Hi all, nothing really interested to talk about in here right now but I figured I would post a quick follow up of my previous blog entry Just checking in (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=166370.0). First of all, I have finished my two exams I mentioned I was about to take. Both were AP (http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html) exams: US History and Computer Science. I wasn't too pleased with either one but I expect a 4 or 5 on the Computer Science one and a 3 or 4 (all AP exams are out of 5) on the US History one (I know I am not as smart as some may think... :P).
It is a huge relief to finish with my AP exams but unfortunately I will remain busy until the end of the school year. I'm taking an SAT, a few NYS Regents and some school Spanish 4 benchmark. Not to mention I seem to have a billion side-projects to top that off with, which makes my head spin. In a sense I feel more busy now than I did before just before I took my APs. :-\
I really do look forward to returning to SMF in full force when I get some free time but it is always nice to know how smoothly things run when I am not around. In case someone didn't notice, I was joking in my previous blog entry about how things would be in "rabid chaos, disorder and unrest" without me around. ;)
Just a side note: I have been getting a lot (or at least I will consider it a lot) of personal messages sent to me asking about support questions. I just want to mention that I don't respond to them. Often they are followups to topics that I may have replied to at some point. If it is a support topic that I clearly showed some kind of commitment in resolving, then it is okay to send me a reminder a week after I last replied to remind me that the topic is still unresolved. Please use fair judgment though, just because I may have replied to the topic doesn't mean I am the man to get help for with the topic or any other topics you may post. A good example of commitment is if I posted some code to help you answer the question or followed up with a few replies and there were not so many replies from anyone else.
And a new tradition I will try to keep up with, at the end of each blog entry I write I will end it with a few tips:
- Search (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=search) is your friend and can help you find the answers to your questions more than you may think. USE IT!
- The Online Manual (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php) is also your friend. It is like having a library filled with SMF books right on your computer ;) (Sorry I just had to endorse the OM!)
- If you are stressed out with tense things happening at your forum, take a breather by taking a few days off from it all. You will be surprised how much it can help to just take a break for a few days from your site/forum. That is not to say you shouldn't make some kind of preparation to make sure your forum staff will be around to handle the forum during your absence.
- Browse this forum for ideas. There is a reason why we don't just delete old posts from this forum besides the fact that some of them can help someone out in the future with support. There are many posts floating around (Tips and Tricks (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=72.0) should be your first stop) where members have shared their ideas and may have even posted code for how to implement their ideas. Feel free to browse through the Feature Requests (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=3.0) and Mod Requests (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?board=79.0) boards for old ideas people may have that may been overlooked but are excellent ideas.
- Familiarize yourself with the available mods. This sort of goes hand in hand with what was said above. Often people request features and mods that are already available on the mod site! It is never a bad idea when you have some free time to actually browse through the mod site and view each of the mods so you know just what is available. Of course you should always search the mod site to see if their is a mod that you want before requesting it. ;)