"How do I change my password?"
When logged in and viewing the main forum page, there are 6 buttons at the top of the list. "Post New", "Search", "Settings", "Log Out", "Collapse" and "Older".
Click on "Settings" and then on the next page click on "Change Password".
"Why do some people who give advice have their names shown in blue?"
There are many wonderful folks here that have been great contributors over the years and we thought that it would be nice
for our new visitors to know who they are.
It is our way of honoring those experts who have given advice here for a significant period of time at one point or another.
A few of our advisors are shown in bold (blue). Those have been advisors for many years.
If you feel that you have earned that honor, and would like to have us show your name in blue, please
e-mail us.
"Why exactly 350 posts per page?"
There is no "magic" number of posts that is "correct."
Some sites show posts by the month, week or whatever. Many have either a lot of posts or no posts, depending on the time of the month, week, page, etc.
We now prefer a specific number of subjects per page,
350 posts per page. We feel that having exactly 350 posts per page makes our site more uniform, faster loading, etc. than having an unspecified number of subjects.
No one idea or number of posts is "perfect" and
some prefer more or less. With our old style forum we prefer 75 subjects per page and with our new forum 350 posts per page.
"Does the search feature search all of the posts?"
It searches only the original subjects. In other words, there are tens of thousands of posts
and many subject headings and our search feature checks only those subject titles (not what is written in the posts or the responses).
We do not allow the search feature to search the actual words in the original subjects or the reply posts. This way you don't get thousands of results with the search feature. We want our search feature to produce "quality" not quantity results.
Our search feature isn't "perfect" but no matter which way we design it, it has it's drawbacks. We think, overall, this way of
searching works best for you.
"When I go onto the site, I log in and then hit "post new." I then get sent to the log-in page again.
Am I doing it incorrectly?"
Probably you've turned 'cookies' off on your browser. Cookies must be on in order for all to work.
"Is there any way to show a picture with a post?"
You can go to www.photobucket.com and provide a link back to the thread you start.
Also, when you are posting it will have instructions on that page explaining how to do that.
"I'd like to change my screen name. How can I do that?"
If you prefer a different user name then please sign up for a new name.
"After I write/send a post, how long will it take before my post is seen?"
It can be seen and read immediately. If you do not see it just "reload" or "refresh" your screen.
"How can I create a link or make an e-mail tag on my post?"
If you would like to show either, at the bottom of your post there is a space for you to either write your e-mail address or an Internet URL (web page address).
You must do these at the same time of your post (as it can not be added by you later).
Please note: we do eliminate continual promotions of the same site or the same e-mail address.
"I just saw someone use foul (or derogatory, degrading or defaming) language."
Usually we catch childish posts immediately but we are human and can miss some.
Please immediately e-mail us
and let us know what post number contains the childish gibberish (every post has a number, it's at the end of the URL - Internet address). Just
let us know the URL on top. If you don't know the URL or post number, that is ok, just let us know the title
of the post or the name of the person that supposedly wrote it (we get a lot of ghost writers).
Our visitors truly help make our site what it is and with your help we can keep our site totally positive and upbeat.
"I attempted to post and got a message that said that you blocked my message?"
This subject is one many forums try to avoid dealing with. Negatives and foul language. It can ruin a sites
reputation and credibility. To keep our site as clean and upbeat and positive as possible, we have instituted/created a blocking system/software.
Our software is capable of blocking messages and blocking posts from sites/IP numbers that have
posted negatively on our site (or continual advertisers, etc). If you have never posted a negative
post then we apologize for that blocking. Please let us know if you feel that we should not
have blocked your message and we will then review our logs and possibly unblock your computer or IP number.
"I saw a lot of a certain person's posts and now they are all gone?"
Sometimes we will not only delete a specific negative post, we also reserve the right to delete all posts from a specific person, negative or otherwise at our discretion.
This site is a privately owned, custom designed, for-profit operation.
It's revenue is derived from the sponsors shown.
The sponsors have exclusivity for references and links to products and sources described in replies.
Replies pointing to competing references may therefore be deleted.
In addition, we do sometimes block/censor those that post words which we perceive as being
against our best interest.
