Trouble getting into the forums? fixed?

[BR]

Hi Athena/all,

Thanks for the info, and for being up front, so we all know where the forums stand. For now, I guess I'll stick with my "Get rid of the competition and graphic's resource so we can sell more clipart" theory. Time will tell.

Hopefully someone (or group) will get together a Painter BBS like the Xara folks are doing, and like you say, a new forums phoenix will rise up from the i/us ashes.

BR....

[Jinny Brown]

Painter Forum members,

For what it may be worth to all of you, here's my latest list of newsgroups, e-mail lists, forums, and message boards related to Painter.

Before reading the list, the following may be of interest when looking for another location for the Painter Forum:

The option that I know of that comes closest to providing what you have here in the Painter Forum at i/us is eGroups, where you can set up a private or public group, and opt to use the following facilities:

E-MAIL MESSAGES (Read online or have either individual messages or digest form sent to your e-mail address.)

FILES (Upload files to share with the group and opt to have a notification sent to the group along with the URL included in the message.)

LINKS (Enter links to member websites or other sites of interest to the group.)

DATABASE (Set up database tables for any subject where members can make entries. - For instance, I used this last Spring to set up a database where Painter users entered their wish list... suggestions, issues, and comments related to the Painter 7 upgrade... before Corel opened the
Painter newsgroups. This database was later reformatted and sent to Corel Painter Development in PDF format. If you'd like to read the history of this database and the final PDF file to see what other Painter users have asked for, you can see it at:

http://www.pixelalley.com/painteruse...base-info.html

Click the graphic to view the PDF file.)

CALENDAR (Schedule meetings, announce events, etc. - can be viewed in daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.. as well as in one-time or repeating format.)

CHAT (A small chat box that is useable but not terribly convenient. Also, members of other groups can enter the chat unexpectedly. This is the least well done of all the facilities available to group members, in my humble opinion, and doesn't seem to be used much by any of the groups at eGroups to which I subscribe.)

MEMBER LIST (Can be viewable by all members at the list owner's/moderator's discretion.. or only viewable by list owner/moderator. For list owners/moderators, a list of Pending, Bouncing, or Banned members if the list is set up that way.)

SETTINGS (List owner/moderator can set up the list however they want using these settings.)

ACTIVITY (List owner/moderator can view a list of members and when they subscribed or unsubscribed from the group.)

The list owner/moderator can choose to allow attachments or not. URLs posted within a message, if messages are read on the Web at eGroups are
"live" and can be clicked to go to the website or opened in a new browser window.. as can be done with some if not all e-mail sent idividually or in digest form to the list member's private e-mail
address, probably depending on the e-mail software used by the member.

The list owner/moderator can choose to archive group messages or not. It's very convenient to have them archived so we can do a search for the
subject, or a member name, and retrieve information we may want to refer to or use months, even years, later.

eGroups is now owned by Yahoo and continues to put ads in the messages. This can be annoying, but frankly I don't notice them anymore. I read my
e-mail on the web at eGroups for a couple of reasons. One is that images are not attached to my personal e-mail and I can view them easily within
the messages. Another is simple convenience. Once on the Web, I can go to any of the eGroups lists to which I subscribe using a bookmark to the
Messages page. Messages can be ordered according to either date or message thread and once read, the message listing shows which ones have been read and which have not.. something like a followed link would on a website.

I think it would be good to at least explore this avenue. It's easy enough to set up a group just for testing purposes if you want. Anyway, if you didn't know about this option, now you do.. and have more choices available.

************************

Here's my list of newsgroups, e-mail lists, forums, and message boards related to Painter, with the ones I find most valuable nearer the top
(the Painter Forum is not included for obvious reasons.. you already know about it):
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Painter List (great for Painter tips, techniques, and tricks.. attachments not allowed, off-topic messages not allowed - this is a well established list and has been very valuable over the several years I've read it):

http://216.246.51.202/forums/painter/index.htm
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Corel Painter newsgroups - subscribe through your ISP and e-mail software:

Add Server: cnews.corel.ca or cnews.corel.com (they're the same)

