mtlogcabin (Jan 4, 2016)

I was trying to write a post and this popped up and i had to back out and come back to post


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## tmurray (Jan 4, 2016)

> I was trying to write a post and this popped up and i had to back out and come back to post


Probably a PHP timeout.


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## JCraver (Jan 4, 2016)

You said the New Topics button was fixed and/or that we can use the Latest Activity button at the bottom, and that's great, but I still have a question/issue:

Used to, when you brought up the New Activity/New Posts/New Whatever screen, then you clicked on a thread title, you would be directed to the newest unread post in that thread.  I liked that.

Now, when I click on a topic on the New Topics screen or the Latest Activity screen, it takes me to the first thread in the topic, and I have to sift through the whole thread to figure out where I was at.  I don't like that at all.

So do I need to click on something different, or change a setting, or what?  Is it possible achieve the same or similar usability now?


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## mtlogcabin (Jan 4, 2016)

> Probably a PHP timeout.


Within 90 seconds and it does not happen all the time. I have left the site open for over an hour and this did not pop up. It did last week a couple of times and i thought it was the same issue Conarb was having so I grabbed a screen shot for Jeff.


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## jar546 (Jan 4, 2016)

> You said the New Topics button was fixed and/or that we can use the Latest Activity button at the bottom, and that's great, but I still have a question/issue:Used to, when you brought up the New Activity/New Posts/New Whatever screen, then you clicked on a thread title, you would be directed to the newest unread post in that thread. I liked that.
> 
> Now, when I click on a topic on the New Topics screen or the Latest Activity screen, it takes me to the first thread in the topic, and I have to sift through the whole thread to figure out where I was at. I don't like that at all.
> 
> So do I need to click on something different, or change a setting, or what? Is it possible achieve the same or similar usability now?


Click "Go To Post" at the bottom of the message


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## JCraver (Jan 5, 2016)

Great, thanks.


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## JCraver (Jan 5, 2016)

So I've been using that ^^^ today and it kinda' works.  I still like the old way better...

Another question:  I've got probably 25 emails from the forum the last week or so, all saying there was a failed log-in attempt on my account.  I've got enough of them they're starting to be annoying.  Know what it could be?


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## jar546 (Jan 5, 2016)

> So I've been using that ^^^ today and it kinda' works. I still like the old way better...Another question: I've got probably 25 emails from the forum the last week or so, all saying there was a failed log-in attempt on my account. I've got enough of them they're starting to be annoying. Know what it could be?


Not sure what the failed login attempt could be unless someone is trying to hack in.  If you are able to log in then all is well on this end as far as I can tell.


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## ICE (Jan 5, 2016)

I can see where this update is taking a lot of Jeff's energy.  It's a good thing that he is a young guy and has plenty.


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## ICE (Jan 5, 2016)

I just posted #57. It took quite a few tries. I kept getting a message that said "missing human verification". Brent thinks that I am a vampire....maybe he's onto something. I finally logged off and back on....then it worked first try.

We can no longer see how many people are looking at a particular thread in real time.


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## Pcinspector1 (Jan 6, 2016)

> Brent thinks that I am a vampire....maybe he's onto something. I


Brent's old, I mean from the old country, I mean old school. ..something like that!

I'll see if my wife will let me have a check, I'm thinking of enlisting!


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## mtlogcabin (Jan 8, 2016)

We used to be able to change fonts is that still available and if so how do I activate it.:stupid:


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## jar546 (Jan 8, 2016)

> We used to be able to change fonts is that still available and if so how do I activate it.:stupid:


I honestly don't know but I will add that to the list

Ok I just looked.  It is easy, just click on the A and *change font size and color*.


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## cda (Jan 8, 2016)

> I honestly don't know but I will add that to the list
> 
> Ok I just looked. It is easy, just click on the A and *change font size and color*.


Seems like the change over is going good, just the little stuff

Thanks for all your work!!!!!


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## jar546 (Jan 8, 2016)

*Y*es *I *agree with _*you.*_There are a lot of things we can do such as:


Automatic numbering
Just like this

​Bullet points like this
​Indenting like this

so that it looks like a paragraph or whatever you want.Add photos with 2 methods:1) URL from another site like this:

View attachment 2173


Or Upload directly like this:
	

		
			
		

		
	

View attachment 2174



 Make  a table like this If you want to
   Add a horizontal line like above AND much much more like the video belowAdd videos from Youtube like this:




View attachment 2173


View attachment 2174


/monthly_2016_01/pc58yg4xi.png.5f97046f0a1bad8f4d5b3db9da7e022b.png

/monthly_2016_01/AffluenzaMom.jpg.2493c8f9ba12b7a1d470e234389c0b4b.jpg


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## ICE (Jan 8, 2016)

> *Y*es *I *agree with _*you.*_There are a lot of things we can do such as:
> 
> 
> Automatic numbering
> ...


The video has errors.


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## steveray (Jan 8, 2016)

> The video has errors.


Code or technical?


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