These pages are not of a technical nature related to the content and
subject matter of this site. Rather it is a set of Frequently Asked Questions
about the manner in which this Sniper Country Emporium functions. Hopefully,
by making this FAQ page available, most of the questions will be pre-empted.
As people's tastes differ, so also their preferences in viewing this page. Some want to see the most recent entries at the top, others want to see the entries in the chronological way they were posted. Doing it this way it is possible to please both parties without sacrificing anything in terms of speed.
First of all these have been removed from the top of the display windows to remove a lot of the clutter.
But more importantly it has been done to make life easier. Now, when one wants to reply, especially those replying to a multitude of posts, you don't have to scroll up and down the display window to read and post alternatively. Now you have a separate window to post in. Thus you can keep your place in the main window where you are reading and just flip over to the posting window, enter what it is that you want to write, and go back to reading where you were.
Also, the way the whole Sniper Country Emporium has been structured now, it is possible to post from both the Normal and the Reverse views (as well as the Threaded view should we go there). Thus it makes more sense to have this separately.
This one is a difficult one and has come up many times over the years. Basically it is because you, the people visiting this page, has expressed your satisfaction with this format, and actually your dislike in any attempt by the staff of Sniper Country to make any change.
The current script has actually been written such that, with the change of a single parameter from "False" to "True" this page will instantly become threaded as well. Thus a third display format will be added to the two currently available. Additionally it will, however, force people to keep any single post related to one topic.
And this is actually the biggest objection against such a threaded page. The Sniper Country Emporium has been likened to a local corner pub where all the regulars, and passers-by, get together and spin their yarns. Sometimes the noise drowns the conversations, but normally, since it is a decent place, there is more common sense talk going on than background noise. But conversations are being held all around, not in little compartmented rooms where one can't speak to those in other rooms unless you get over there.
In terms of archiving, and especially the setting up of the HotTips section, having the Sniper Country Emporium threaded will be preferable. But, in the end, it is you, the visitor, we must serve.
"Cookies" are basically small data files, the content of which are determined by the person who wrote the code creating those files. And cookies are only to be read by the site that created them. Around the 'net they are used to track people's visits to a single site, and to assist in providing a personalised experience for the visitors to a specific site.
For example, in this page, we may store a cookie which will allow you to specify how you want to see the page - normal or reverse. And to specify how far back you want to see posts. Only new ones? We can put that in a cookie. Of course we don't do any of this right now, but that is the sort of useful info that can be stored and instantly read, without you having to sign in first. Very useful and friendly to you, the visitor.
Unfortunately, as with most things in life, people have also found a way of using those same useful little files with not so honest and honourable intentions. If you are a hacker, and know very well what you are doing, it is possible to read the cookies on a visitor's PC - even those not created by your site. This then allows you to find other info about that visitor - info he/she did not intend the hacker to have. For exmample the sites visited. Passwords (if stored in cookies - dumb move!!) Anything stored there.
As such, especially in the USA, a lot of people are against the use of cookies, and see it as an invasion of privacy - right or wrong.
This is merely because, by using it, we can save you, the visitor, a bit of typing. We can store the information you always enter (EXCEPT your password!!) in cookies, and give it back to you next time you visit.
But the choice is yours. If you do not want cookies to be stored we will not - we will not even try. And we won't even know that you don't want cookies stored, as that information is not tracked! It is all up to you, and known only to you.
And if you had cookies stored, and next time you say "No" to the cookies - we'll even delete the ones that were stored there before!
No, unfortunately it is not. Previously the Duty Roster was HTML enabled (meaning that visitors could place HTML tags in their posts and they would be interpreted), but no more.
The reason is simply that we have, in the mean time, learnt how dangerous it is to allow that. Basically, if you allow that, you are allowing any person to place script on your page! And in that script they can do what they want...
Thus, to be on the safe side, we have removed that facility with this new page.
At the same time this means that now your post will appear as you created it. In other words, if you were posting a table, and formatted it all nicely using spaces you'll now see that table formatted nicely like that, with all your spaces.
Also, for those people liking to use the less-than and greater-than signs in their posts, this means good news. Those will stay, and everything in between them will stay. It will not disappear as it has done in the past.
No and Yes. Huh? Come again? Yes, you read correctly.
No, no other visitor can change/delete you posts. That is, unless they know, or can guess, your password of course. Only you yourself can change/delete your posts.
But you also said yes? That is correct. The staff can also change/delete your post. In the same manner that you have access, the staff has been set up such that they can also edit/delete any post, and are also able to instantly revoke anybody's right to post should it prove necessary.
But, all is not lost. When a post is edited by anybody, it will automatically also add the date and time, as well as the detail of the person doing the editing, to the post. Thus it will be possible to see when your post has been changed.