The Rules And How To Add Captures/Set Ups/Etc. To This Board.

It's been long rumored and even actually played - but today marks it's "official" debut.    The Complete This Phrase / Fill In The Blank(s) game. And considering that this game sprung forth from Caption This!, many of the same rules apply. And rather than repeating those here, members should simply refer to

The Rules And How To Add Captures/Captions/Comments To This Board.

However, there are aspects of this game that definitely make it different from Caption This! - chiefly that:

• The text of the screen capture post needs to include the set up. As the board's description indicates, this set up should be weird, wacky, silly, or suggestive and also at least a bit over the top in order to present an exaggerated/heightened situation. However, as with Caption THis!, DON'T INCLUDE ANY RESPONSES in this topic creation post. Responses should ONLY appear as the FIRST AND ANY SUBSEQUENT REPLIES. Also, THERE IS NO CHARACTER LIMITATION ON THE LENGTH OF THE SET UP (well, within reason and within the forum's guidelines). ONLY RESPONSES WILL BE LIMITED TO 275 CHARACTERS. But as there really isn't much need to repeat the entire set up in responses, 275 characters should allow much more than enough leeway to complete a phrase or fill in the blank(s).  
• And another difference in this game is that including separate dialogue along with the responses to the set ups is frowned upon. True, several of the already existing responses do include separate dialogue - but they were made while those topics were a part of the Caption This! game and so the dialogue was partly acceptable. From this point on, PLEASE DO NOT ADD SEPARATE DIALOGUE IN ANY RESPONSES. Dialogue is only part of the Caption This! game. In this game, simply complete the phrase or fill in the blank(s).

When it comes to creating set ups, please use adequate adjectives, adverbs and descriptions to paint a specific situation. In other words, don't simply post something like: "Barnabas walked into the drawing room and then..." Post something along the lines of: "A completely disillusioned Barnabas walked into the drawing room and absolutely couldn't believe it when, much to his horror..." And, of course, the expression on Barnabas' face and any other circumstances depicted in the accompanying capture will also add greatly to the set up. And always try to keep in mind that the use of the proper adjectives, adverbs and descriptions in the set up will help greatly to potentially point members in any of the directions you're hoping to see your set ups go.


And when it comes to responding to set ups, PLEASE BE SURE TO FULLY COMPLETE THE ORIGINAL SET UP BEFORE going off on a tangent or in an entirely different direction. In other words, please be kind enough to respect the set up creator's intent before otherwise choosing to ignore it.  ;)


And lastly, for members who don't have the ability to create their own screen captures, this game will allow you to use any of the captures already posted on the Caption This! boards. Simply pick a capture, come up with a set up, then come over to this board and post that capture along with your set up.
In preparation of including that capture here on this board, first place your mouse's cursor over the capture's name link and click your mouse's right button and hold it. An URL will appear in your browser's status bar which will look similar to:

http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11629.0;attach=5720

Pay close attention to the topic number and the attach number - they identify the attached capture to the system. And when you want to post that same capture on this board along with your set up, simply replace the topic number and the attach number in the following code example:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11629.0;attach=5720[/img]
For example, your capture might be:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=7994.0;attach=3357[/img]
instead.  ;)


So, that's about it. Have fun dreaming up set ups and watching how members complete them!  :D

I want to apologize in advance for the many mistakes I will be making because I'm having some trouble understanding the rules.    They may just pertain mostly to the creators of threads though, which I don't plan on attempting, not soon anyway.

Creating topics is simply a matter of spotting a capture that sparks an entire story in your imagination - then writing a set up for that story that falls short of supplying all the details. You leave some out for members to fill in or you leave off the payoff for members to complete.

Not every capture is necessarily going to work for this game, but many will. And someone will know when they've come across the right capture for them because a scenario will just pop into their mind.    Then it's just a matter of picking the best words to hopefully get the set up across while also allowing several potential directions for it to play out. It probably sounds harder than it really is. But one thing is for sure: every day I'm blown away by some of the things that people come up with that I never saw coming.    So, I'm really looking forward to seeing the sorts of set up people can come up with...

And lastly, for members who don't have the ability to create their own screen captures, this game will allow you to use any of the captures already posted on the Caption This! boards. Simply pick a capture, come up with a set up, then come over to this board and post that capture along with your set up.
In preparation of including that capture here on this board, first place your mouse's cursor over the capture's name link and click your mouse's right button and hold it. An URL will appear in your bowser's status bar which will look similar to:

http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11629.0;attach=5720

I noticed that I couldn't get the URL when I was using IE6.  IE7 worked.  But when I tried using a friend's laptop that has IE7, the information came up, but too briefly and in too small a field for me to get it all.

I encourage everybody to try doing set-ups.  I've gotten some completely unexpected responses on the few that I have done.  It's been a lot of fun!

