Replies

1. 
   nikkiwood | Apr 17, 2005 06:02pm | #1

   It is certainly not a dumb post; I have been around for a while, and I think the Prospero software leaves a lot to be desired.

   Others can give you more information, but I think the best way to keep track of threads you are interested would be to:

   1) When you open Knots, "Recent discussions" will be listed.

   2)Click on "Messages".

   3) Read whatever threads interest you; but at the end of thread, click on the "High Interest" button. Doing that will make a "thumbs up" appear in the title of each thread you have selected.

   4) That way, when you go back to "Messages", you can scroll down in the window to select "High Interest " messages, and all of the threads you are "tracking" will appear on the screen.

   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

   As for using the "Search" function, I think it is so hit or miss that it borders on the useless.
   The best I can suggest is try it for something specific you are looking for, but be prepared to spend a lot of time wading through threads/posts that may have little relevance.

   Occasionally, something will come up that I might want to keep for future reference. In that case I "bookmark" the post, or the entire thread. The problem here is that the bookmark consists of the thread number (this one, for instance, is 23173.1), and in order to make sense of it, you have to stop and rename the bookmark. It is cumbersome, but nonetheless can be very useful to store away a good piece of information.

   Others are better at all this than I am, so I hope they find this thread to offer their counsel.

   "I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
   -- Bertrand Russell
2. 
   nikkiwood | Apr 17, 2005 07:26pm | #2

   I am really bored/lazy this morning, so I came back to your post and tried the two forums you mentioned.

   The woodworking forum especially seems cleanly organized and easy to navigate, but I sure would not want to see Knots take on this format. Here, thread topics stay on the left side of the screen, making it easy to jump around -- with a minimum of back and forth movement.

   I see Knots more like a cocktail party with people milling around. You can get into a conversation here, check out, walk across the room and join another conversation. I like that format a lot, but it is not the best format if you are looking for information on a specific topic.

   Nonetheless, if you end up spending more time here, I think you will come to appreciate the Knots format -- even though it is more cumbersome to navigate, at least when you're looking for specific answers.

   As for the health forum, I found it more confusing -- but my visit was quick and cursory. I will, however, be eternally grateful to Taunton for not bombarding us with pop-up ads here.

   "I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
   -- Bertrand Russell
3. 
   forestgirl | Apr 17, 2005 09:16pm | #3

   Hi Woodhead, sorry your having problems.  Believe me, you're not the first!  I'm wondering if you're set up in "Basic View" rather than "Advanced View."  Basic view really sucks, IMHO. 

   So, shall we check?  Look at the top of the left-hand frame here, and you should see Show Discussions with a drop-down menu below it.  That drop-down defaults to "Unread discussions" but you can click on the arrow and select "Unread messages to me" or "Of high interest" or "today" -- all sorts of options.

   If you don't see those options, you're in Basic View.  With Basic View, you only get to choose between All and Unread.

   So, how do you change your view?  Scroll to the very bottom of the right-hand frame (below where you're reading this message) and you'll see a place to switch to Advanced View.  (in the same line as the stupid light bulb).

   Please LMK if the view was causing most of your problems.  I gotta go to work, but I'll be back on in an hour or so.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
   Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) 

1. 
   Woodhead | Apr 18, 2005 02:41am | #4

   Thanks Nikki & Forestgirl, I'm in advanced, so I'm on the right track. I find the posts in this forum to generally be of a very high calibre. Most people seem to come from an experienced / some even highly professional / background. So they bring a wealth of wisdom which oozes out of their posts. Hence my frustration when I can't easily re-connect to those discussions. (Maybe I'm getting addicted to reading knots). I'm sure I've also become accustomed to the "logic" of navigating a different forum, in which all posts in a given subject (e.g., "General") - are in chronological order of posts. (My daughter also tracks a weightwatchers US forum which uses an identical operating system / software - so I also included that as an example).(Nikki - with the Aussie forum, if you postmark / bookmark / favorites each of the individual topic / discussion categories (finishing, general, etc) you can whiz back & forth between them. And when you're in them you can relocate any given discussion with incredible ease. But I digress...)Thanks for your feedback. Once I use these tips I'm sure it'll get easier. regards,richard

1. 
   nikkiwood | Apr 18, 2005 04:11am | #5

   I do hope you find your rhythm around the Knots site. It's great to be able to communicate through the internet to an Aussie as easily as it is the guy down the block."I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
   -- Bertrand Russell

2. 
   forestgirl | Apr 18, 2005 04:49am | #6

   For the threads that you consider essential to go back to, you can designate the high priority, bottom of right-hand column (thumbs-up, thmbs-down).forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)