Livejournal Questions

[lettered]

This actually has nothing to do with the recent drama.

I have a confession to make. I'm a genius. But I'm really tragically stupid also.


-how to put on a header. And why everyone can figure it out but me.
-what a DDoS attack is. Looked it up on Wikipedia. Still really don't understand.
-where everyone gets the equipment to do all the icons and everything they do. Seems to me that stuff costs a fortune.
-how to write short fanfic.
-who Rodney is.
-Henry Jenkins.
-GIP.
-how NOT to hotlink some images. I can do it if the image is in a format Photobucket will upload, otherwise I don't understand.
-how people keep up with their flists.
-how people keep up with stuff like which new cat macro is funniest.
-how anyone keeps up with anything.
-why seraphcelene can't be here RIGHT NOW, I dunno, making pie with me.
-how people find out people are talking about them when said people are not talking to them. It's not that I don't like gossip. It's that I don't understand it. I literally seem to have trouble paying attention to anything not aimed straight at me with a missile launcher.
-why I like Harry/Draco.
-flangst.
-how people not being able to post really isn't connected to the Great Strikethrough.
-how to play most online videos, or dl the equipment.
-birthdays.
-why I didn't find a plane ticket to NYC for an earlier day so I could watch DB with a2zmom.
-Spike.
-betas.
-most emoticons.
-who Jo is.
-what Due South is.


In other news, The Sound of Music in Sparta. (link courtesy imnotacommittee.)

Comments

[semby.livejournal.com]

People are so helpful! I opened this earlier and read it now and was all prepared to do all kinds of helpful answers or "yeah, I don't get that either", but then I refreshed and people have come along and explained things I needed explained as well! :)

I didn't understand what you meant by formats that wouldn't be able to be uploaded onto Photobucket, but I read your comments and I think now I do...

I keep up with my flist because I remain relatively invisible/unpopular and keep it small! I can go away for several days and come back and actually catch most of the relevant stuff I missed in a few hours.

I agree with the person who commented that it's weird that things like cat macros are called macros. Where does that come from? I'm not even a programmer but I took a course on Excel and kind of learned what a macro is in that context, and it doesn't translate into funny cat pictures...

What do you mean by "people not being able to post"? Like... they push submit and it won't submit, or like they're restraining themselves from posting things they want to post because of censorship?

Online videos is easy peasy... do you mean like realplayer/windows media/quicktime? Normally when you come across a page with those videos, they'll automatically redirect you to the download site... otherwise they're pretty easy to find on Google... they all have official sites.

I also didn't understand what you meant by not understanding betas, but I read your comments and yes! I mean, I feel like I've had some good betas in Buffy fandom over time that I can now count on, but when I dip my toes into new fandoms, I get so lost. For example I've written a few little fics for The Office, a fandom in which I know pretty much no one, and you go looking for betas and there are websites that have like a list of people that have in the past said they would be willing to beta, but do you just... pick one and email them? Based on their username alone and what minimal things they have to say in their profile? It's very bizarre and uncomfortable and I end up hemming and hawing and eventually either not posting at all or posting un-beta'ed, which is BAD.

I'm now going to read explanations in your comments that I may have missed on first skim-through, and I'm upset that flangst doesn't appear to be crossed off yet, because that word confuses me greatly!

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I wasn't really expecting answers (though I kinda sorta hoped!) but the ole flist ponied right up.

Yeah, I meant images where I couldn't find extensions (.gif, .jpg, etc) to the url.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on image macros. I still think the word is wrong but now I understand why people use it.

"people not being able to post"

Not talking about censorship, but apparently a technical issue due to DDoS attacks. The other day I was trying to post something and it wouldn't let me, but I tried again and it did. About 30% of my flist appears unable to make posts longer than a few lines. Some can also not make long comments, or comment at all. The only bug that's affecting me is not getting comment notifications, but today it seems to be working fine on that score as well. I have no idea why it affects different users differently.

do you mean like realplayer/windows media/quicktime? Normally when you come across a page with those videos, they'll automatically redirect you to the download site.

Yes, I mean those. And to reveal how utterly unsmart I am...Semby, I can't even figure out the dl sites. It seems like I dl quicktime and there's all this other little attachy stuff I need. And I have to do stuff like choose the speed of my computer or something, and I don't know ANY of that. Part of the problem is me just being willfully ignorant, which is a much greater kind of unsmart. I don't want to have to bother with any of it more than me really not understanding it. I don't understand that part of myself, as SOME things, I'm DESPERATE to know the inner workings of. Just not of computers. Like, at all. To the point of handicap.

you go looking for betas and there are websites that have like a list of people that have in the past said they would be willing to beta, but do you just... pick one and email them? Based on their username alone and what minimal things they have to say in their profile? It's very bizarre and uncomfortable

GOD, YES. Egads. It's like that now for me and HP fandom. I think some people really do just email random people out of the blue, but I just can't bring myself to do it. If I watched The Office or knew anything about it, I'd beta for you! I'm sorry I can't be of more help.