We would like to welcome all new posters to the mygrandchild discussion group, affectionately know as Grannies. You will find some of the most loving and friendly people living all across the country in this group. Some of the topics we discuss are our homes, children, spouses, lifestyles, the weather and of course, our grandchildren. From time to time, we hold "on-line cyber parties" for various occasions or for no other reason then to have fun. Many of us have gotten together in person and have made lifelong friends. We have prayed, laughed and even cried together in the newsgroup.




JOINING THE GROUP

When you first click onto the newsgroup, one of the first questions you will have, is how to join the group. To join all you have to do is make your first post. One of the first things you should do before making that first post is "lurk" for a while to get the feel for the group and an idea of what kind of things are discussed. Another thing you should do is click on the HELP command in the sidebar to find out how to make that first post.




POSTING IN A NEWSGROUP

There are two ways to post in the newsgroup. You can either post a NEW subject, by clicking on POST in the sidebar on the left of your screen. This will take you to a screen that looks like your email page. Fill in the SUBJECT line and your message and click SEND at the bottom of the page.

Or, you can reply to an already existing thread (list of posts) by clicking on one of the posts and then clicking on RESPOND in the sidebar on the left of the screen. This will also take you to a page that looks like your email page. The SUBJECT line will already be filled in. All you have to do is fill in your message and click SEND at the bottom of the page.

Posts usually take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour to show up in the newsgroup, so don't get worried if you do not see your post right away. Give it some time and it will show up.

CAPS

In most groups using CAPITAL letters (CAPS) in your posts is considered yelling and rude. But in grannies there are some posters that have problems with their eyesight, so the use of CAPS is acceptable.

ACRONYMS

While reading the posts you will come across many "words" you never heard of before. These are sometimes acronyms for a phrase or words that are used only for webtv or computer users. You will even find a few that are used only in grannies, because we made them up! Here are some of them and what they mean:

sig = signature - this refers to the pictures on the bottom of your email page.

ng = newsgroup - mygrandchild is called a newsgroup.

Lurk = This means to look around, read the posts without actually posting for a while. To get a feel for the group and it's posters.

gif = Graphics Interchange Format - this is the computer term for a picture used on a webpage or sig.

thread = This is a continous line of posts with the same subject line.

html = hypertext markup launguage - this is the language your webtv (and computers) use to add the pictures and text to webpages and your sig.

TTT = To The Top - this is used in the subject line to indicate someone wants a post or thread to be put back on the top of the first page again for all to see. It usually means there is no message in the post.

midi = music - this usually is music only (no lyrics). Midi's are used on webpages and in sigs.

RAM = Real Audio Media - this is music with the lyrics. Webtv is not really set up for this kind of file and will cause problems if used in your sig.

gremlins = bugs in the system - when webtv gives someone a problem we often refere to it as being gremlins.

CRS = Can't Remember Schitt - this term was made up by one of the grannies a long time ago for those that forget things!

URL = Universal Resource Locator - it tells the webtv where something is located on the web.

Click here to take you to a webpage that has a whole list of acronyms that you might find in some of the posts.





ROLL CALL

On the first monday of each month there is a "ROLL CALL" to find out a little about each other. At Roll Call everyone is invited to post a little about themselves. Some information you might share with everyone is your birthday, anniversary, the number of children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, the state you live in and some of your hobbies.




TROLLS AND FLAMERS

From time to time, all newsgroups get posts from people that are "not so nice". These people are called "Trolls". Their main purpose is to cause trouble and to get someone upset by saying things that are insulting in one way or another. This is called "Flaming". The only way to handle Trolls is to totally ignore them. Do not respond to their posts and never email them. If they do not get the reaction they want, they usually just move on to another newsgroup.




CUT-COPY-PASTE

One of the most useful things you can learn to do is cut/copy/paste. With this you can post or email poems, prayers, messages, sites and a lot of other things. It is also very helpful when working on your signature. Here are the instructions for it. There are 3 different applications of c/c/p. Choose the one that best fits the need you have.

1. C/C/P A SECTION OF TEXT

1st find something you want to c/c/p. (an email, post or something from a website) Remember copyright laws!

Hit your FIND key, type the first word or words you want to cut. then hit RETURN. This should highlight the words you typed.

Then hold the SHIFT key and use the arrow keys to highlight ALL that you want to cut and paste.

Then hold the cmd (command) key and hit the letter "c". (you should hear a tone to let you know you did it right)

Then go to where you want to paste it. (email, post or your own website)

Hold the cmd key and hit the letter "v".

2. C/C/P THE WHOLE CONTENTS OF AN EMAIL OR POST

Be sure your cursor is on the body of the email or post and not on the sidebar.

Hold the cmd key and hit the letter "a". This should highlight the whole message including the headers.

Hold the cmd key and hit the letter "c". (you should hear a tone if done right)

Go to where you want to Paste the email or post and put your curser where you want it to be.

Then hold the cmd key and hit the letter "v".

3. C/C/P A URL FROM THE GOTO POPUP SCREEN

While on the picture of a gif or on a website hit your GOTO key.

When the popup comes on the screen, click the SHOW CURRENT command. This should give you the URL of the gif or website.

Hold your cmd key and hit the letter "a". This should highlight the URL.

Hold your cmd key and hit the letter "c". (you should hear a tone if done right)

Go to where you want to put the URL and hold your cmd key and hit the letter "v".





IMAGES AND SOUNDS IN EMAIL SIGNATURES

Here are some links that will help you learn how to put pictures (gifs) and sounds (midis and wavs) in your email signature. Remember that the coding has to be exact in order for it to work. The best way to make sure that the URLs that you are using for pictures and sounds are correct is to cut, copy, and paste the URLs into your coding. If you are having trouble getting the codes to work for you after reading the tutorials, please feel free to email someone in the group for help.

Draac's HTML Class Paul Erickson's Page Slowpoke's Linkable Graphics Linkable Gifs




To view the group's home page with links to other pages at our website, click on the Home button below.