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All caps — Parallax Forums

All caps

RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
edited 2014-10-10 11:04 in General Discussion
Why can't I use CAPS in the title?

Is this some quirk in the forum software or a problem with Firefox? I've tried on both Windows and Linux, it's same on both.
No, I will not try Internet Explorer.

ALL CAPS doesn't work - only the first letter stays capitalized.

ALL works, 3 letter acronyms only?

CAPS works, so nope, more than 3 letters is fine.

ALL C reverts to only the first letter capitalized.

A L L C A P S doesn't work - only the first letter stays capitalized.

This is weird, it seems to work for other people and I think even I have done it before.

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2014-10-05 21:52
    Using all caps in a title is equivalent to shouting and generally considered to be poor form. It's probably been filtered on purpose for that reason.

    -Phil
  • Martin HodgeMartin Hodge Posts: 1,246
    edited 2014-10-06 00:01
    It seems to be only in the first post of a thread.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-10-06 05:37
    Other people can do it - see title of this reply with words taken from current first page posts in the General forum. It should be all caps (and this is a reply title, not the first post in this thread).

    Today I noticed that I no longer have any of the advanced editing controls - the buttons for font, color, inserting quotes, images, etc. When I post a reply to a thread, I don't have a button to "Go Advanced" either.

    I have no idea what's going on, I completely rebooted this Linux computer and it hasn't changed anything. I'm having the same issues on a Windows 7 computer also.


    I just noticed that the caps sometimes "stick" when previewing and reposting, but not always.

    edit (more experimenting): maybe Phil is right and the filter is based on some percentage or other rule that limits the amount of caps.

    DEFCON22 LIMITED quantity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANTITY - didn't work
    DefCon22 Limited Quantity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED Quantity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUantity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUAntity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANtity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANTity - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANTIty - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANTITy - worked
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANTITY - didn't work
    DEFCON22 LIMITED QUANTITy - worked again
    DeFcOn22 LiMiTeD QuAnTiTy - worked

    Looks like as long as there is one letter that's not a cap, all is good?

    If this is actually the way it's supposed to work and is consistent, I'd have to say it's a pretty confusing "feature".

    Still haven't found out why my editing buttons are gone.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-10-06 09:05
    I don't have access to the forum options here, however my personal website (Savage///Circuits) runs vBulletin and has the same feature. I grabbed a screenshot from there. Here is what affects the ALL CAPS setting.

    SHOUTING.jpg
    SHOUTING.jpg
    1003 x 118 - 40K
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-10-06 10:41
    Well, thanks for that information. At least now I finally can be sure it's not something I've done, or a problem with my computers or software.

    In my opinion, Parallax needs to turn this off. It should not be used because it changes what I actually type, with no warning that it's being done or explantion of why it's done. Enough caps can still be used to defeat it's intended purpose anyway, which pretty much makes it less than useless.

    I wasted quite a bit of time trying to figure out what was wrong, including rebooting computers and re-installing software.

    If anyone is wondering, this all started when I posted a thread a week or so ago titled RTL-SDR, and couldn't figure out what was happening to the capitalization. I almost deleted it after I couldn't fix it because it just didn't look right.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-10-06 16:15
    Rick,

    Hopefully those who can affect such changes are listening with sympathetic ears (or eyes, as the case may be). I cannot even see the current setting. What I posted was from my own website.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-10-06 17:59
    None of my comments were for you specifically, which is why I said "Parallax". Sorry if I worded it badly, I probably should have been more clear about that.

    Now if I can just get my edit buttons back :)
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-10-07 09:05
    No, it was worded fine. I just mean that even being at Parallax and a forum Admin that it was outside my control. =)
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-10-10 09:54
    RDL2004 wrote: »
    Now if I can just get my edit buttons back.

    Well duh.

    I didn't have JavaScript enabled for parallax.com. I'm actually surprised at how well things were working even without it enabled. I have parallax.com whitelisted on my other computers, but this is a fresh install of Linux Mint, and I forgot. Now that it's turned on, I have edit buttons again. Yay!

    Too bad there hasn't been any official response about the all caps problem though.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-10-10 10:03
    Rick,

    My response was official. We do have a setting that affects that feature. I'll tell you what, I will see if I can get someone who has access to the feature to follow-up on my reply. Stay tuned.
  • Jen J.Jen J. Posts: 649
    edited 2014-10-10 11:04
    Hello all,

    In the future; there will be a Forums upgrade. Before that day arrives a team of Parallaxians will discuss all things Forums, so we can make an organized plan of how we wish to move forward. We will include this topic and make a decision at that time.

    The limit is set for transforming strings of capital characters 6 or more into lower-case characters. This limit was set in the hopes to prevent shouting, but also allow acronyms and initializations of a specific size with the Parallax product 'The BASIC Stamp microcontroller' in mind. We're sorry if the limit causes problems when discussing legitimate products, services, and other initializations of considerable string length; yes there are ways of circumventing the limits, there usually are, but that does not warrant immediate removal of the limitation.

    It will be considered though, and so will abuse of the limitation such as making forum's topics with names specifically designed to circumvent the forums' feature.

    Thank you for your input.
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