No moreVPM tables as attachments please

tiltjlp

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I have just used a test, non-Admin account to upload Jamin7474's South Park table. So it would be apprecited if all VPM authors upload their tables, rather than attaching them to posts. Since there have been some problems with uploads after the site went down, which seem to have been resolved, I'll give a brief outline of how to upload a table to PN.

1 Click on Downloads, which will take you to another page

2 Click on Add Download, at top of page, which will take you to another page

You will be presented with a form you will need to fill in:

Program Name = Name of Table only

File Link = Browse for table on your cumputer

Category = if available, for example VPM Tables E-J

Description = Manufacturer and year 1st line
Description = by "your username 2nd line

Author's Name = your username
Author's e-mail = optional
Version = Version #
Homepage = Your web site, optional

Next, click on Add This File

Once table has been uploaded, you may be sent to PN's Home Page. You may or may not be told that your table has been added.

All uploaded tables have to be validated by an Admin. Right now, I validate the majority of tables uploaded to the site. Since I was able to upload South Park as a member, and not as an Admin, I am assuming that the Upload System is working properly. Since Jon is still workiong on the site, and is planning to upgrade the forum software, the Upload System may not always be available.

You won't see your table after you Upload it until it is Validated, so please only Upload a table once. If you aren't sure if your Upload worked, send me a PM. Unless I announce problems with our Upload System, please do not attach table files to forum posts. Since we now have a VPM section, please use it. Thanks.

John
 
and what do you do if the add download link doesn't appear? or is that a moderator thing or usergroup permission problem, as it won't accept my username in the portal, just in the forum.
 
Now that's a problem I hadn't heard before. Hopefully Jon will see it and find a way to fix it. I'll take a look, but the only permission settings I'm aware of are forum based. So I'll amend my request that all members who are able to access the Upload page please use it.

John
 
I dunno. I don't like the no attachment idea. It's one of the things I liked best about PN. People could get a table right away whereas AJs had to wait for someone to validate it. How much bother is it to move an attached table, John?
 
Pacdude said:
I dunno. I don't like the no attachment idea. It's one of the things I liked best about PN. People could get a table right away whereas AJs had to wait for someone to validate it. How much bother is it to move an attached table, John?

Well, several things enter into this. First off, Jon decided to start a section for hosting VPM so we'd be more organized, and if no one uses it, what was the sense of making the new section. Secondly, it's always easy to ask "how much bother" something is when someone else is going to the bother of doing it. Well, if there end up a lot of tables attached to post, it could become quite a bother, and here's why.

For every attached table file I have to download the table file and the SS. Then I have to probably resize the SS and make a 2nd SS. Then I have to upload the table, assign a DL # to the SSs, rename the SSs, upload the SS through our ftp, which is a two step procedure.

Then I have to make a link to the new download, edit the original post, adding the download link, and then delete the attached table from the post. Now all of that can take from 10 to 15 minutes to do, where validating a member's upload and adding the SSs that they supply takes between 3 and 5 minutes.

Now if there is only one or two a week, that's not such a big deal. But if there are multiple tables added every day, or every other day, that can add up to a lot of time. Besides, I'm online many times during the day, most every day, so the time any upload would wait to be validated would be minimal. So, besides the fact that Jon doesn't want tables to be attached to posts any longer, it saves me a lot of needless extra work.

And as I've mentioned elsewhere, when you do upload your zipped table, please upload a 2nd zipped file including both a 640x480 SS and a 150x113 SS, which are displayed with your table download.

John
 
I tend to agree with tiltjp and as much as it maybe ideal not to have a validation procedure, the reality is something else altogether. I can tell you, that there are more then a few tables uploaded to AJs, that either already exsist or are very minor mods that some fool thinks they can claim as there own, sad but true.
 
StevOz said:
I tend to agree with tiltjp and as much as it maybe ideal not to have a validation procedure, the reality is something else altogether. I can tell you, that there are more then a few tables uploaded to AJs, that either already exsist or are very minor mods that some fool thinks they can claim as there own, sad but true.

Good point Steve. Actually the biggest problem I've had is with newer authors uploading flippered VP tables, which we still do not host, since IRP handles those. Most of the time it'll be routine, since we know what kinds of tables establised authors make. The only time I DL a table before I validate it is if I'm not sure who the author is, or if I have doubts the person uploading a table has permission to upload it. Marv has offered to upload some of Pacdude's tables, so that's no problem, but when we aren't sure, we need to check things out.

John
 
shiva said:
and what do you do if the add download link doesn't appear? or is that a moderator thing or usergroup permission problem, as it won't accept my username in the portal, just in the forum.

shiva, I didn't see any problems with your username on the portal, The add Download link will not appear to users that are not registered and logged in, you should be logged in on the portal if you are logged in @ the forums, verify this by seeing your name on the left side under Online Members.

Edit, this link was wrong and has been corrected, it will only work if you are logged in:
This is a direct link to add downloads:
http://www.pinballnirvana.com/index.php?name=UpDownload&req=AddDownload
Can you access your user page?
http://pinballnirvana.com/user.php

Make sure you are not using any flipperless.com links AND I've set your permissions for Admin mode on postnuke because you know more about this stuff than i do..... :D

To All:
I don't have any problems with forum table attachments until i get the site running properly, there are still some problems that i need to correct.

Currently, after a upload is submitted the verification and status message is displayed WAY at the bottom of the page so you will not see it without scrolling to the bottom, it should appear on a new page and i have to correct this problem. I also understand that there are occasions when an author is so excited about a release that they don't want to wait for upload approvals, the default for the upload program was to automatically add new uploads but it's too open to abuse and uploads were being added to improper categories

Jon
 
Seems like I jumped the gun a bit. Hope you get everything smoothed out soon Jon.

John
 
"Not authorised to access downloads"

Check the usergroup settings in admin, there could be two sets if I remember, one for the portal, one for the forum. It appears that either the moderator status doesn't have the permissions set properly, or when the usergroup status was changed for me, the database didn't update correctly, and the system is confused. This is the portal settings, not the forum, which seems to work correctly, but as the portal is shoehorned in, you may have to adjust different settings.

Sounds like the portal is considering me a regular member, as the user name works, while the forum is considering me a mod.
 
I just checked and I also get the message "Not authorised to access downloads"
 
shiva said:
"Not authorised to access downloads"

Check the usergroup settings in admin, there could be two sets if I remember, one for the portal, one for the forum. It appears that either the moderator status doesn't have the permissions set properly, or when the usergroup status was changed for me, the database didn't update correctly, and the system is confused. This is the portal settings, not the forum, which seems to work correctly, but as the portal is shoehorned in, you may have to adjust different settings.

Sounds like the portal is considering me a regular member, as the user name works, while the forum is considering me a mod.

Sorry shiva and bob,
I posted a bad Add Download link, i corrected it above and it will only work if you are logged in:
http://www.pinballnirvana.com/index.php?name=UpDownload&req=AddDownload
 
same problem, sent a PM to you JPH with some suggestions
 
The new link works fine for me....
 
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