There are many other reasons that a post may be deleted for. For example, unpaid advertising; or negative, abusive, critical language or tone.
We also delete subjects that ask questions in regard to pricing and prices charged by plumbers. The reason is that
this question is controversial and it is difficult to judge what someone should be paying for a job.
Plus, there are too many variances in pricing between various cities and states which can lead to misinterpretation between the post, the reply, and the general reader.
"Can you change my member name to reflect a different name?
Sorry but we can't change the name of anyone.
You can create another new name by signing up again as if you are new.
"Do you obtain any personal information about us when we visit or post to your site?"
During our first over 77,000 posts we did not gather ANY personal information about you. We did put a "cookie" into your computer (as do most commercial sites) when you posted
but we did NOT use it to gather any information from you. We also have never tracked where you came from before you visited us or where you went to after visiting here. Currently we do now collect information from your computer
whenever you post to our site. We must do this so that we can block people who harass our site or who impersonate others. We can (and will if need be) provide that information to the
proper legal authorities. This is not something that we set out to do or wish to do. We have been forced to gather the information in order to protect us and the innocent victims of mentally unstable or childlike participants.
We keep the information for up to 30 days and then dispose of it. We do not give or share the information with anyone unless it is governmental bodies such as the FBI in order to catch someone who has made threats to another person.
"How many visitors does Plbg.com get?"
We are currently getting
2-6,000 posts (over 500-1000 new subjects) per month and many tens of thousands of hits per day.
To see some of our visitor statistics - click here.
"Can I put HTML tags anywhere in my posts?"
You can put HTML tags "into" your post, but they will be filtered out by our
software and won't work. You can use our link at the bottom of the post area to
have your post linked anywhere. Should you show a link that leads to an adult only site
we will delete the entire post.
"Why didn't my post show up?"
It probably has posted. You probably haven't 'reloaded' the front page.
This will generally happen unless your cache setting is 0.
Your post most likely did not show up because your browser did not reload the
page, it simply pulled it out of cache. Press the reload or refresh button
on your browser and it should then appear. Also, it is possible that if you posted a new subject and that same subject
was already discussed on the last 2-8 pages, we might have deleted your subject. Simply
scan through the last few pages for the same subject matter and you can read what others have
said about the subject that you were interested in. Also, our "ideal" is to have different subjects
being discussed and sometimes a promoter of a particular product will start discussions
under a different name but with the same subject matter. When/if we notice that this happens we will delete the same subject in previous
posts as well. We also delete subjects that ask questions in regard to pricing and prices charged by plumbers.
The reason for that is that this question is so controversial and also it is difficult for someone to judge what someone should be paying for a job.
We keep posts that are related to subjects that are not dated. This is a for-profit-operation and therefore references
or links to competing sources are eliminated as well.
"I wish to contact the owners of this site?"
Please go to our contact us page. We do not personally answer specific plumbing questions. That
is what the forum is all about.
"Why don't you show the e-mail address of the person that posts?"
We have experimented that in our first 1,000 posts and found that at least 25% of the e-mail address either did not work or were not from the actual person
that posted. We then modified our site and that did not work well either. After a total of 3,000 posts we totally redid our site (and deleted those posts)
and what you see today is a result of our experimentation. Also, in order to prevent people from receiving unsolicited e-mails we decided it was best to not automatically
show e-mail addresses. People can still show their e-mail address in the actual post if they so desire, we just don't make it mandatory.
"Can I advertise my products on your site?"
We will allow any NEW product to be linked to, and mentioned ONE time, by a manufacturer.
Simply write us and ask us to post your message and link. We will do so one time for free. After that
we feel that you should promote your products, services or site by the sponsorship manner. It is the best advertising bargain anywhere and it helps to keep
this site the most visited plumbing forum on the Internet. If we see continual repetition of a product, service or site then
we will eliminate all previous post promotions of that product as well.
"Why don't you have an automatic date stamp, like most other forums, so that we know what is recent?"
We have found that most subjects are not related to time. If time is important then just read the first few pages.
Our page number one is usually only a few days old. If you feel that your post IS time sensitive then simply
add a date after (or before) your name or subject. We delete all dated posts after about two weeks.
