Solutions to common problems on the Show & Sell site.


 		  
Log-In Problems

 

 Can't Upload Pics

 

 No "Upload Photos" link is visible

 
Can not view "Next Page"
 		 Other Problems
Why am I having these problems?


Log-in Problems: 

Log-in problems are almost always a cookies problem. Cookies sometimes just go bad and it's no ones' fault.  The easiest way to fix them is to click the following link and then click on the "Delete These Cookies" button. Then log in. Click here to fix the cookies

No "Upload Photos" link is visible:

When you register, an email is sent immediately to you to verify the email address you supplied. In the email is a link you must click on which 'activates' your account which allows the "upload photos" link to become visible. Many ISP's such as AOL reject this email as spam, or puts it in a spam folder.  If you do not remember getting this email and clicking on the activation link, then your account has not been activated. You can either look in your spam (or bulkmail) folder for the activation email and click the link, or ask me to activate the account for you from our admin panel. Contact Me

You must be logged in for this link to be visible and to upload.  If you are logged in, there should be a "Welcome" message, (for example: Welcome, Steve), with your username showing on the left side of the page just below the "News" area just below the Show & Sell banner. If the welcome message isn't there, you're not logged in.  Click on the "Login" link and then log in.

If the welcome message is showing, but there is no "upload photos" link visible, then you have a corrupted "Temporary Internet File", or possibly a corrupted "cookie".

To fix a corrupted Temporary Internet File:
The Temporary Internet Files (or cache) folder contains Web page content that is stored on your hard disk for quick viewing. This cache permits Internet Explorer or MSN Explorer to download only the content that has changed since you last viewed a Web page, instead of downloading all the content for a page every time it is displayed. To delete the files in the Temporary Internet Files folder, follow these steps:.

1) on your Browser, click "Tools", then "Internet Options".
2) click on the "General" tab
3) click "Delete Files".
4) select the "Delete all offline content" check box.
5) click "OK"
NOTE: If the Temporary Internet Files folder contains a significant amount of Web page content, this process may take several minutes to complete.

To fix a corrupted Cookie:
The easiest way to fix them is to click the following link and then click on the "Delete These Cookies" button. Then log in. Click here to fix the cookies

Can't upload pics:

This is the most common problem we hear about, and the answer 99.99% of the time is that the pictures you are trying to upload are just too big.

Unfortunately these photo albums were designed and programmed way back in the olden days when cameras took 1 megapixel pictures. Now they take 6-12 megapixel pics which creates a huge imagefile, some as large as 5 or 6 magabytes.

The old albums can only take pics up to 1.5 megabytes, and that's pushing the limit. BTW, many of the on-line photo storage sites like Photobucket are also limited in the size of the file they can accept. Files that are too big will "time-out", which means basically that the server allows so much time for each file to upload, if it takes longer than its allotted time, the server just stops transferring the file.

What you have to do is re-size your pics. Your camera probably came with some sort of software that should include a re-sizing function, and there should also be some kind of generic imaging software that came with your PC. If you check the help files of either of those programs, you should find the instructions on how to re-size. I'd tell you the procedure, but it differs from camera to camera and PC to PC.

BTW, I generally resize pics to about 800 pixels in width. This gives you a large enough pic for the viewer to enjoy without having to scroll left and right to see the whole image. The imaging software will also allow you to crop, sharpen, and add borders to your pics, if you like.

Can't view the next page in a members album:

This is a cookie problem.  In this case it is due to your computer not allowing our website to place a navigational cookie on your computer due to a firewall or your computers security setting. To learn more about security and your computer, click on "help" on your browser, select "Contents and Index" and type in "security"

To fix the problem and view all pages:
In Internet Explorer:

1) on your browser click on "Tools" and select "Internet Options"
2) click the "Privacy" tab
3) click and drag the little slide bar down until the setting reads "Medium"
4) click on "Apply" and then "OK".

Or,
Leave your security settings as they are, but in the "Web Sites" area below the slider, click on the "Edit" button.  There you can type in the name of any website that you will allow cookies  to be set.  Type in: http://www.thedollpage.com then click "Allow", then "OK".

If you are using a firewall, (like ZoneAlarm) you will need to consult the firewall's help file for information on how to set your browser to allow cookies.

Other Problems:

Almost all problems encountered on this site are caused by cookies, Temporary Internet Files, or computer security settings. Problems with any one of these things can cause the symptoms we've outlined on this page, and can sometimes cause problems that are unique to your computer.  If you're having a problem using this site, it is recommended that you try correcting it by applying the solution to each of the above problems until your situation is resolved.

Why am I having these problems?

This is an interactive site written in a code called PHP.  It's a very common language used by millions of sites web-wide to create live, on-the-fly content on demand.

What this means is that there really are no web pages on this site, except for this one.  This is a "static" page, meaning that I typed it once and it will not change.  And when you clicked on the link that brought you here, your browser downloaded it as I wrote it and is showing it to you now.

The Show & Sell site is different.  The content is assembled on demand, and this is called "dynamic".  As an example, if you look at the random images box on the front page, you'll see the item change every time you hit your reload (or refresh) button.

When you click on the link that brought you to the Show & Sell site, your browser is actually not downloading a page like this nice easy static page. It is downloading a page that was actually created just for you.  When you click on our link our server reads a list of instructions to make a page for you to look at.  The instructions say something like:

Each part of the page, or module, is dynamic.  In other words, if someone uploads a new item just seconds after you first view the front page, the page will actually be different if you were to hit your refresh button; you would see the new item, and the item at the end of the list would no longer be visible.  The random image will be different, and the top poster list might have changed, all depending on what has happened on the site in the last few seconds.

All the pages are dynamic. Even a page showing a pair of shoes can change constantly.  There is a counter keeping track of how many times the page has been viewed, as well as a comments section. If someone posts a comment, the page will change when you hit refresh.

The software has quite a job keeping up with all the constantly changing content, and in order to help it keep up with what's new, as well as keeping track of who you are and what you've already seen, it uses your PC by writing little files called 'cookies' in your computer and referring to them constantly.

If you want to see how many cookies and temporary internet files are currently on your computer:
On the Internet Explorer "Tools" menu, click "Internet Options".
On the "General" tab, click the "Settings" button, and then click the "View files" button.

Most websites insert cookies into your PC.  Many of them are there to record your visits to a site or to help remember your passwords, and most cookies are harmless.  But just like anything else in life there are unscrupulous people out there that have figured out a way to stick things like spyware into your system through cookies.  To prevent that from happening, many browsers use a firewall of some sort which prevents cookies from being written to your computer.

Many browsers, like Internet Explorer, (IE), can be set so that cookie writing is banned, or disabled.  Either a firewall or a high browser privacy setting can create a lot of problems for people using a dynamic website.

The cookies written to your computer by our sites are harmless.

Cookies and temporary internet files can also become corrupted for a variety of reasons.  If this happens in your computer, you may see all kinds of wacky things happening.  In my PC, if I get a corrupted file, I will lose my ability to save a picture from a website.  When I delete those files everything starts working again. For those of you with any automotive mechanical experience, a corrupt temp internet file is like a dirty battery terminal; anything can happen. A weak battery connection can make one turn signal work and keep the other side from lighting up.

So if you're having troubles, try the fixes listed above.  If you are still experiencing problems, Contact Me