Personal Statement

[Carol the Dabbler]

I was trying to figure out how some people have gotten a "caption" under their avatar photos, and finally found a thread that says after you've posted 500 times, you can set a Custom Member Title. So that answered my original question.

But in the process, I tried putting my desired "caption" in various places. (Yes, I know, I don't even have an avatar photo, but I hoped my "caption" would still be displayed.) I tried "Interests" but that only showed up on my member profile page. So I tried Personal Statement, but can't get it to update. When I clicked "Update" or "Save" or whatever it was, I was immediately taken back to the forum pages, and my member profile page still says "no personal statement."

Can someone tell me:

1) what the purpose of the Personal Statement is supposed to be,

2) what place(s) it's supposed to show up, and

3) how to update mine?

Thanks!

[Lisa]

1. Not sure about the personal statement - a little about yourself?

2. It would be displayed on your personal profile page.

3. Check out "My Controls" and you can "personalize" your personal profile page.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I already tried to update it, but nothing happens.

I type some stuff into the Personal Statement box, then I click on the button to save it. Usually when I update anything from the My Controls page, it re-displays the updated page after I click on the save button, but when I try to update my Personal Statement, it just goes immediately back to the forum message board page, and nothing gets saved.

I just tried it again. Specifically, it goes to the main forum index page, even if I had come from some other page.

Any ideas?

[Lisa]

hummmm.....not much of a computer person. I'll have to call Peter in on this one. He can fix anything.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just to be sure I wasn't fighting a bad system load, I powered everything down and did a cold reboot. Then I tried updating my Personal Statement again, but the same thing happened, and it still says I don't have one.

I should point out that this is actually no big deal to me. I don't particularly want a Personal Statement. It just seems odd that I can't put anything in there.

[psawyer]

hummmm.....not much of a computer person. I'll have to call Peter in on this one. He can fix anything.

Well, I'm a computer person with decades of experience, but Lisa's perhaps overstating things a bit.

The personal statement is something that is visible to anyone who views your profile. It is public, in the sense that your profile can be viewed by a guest. You can use it to communicate whatever you want, as long as it fits in the 300-character limit.

Click on "My Controls" and then on "Edit Personal Portal Information." Put what you want in the "personal statement" window, and then click the "Save Settings" button underneath the notification options section.

I just did this, and it worked for me. It is possible that my status as a moderator is clouding the issue. Please try again, and if you still have a problem let me know. There are some other avenues I can investigate.

Your personal statement will be visible only to someone who views your profile. You can put information about yourself in your signature as well, and it will be visible in all of your posts (unless the member has chosen not to see signatures). To have a custom caption under your avatar, you must have at least 501 posts.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks, Peter. It looks like you and I were posting simultaneously.

As I said then, I tried again after a cold reboot, and was still unable to save anything in my Personal Statement. Everything happened the same as I've already described.

I don't particularly care about having a Personal Statement, but others might be interested.

[psawyer]

Well, I don't know what it is that makes it work for this user [me], but I created a new identity and tried to create a personal statement. It behaves just as you described. The return to the main forum pages is normal; but the new information is not saved. I will send Scott a note with what information I can provide. There is certainly something broken here.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks, Peter -- and tell your new identity that I sympathize!

[Scott Adams]

I will be adding a software update soon that will hopefully fix this issue.

Take care,

Scott

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thank you, Scott!

Has the software manufacturer got back to you yet on the problem with hyphens in email addresses?

[Scott Adams]

I don't think there is a problem with hyphens in email addresses...I tested it and it worked for me.

Take care,

Scott

[Carol the Dabbler]

I was unable to register with the email address that I generally use for forums, namely Carol-the-Dabbler@whatever. After failing numerous times, I tried again with everything the same except that I used a different email address (same domain, though), and it worked fine. That email address has only 6 characters (4 letters and 2 numerals) before the "@", with no embedded punctuation. My first guess was that the hyphens caused the registration failure, but then again, it could have been the length of the address (32 characters total).