If your answer or question is not time related, then please don't show a date. Posts that are positive, educational or informative and where no
dates are shown will be added to our permanent data information bank.
"My message used to be on the front page now it's not. Why?"
"I posted a message a few days ago and now it's gone.
Where did it go?"
Since we are a dynamic we are ever-changing. Only the most recent 350 posts are shown on our front page,
depending on the complexity of replies and the subject matter).
The next 350 plus posts are shown on the next page and so on...
So unless your message contained negative language or was not plumbing related, it has
probably been scrolled off to one of the older pages. If you posted a reply to a negative
post then your post might be deleted when we delete the negative post. With the large volume
of postings, if we left them all on the front page, it would take forever to
load. We do delete foul language, derogatory or demeaning posts. We also delete blatant, continual
advertising and continual self promotions. Companies or individuals that continually link or mention their own sites
will be deleted as we consider that advertising and not education. Advertising should be done through sponsorship.
Negative wording towards a group, race, age, religion, etc (or plumbers) will be deleted.
We believe in free speech but this site is for education and we wish to keep it that way. We do practice censorship.
We will delete any message that anyone finds reasonably offensive. Sometimes we will get a request to delete many posts from one person and
we might not view that as being reasonable.
"I received a 'Data Missing' error, is there something wrong?"
What probably happened is that you posted a message and then pressed reload or
refresh on the response page it sent back to you. You'll need to go back to the original form
to re-post the message.
"I made a mistake and wish to modify a message. How can I do this?"
Just e-mail us and let
us know what number message (top right of the URL) or what subject and name on the post. We do not 'repair' or edit messages but we will
delete an entire message. When you write us to 'modify' we will ass-u-me that you mean to "delete" and we will
delete it. The message must be written within the last two weeks. We do not wish to go back farther than that as it takes us more time.
Once we have deleted your post you can then resubmit (if you so desire) that message or subject. In other words, you will need to modify it by entering it again. We only delete messages.
"How can I pay for this great advice?"
We would like to thank all the people that are giving of their valuable time.
If you feel you have gained from our site we hope that you will give the value of that advice to your favorite charity.
"Why does the page number keep changing?"
Our site is "dynamic." Our newest page is always page number one. It will always have exactly
350 posts on it. The oldest page can have 1 to 350 subjects on it. When we designed our site
we felt that it was more important to have the most recent pages all be "uniform" in length versus the
original page. That meant that all page numbers will also be "dynamic."
This is a copy of an actual e-mail that was sent to us:
"I am a reg. plumber and find it rewarding to help people with their problems...however I am finding that with your question and answer
section that I don't know what state or date that they are referring to for me to answer their questions properly...answers vary from state to state and if
the date is too long ago there is no point in leaving advice."
This is what we wrote back:
"Thanks for your comments. During our first 3,000 test posts (no longer shown) we did show time, e-mail addresses and location.
We have found that not showing dates/locations does have drawbacks but it is our hope that most questions and problems are timeless and that the place/location is not important.
Sometimes they are important and then the writer can add that in their post.
We do have a great search feature on subjects and you know that when you spend the time
answering, unlike other advice sites (where a few people read your answers THAT day), your answers here will be read for a long time to come. The ratio of 'thanks' and
compliments about the way our site is set up, compared to complaints is at least ten positive letters to one negative letter, and so, we will continue to have our
site as it is now. Thanks for your comments and we do recognize that we can not please everyone 100% of the time but we hope
that you see the wisdom of why we designed our site the way we did. Our site is not a copy of a shareware (free) wwwboard or an off the shelf forum program that
was purchased. We designed it ourselves."
We can't be all things to all people. Everyone has an idea of what the "ideal" discussion site should
contain. We ARE working on many other improvements (from our point of view anyway). We hope that you enjoy our site as it currently is.
This forum is THE dynamic, positive plumbing related forum and therefore any non plumbing related posts
(such as your opinion as to how we should/can improve) will be deleted.
Please do e-mail us with your suggestions or ideas. We'd love
to hear your ideas and opinions (please do not post non plumbing suggestions on the forum).
