Frequently Asked Questions



Sometimes when I go to the Open Forum I get a forum that's a day or two old. Hitting the Refresh button does not help.

The problem is either with your browser or with a proxy server somewhere in the network. If it's your browser, then you can fix it by clearing the cache. If the problem is with a proxy server, it will eventually be discovered and fixed by the administrator of that server, but that could take days or weeks. You might contact your Internet service provider and ask for someone to look into the problem. For a quick fix, you can trick the proxy server into delivering the latest page.

Clearing your browser's cache:

    AOL: click on My AOL, Preferences, WWW, then Clear Files & Clear History.

    Internet Explorer 5: click Tools, Internet Options, General, Delete files (in the Temporary Internet Files section).

    Netscape 4: click Edit, Preferences, Advanced, Clear Disk Cache & Clear Memory Cache.

You may also want to change the setting that tells your browser how often to check for newer versions of cached pages.

    Internet Explorer 5: click Tools, Internet Options, General, Settings (in the Temporary Internet Files section). Now select a value for item: Check for newer versions of stored pages. The default value is Automatically. Automatically may not mean what you think. To learn what it means, click on the question mark in the upper-right corner of the window, then click on Automatically. You might try the option: Every visit to the page.

    Netscape 4: click Edit, Preferences, Advanced, Cache. Now select a value for item: Document in cache is compared to document on network.

Tricking a proxy server into delivering the latest page:

Use a different URL each time by appending a question mark, then your initials, then a number not used before. Example:

http://www.tiderinsider.com/forum/index_1.html?ti1

Anything after the question mark would work, at least one time. Using your initials and a different number each time increases the likelyhood of giving the proxy server an address it hasn't seen. Each time the proxy server gets a new address, it has to go to the original source for the page.


A lot of subjects have nt, NT, (nt), nm or (nm) at the end. What does it mean?

It means that there is No Text or No Message inside. If you say all you have to say in the subject, please put either nt or nm at the end of your message.

Note that you must type at least one character in the box for the message. Otherwise you'll get an error message telling you that you forgot to enter your message.


When I finish reading a post how can I return to where I was when I clicked on the message link, and how can I avoid a reload of the forum?

Here’s a tip for browsing the forum more efficiently with Netscape and Internet Explorer:

When you’re viewing the main page of the forum and you want to read a post, press the right (or secondary) mouse button. A popup menu appears. Choose the item "Open in New Window." The post will be displayed in a new browser window. To read a follow-up in the new window, press the left (or primary) mouse button. When you’re done reading the thread in the new window, close the window. You’ll return to where you left off on the main page.

There is a disadvantage to opening a new window for a post. It is that when you return to the forum, the link for the message that you read will not appear in the color for visited links. But when you reload the forum, the links should appear in the correct colors.


Why was I asked for a username and password when I tried to post a message?

In order to eliminate abuse of the forum we have restricted posting privileges. To get the privilege to post messages, you must join Tider Insider.


Can I put HTML tags in my posts?

You can put HTML tags only in the message body. Here are some tags you may want to use:

  • For bold: <B>text to make bold</B>
    Yields: text to make bold
  • For italics: <I>text to italicize</I>
    Yields: text to italicize
  • For a link: See next question.
  • For tabular data:
    <PRE>
    data in rows and columns
    </PRE>
  • For subheaders: <H3>subheader</H3>
    Instead of 3 you could use any number from 1 (largest) to 6 (smallest). Samples:

H2 Text

H3 Text

H6 Text
For more complicated visual effects, you could use a page composer (Netscape Composer or AOL Gold, for example) to create your message. When you're done, view the HTML code and from it copy the body section and paste it into the message box. (The body section is everything between the tags <BODY> and </BODY>, excluding the tags.)

In a post, how do I link to an article on another web page?

You can use the Link URL and Link Title fields. You must give both.

The Link URL is the address that appears in your browser's location (address) field when you are viewing the page.

The Link Title is whatever you want it to be. It's the text that a reader of your message will see.

If you want to have more than one link in a message, you'll have to enter additional links manually:

<A HREF="url">link title</A>
Yields: link title

Sample url: http://www.tiderinsider.com/index.html

The url goes in quotes as shown.


How do I post a picture or an image?

The picture or image that you want to post must reside on a server somewhere on the web. If the image is not already on the web and if your ISP (Internet Service Provider) includes webspace as part of your Internet access service, you might put the image on the ISP's server.

Put the web address of the picture or image (example: http://www.somedomain.com/mypic.jpg) in the Image URL field.


Why didn't my post show up?

Your browser probably reloaded the page from your browser's cache rather than from the TI server. Click on your browser's reload button. If this doesn't solve the problem, clear your browser's cache and then reload the forum.


Why does nothing happen when I click on Post a Message?

You probably didn't wait for the entire forum to download before you clicked on the Post a Message link. The message composition fields are at the bottom of the forum. Your browser can't take you to the bottom until downloading is complete.


Why do messages disappear from the forum?

We remove messages for the following reasons:

  • Inappropriateness

    The forums on TI are for civil discussions of sports matters. A message that is not about sports or that is not civil in tone or language is subject to immediate removal.

  • To make room for new messages

    We have to remove old threads regularly in order to keep the forum from becoming too large. During football and recruiting seasons we remove day-old threads several times a day. A day-old thread is one to which no reply has been posted within the past 24 hours.

    We may sometimes remove a thread by mistake. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

  • To repair the forum after a crash

    Occasionally a system failure damages the forum. Sometimes the only reasonable way to repair the damage is to remove damaged threads.


Does TI maintain an archive of forum messages?

No. If you find an interesting message that you'd like to be able to return to in a few days, please use your browser's File|Save As command to save the message to your system.