Subscribe to: corelsupport.painter and corelfeedback.painter

(corelsupport.painter is currently the most active of the two.. but that changes over time - very valuable tips and techniques exchanged here.)
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PainterWorld (a pleasant group of Painter users who share tips, techniques, and art on their websites):

http://www.egroups.com/group/painterworld
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alt.fractal-design.painter - subscribe through your ISP and e-mail software
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Corel Painter at Worldwide Users Groups (hosted by Jeremy Sutton - needs participation!):

http://216.246.51.202/forums/painter/index.htm
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Painter Talk Message Board (not terribly active, but a fairly steady flow of posts by Painter users.. it's safe to check in every few days):

http://www.desktoppublishing.com/pai...intertalk.html
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Mac Today (a couple of threads on Painter):

http://www.mactoday.com/cgi-bin/ubb/...er=1&SUBMIT=Go
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Creaticity Coffehouse (One message thread started titled "Pianter 6 - Fantastic Software for Fine Art, Web, and Other Graphics - Jinny Brown"
- needs participation!):

http://www.creaticity.com/hosts/crea...j5m^0@.ee6b3dd
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I hope you find this information useful, [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Jinny (crossing her fingers that this doesn't go into a black hole too!)

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
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[Mike Bailey]

Seems to be the norm for me, I don't even have to try!

Jinny, a while back in an Xara thread I wrote about the black hole mystery when we were getting random image attachments that didn't exist, although it was an entirely different subject and resulted in loosing ones undergarments, its relative, I will spare you the prelude leading up to the main event, but it ended something like this, "I have always believed that this is what happens to the missing sock or other laundered undergarmet, The Wiz waves his wand and -poof- dryer fuzz, sucked into the inevitable black holes that lead to the cloths dryer lint trap, where all holes in my jeans R.I.P." So you see its very possible that the messages that disappear may just be in the i-us lint trap.

I hope not, but I'm afraid thats where the Grand Pooper of bean county is gonna send all the messages eventually

[Jinny Brown]

Mike,

Yup, that's where it all goes.. including my money [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Good thing we all know that cyberlife isn't real life and it's mostly all a big ball of lint anyway..

Fortunately.. or not.. I did save that ever-so-long message like everything else that's making it difficult to walk through my house without injury to ankles and shin bones.

I'm curious.. switching to another subject.. why the talk of creating a new forum.. when there are so many already existing. Hmmm... It often sounds as if folks here thing they're (the Painter Forum folks are) all alone using Painter and having each other to talk to about it. Since that's not the case.. I wonder why. Anyone want to 'splain it to me?

It's time for breakfast now.. so bye until later! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Jinny

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
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[chris-dickman]

Hi Folks:

I'm antipating being able to post a notice here within a week about where the Forums will be found in 2001. Things look promising at this point. Details to follow.

Thanks for your support during a difficult time

<blockquote>
<font color=green>Chris Dickman</font>
http://www.i-us.com/images/sig.gif
</blockquote>

[athena]

Chris,

Thanks for the update. Your work on rescuing this place from total annihilation is greatly appreciated. Thanks also for the update. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Jinny,

I for one, like to have all the forums all in one place. I have and use many graphics programs and I don't like keeping track of many bookmarks. I-US forums have been a one-stop-shop for self-help art and graphics design help. That's the magic of this place. When things are slow. I can hop over to Xara forum and learn something new. It's just so convenient. No doubt,the other forums and lists are just as useful but are they as comprehensive (using programs other than painter)? I haven't made time to find out.

That is one reason.

The second is that I, like Greg (Monastic Bat), feel a special bond with my i-us buddies and it's kinda nice if all your buddies can meet in the same cyberspace.

So that's the reason, my friend -- at least for me.


Athena

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Jinny Brown]

Athena,

You'll probably read my response to Greg's in one of the other threads, where he gave me his take on my question.

I understand how you feel, both the comradeship and the convenience factor.. being in one place.

Both the Worldwide Users Group and eGroups have other software forums or groups. In fact, eGroups has so many for some applications that it's hard to know which ones are really valuable without spending some time with them. For instance, I did a search for "Photoshop" and got back a list of 119 groups. This doesn't mean they're all dedicated to Photoshop, though, and some of them are foreign language groups. At least in the WWUG forums, they appear to all be English speaking.

Anyway, I hope it works out here for all of you since it's a nice, quiet place where friends can share and learn together.

Jin

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
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