Ok, I figured it would be a good idea to inform my readers of a few idiosyncrasies with FFP. I’ll probably add to this list from time to time. There isn’t anything here that should keep you from using the site or reading the contents, but just in case something out of the ordinary should happen:

1) The site uses Akismet to handle comment Spam.  Akismet is a wonderful tool that parses all comments coming into the site through a collaborative database of known spammers.  If the comment is a known spammer its flat out denied, and the spambot or whatever just gets an error page.

However, I guess Akismet uses some kind of heuristics to measure comments for spam.  If you should post a comment and it doesn’t appear, you should get a message telling you the comment went into moderation.  If not, still don’t worry, your comment went through. ( Unless you see the error message that is.  If you see that contact me.) The comment triggered some kind of red alert in Akismet and it decided to shift it to the moderation cue.  I will review the cue and let your comment through, so it will eventually make it.  Its a wonderful system and it allows me to not be forced into using captchas, 100% moderation, etc

2) This site was designed on Firefox with IE in mind, not the other way around.  What does this mean for the user?  Not much if you are using a gecko based browser (Safari, Konqueror, Firefox, etc) or IE7 as both of these understand everything here. If you use IE6 or earlier you might have an issue or two.  I use PNG files on the site to offer some transparency in certain areas and a smoother overall look.  IE6 and earlier don’t handle PNG transparency at all!  So I added a fix into my headers that should account for that.  There is some MS Specific commenting lines that will trigger displays in IE based on IE version.  All other browsers just ignore it.  In IE6 and earlier, you should see the transparency and everything just fine due to my fixes.  However, sometimes you might get an error message, or a GIF,PNG,JPG etc might not display or display correctly.  Sorry, try a refresh or use RSS, but IE6 and earlier are considered obsolete, so I don’t plan much more backward compatibility.

3) There are forums.  There is a forum where only I can post called The Notepad.  I use it as a sideblog as that was simpler than creating whole new template sets, etc.  You can reply and discuss whatever I have posted in there, just not create a new topic. 

4) This site and the forums hold secrets that only members (or certain member groups) can see.  That’s just the way it is.  I use the site to connect with family and friends from around the world. I have to have some privacy, so certain areas are off limits, except to those people.

If you would like access to these areas, please feel free to 1) register and 2) send me an email with your username and who you are.  If I don’t authorize you, its not personal, so please don’t get mad.

Ok, I hope you enjoy what you find here and keep coming back.