I noticed that I couldn't get the URL when I was using IE6.  IE7 worked.  But when I tried using a friend's laptop that has IE7, the information came up, but too briefly and in too small a field for me to get it all.

Sadly, nothing that happens in any version of IE surprises me any more. 

I've gotten some completely unexpected responses on the few that I have done.  It's been a lot of fun!

I've definitely discovered that the unexpected results can often be a great deal of fun!

I noticed that I couldn't get the URL when I was using IE6.  IE7 worked.  But when I tried using a friend's laptop that has IE7, the information came up, but too briefly and in too small a field for me to get it all.

Lydia,

In IE6, double clicking the file name (left mouse button) brings up a popup window that asks if I want to open or save the file.  It displays the file name until I cancel the download.

In IE6, double clicking the file name (left mouse button) brings up a popup window that asks if I want to open or save the file.  It displays the file name until I cancel the download.

When I do that, the file name is like this: ds_330_968.jpg.  What the URL gives you is: http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11757.0;attach=6013.  The instructions MB gave don't seem to work with the file name.

I'm not worried about it, because I'm now having no trouble with getting the URL.  I'm just being public-spirited (am I wonderful or what?), in case other people have tried unsuccessfully.

When I do that, the file name is like this: ds_330_968.jpg.  What the URL gives you is: http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11757.0;attach=6013.

I swear that what I wrote last nite was a description of how to make the full URL consistently display in Explorer 6 at the time.  But for some reason, it's no longer the case.  Now, when I double click the image name (for example, ds_964-707.jpg) while in IE6, only the partial url displays, but when I select Open, the browser reveals the full url in the address space (unlike yesterday, when it showed up in the popup window without the extra step).  Why IE6 is now working differently for our downloadable images, I have no idea.  Of course, by tomorrow this could change again. 

I hate IE.

The instructions MB gave don't seem to work with the file name.

MB hates IE too.  

I'm not worried about it, because I'm now having no trouble with getting the URL.  I'm just being public-spirited (am I wonderful or what?), in case other people have tried unsuccessfully.

I hear you. 

MB hates IE too.  

Hates is much too mild a term. In fact, there is no word in the English language (or maybe even any language) strong enough to even adequately much less completely describe how much I despise IE!    And in that I'm far from being alone. 

The instructions MB gave don't seem to work with the file name.

No, the actual filenames for attachments won't get anyone anywhere so far as posting the images in other posts goes because the system doesn't identify them internally using their names. It uses a number that it assigns to them (i.e. in your example ds_330-968.jpg is attachment number 6013) because 1) it saves a lot of space in the database, and 2) it's much simpler to program things that way.

Obviously I'm not going to have any difficulty understanding the simple act of writing a set up... it's always the computer stuff that stymies me.  I tried to follow the procedure for transferring an image to the new thread, and have no clue once again.    I'm going to try to wing it and see what happens.

I wasn't sure where to post this, as it's more of a request, but since it pertains to this board (for me) I'm posting here.

In the 3rd year Fill in the Blanks, right now there are 111 pages.  I recently finished going through all the 2nd year posts (54 or so pages), and doing it sporadically means you have to go to every other page to get to your last stopping point.  If I was on page 25, I had to click on 3, 7, 9, etc, until I got to where I left off (because it only displays a couple new pages each time).  It was time consuming.  Now, I'm behind on the 3rd year (I was on page 30 the last time I went back in) and it's going to be really cumbersome to get back in when I'm not able to sign on and stay in there.  Besides, it's more fun to go look when you have the right mood.

So, my request is just that we have a box where we can enter the page number of the page we want to go to and save all that time going to page after page we've already been to.  Obviously this kind of feature could be used on more than one board.  And maybe it's a programing nightmare.  I have no idea, and if it is, I wouldn't blame y'all for not wanting to do it.  It's just a suggestion.  : )  (And if there is something already in place like this (and I just haven't found), it please let me know!)

Thanks for listening!
—CallieWL

Believe me, you're not the only one who would love a feature like that - I would love it too - and for the very reasons you've laid out. Unfortunately, though, there isn't anything like that in SMF (not even in the upcoming SMF 2.0), and I don't *think* there's even a mod available to do it. But I haven't checked the mods lately, so I could be wrong. I'll look. And if not, I'll also look into how hard it might be to program it myself...

More power to ya, MB, if you can make it happen!  My limit is a little HTML programming, so anyone who'd attempt something like adding a box that does something gets my applause!
 

In theory it shouldn't be that hard because the system already divides the topics on a board into pages based on how many topics we select to be displayed on each page. It should just be a matter of saying what page to display, similar to what the system already does when there's a possibility to select from something like "1 ... 6 7 8 [9] 10 ... 111". In theory, anyway.    We'll see...

Best of luck!