Counter Error

[Trixie]

This:


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http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KKSTTfgrb9o/Te_md-jUThI/AAAAAAAABpY/wttEHcyWxEk/TrixAv.png

>Click!< (http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/dirtytabs/Stuff_drawn/MLPTrixie-med.png)
Amazing Art by Dirtytabs :P
New (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D2thqzsDixE/Um99N62DW4I/AAAAAAAAC3c/C0NHGUgP9Sc/Trixie120.png) Ava © Elder Tsofu
"Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!"

Returns following error:

Your signature can not be longer than 1000 characters including BBCode markup.

Despite every HTML counter I tried returning 998 characters. I even tried cutting a few bits to 980 characters, error persists. Any suggestions what might be wrong? :smallconfused:

[Emperor Tippy]

There are 1018 characters in there.

The sig length counter counts every character.

My advice is to use tinyurl (http://tinyurl.com/) to shorten all of those URL's.

That will put you a decent amount under the limit.

[ChristianSt]

I don't know why Emperor Tippy arrived at 1018 characters (possibly because he counted the surrounding spoiler tags, but I don't think that you want to spoiler your signature), I thought first you maybe didn't counted newline characters, but they are included (I arrived at 999 characters, but maybe I added an additional newline while copying).

So I can't really say why it say it is more than 1000. Have you tried to cutting more until you get <1000 (for the board limit at least)? Maybe that limit would provide more information.

But yeah, URL-shortening will help immensely.

[Jasdoif]

>Click!< (http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/dirtytabs/Stuff_drawn/MLPTrixie-med.png)If I were to guess, I'd think the ">" and "<" are being converted into HTML entities to prevent possible interference with page code, and the measurement is being made against that. "&gt;Click!&lt;" would add six characters, which would push you over the 1000 limit since you're starting at 998.

EDIT: Looking at the page source now, I see two quotation marks expanded to "&quot;" for ten extra characters, and two ampersands in URLs expanded to "&amp;" for eight extra characters. If my guess is correct and these are all converted prior to length checking, this would come to an added...24 characters. So even your 980 attempt could have failed.

[Trixie]

EDIT: Looking at the page source now, I see two quotation marks expanded to "&quot;" for ten extra characters, and two ampersands in URLs expanded to "&amp;" for eight extra characters. If my guess is correct and these are all converted prior to length checking, this would come to an added...24 characters. So even your 980 attempt could have failed.

Nice attempt, but:


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http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KKSTTfgrb9o/Te_md-jUThI/AAAAAAAABpY/wttEHcyWxEk/TrixAv.png

0Click!0 (http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/dirtytabs/Stuff_drawn/MLPTrixie-med.png)
Amazing Art by Dirtytabs :P
New (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D2thqzsDixE/Um99N62DW4I/AAAAAAAAC3c/C0NHGUgP9Sc/Trixie120.png) Ava © Elder Tsofu
0Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!0

(every single character you mentioned replaced with 0) still arrvies at >1000 despite being below. Try it yourself :smallconfused:

[ChristianSt]

Strange.

I think there could be a limit how many bb code characters you can use.

I simply tried to use a signature containing 1000 characters, but it said I can only have max 500.

Then I tried yours without the center-tag, and it worked (which are 13 characters less, but you said you tested 980, too). I haven't counted your bb code characters vs. normal characters (posting from my phone), but maybe that is the reason (and the error message is wrong).

[Jasdoif]

...huh. It looks like it's counting every one of your line breaks as two characters instead of one.

If I paste 100 copies of your sig into a post and hit preview (so make the post preview do the counting), I get....
The text that you have entered is too long (100800 characters). Please shorten it to 50000 characters long.

...and if I delete one of the line breaks and paste 100 copies of that instead, I get....
The text that you have entered is too long (100600 characters). Please shorten it to 50000 characters long.

I see ten line breaks in your sig, so if I remove them all and try 100 copies....
The text that you have entered is too long (98800 characters). Please shorten it to 50000 characters long.

So that would 988 characters, ten less than the 998 numerous measurements are giving and there's ten breaks I removed....


OK, my new theory is that the line breaks are being converted the extra-universal combination of "line break" and "carriage return" characters, so each is counting double. I have a vague recollection that PHP has an option to do that, so it might be happening before it even gets to the bulletion board....

Anyway. Can you try with your 980-character version, and remove a blank line? Or does that version already have a line break removed?

[Trixie]

No, base structure was identical, I just tried cutting a few words here and there. I even got rid out of quotes in links automatically appended by vB code to save a few characters :smallsigh:

Ok, will try your idea in a bit, as soon as I get to my PC.

[Jasdoif]

No, base structure was identical, I just tried cutting a few words here and there. I even got rid out of quotes in links automatically appended by vB code to save a few characters :smallsigh:

Ok, will try your idea in a bit, as soon as I get to my PC.Huh, I don't remember seeing a preview option in the signature thing before.

Anyway, I was able to get this to be accepted in the signature thing (without the outer spoiler tag, of course):


Come one, come all! GitP MLP Steam Group (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/GitPony) is open!
Current location of the last MLP Thread OP (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16294764&postcount=1)!
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>Click!< (http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/dirtytabs/Stuff_drawn/MLPTrixie-med.png)
Amazing Art by Dirtytabs :P
New (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D2thqzsDixE/Um99N62DW4I/AAAAAAAAC3c/C0NHGUgP9Sc/Trixie120.png) Ava © Elder Tsofu"Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!"

[TuggyNE]

OK, my new theory is that the line breaks are being converted the extra-universal combination of "line break" and "carriage return" characters, so each is counting double.

Converted? If Trixie's using a Windows PC, there's no "conversion" going on, CR/LF is standard for the platform. Just saying.

(That actually gives me an idea for tweaking my own sig: doing some HTML POST hackery to take out the CRs during submission. Hmm.)

Edit: Actually I went the cheap way and used Notepad++ to convert CRLFs to LFs. However, LFs seem to be ignored in the character counts for both limits (with and without markup), since I used N++ to check that as well. In fact, it would seem even CRs don't count.

On to the next theory!

1
OK, having applied my patented LinkShrink (R) technology*, and just a touch of copyediting, the sig fits easily, as follows:
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Current MLP Thread OP!
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http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KKSTTfgrb9o/Te_md-jUThI/AAAAAAAABpY/wttEHcyWxEk/TrixAv.png

>Click!< (http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e205/dirtytabs/Stuff_drawn/MLPTrixie-med.png)
Amazing Art by Dirtytabs :P
New (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D2thqzsDixE/Um99N62DW4I/AAAAAAAAC3c/C0NHGUgP9Sc/Trixie120.png) Ava © Elder Tsofu
"Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie can't actually transport you to Equestria... But!
The Great and Powerful Trixie can beat you over the head until you think that's what happened!"


*No actual patent or trademark exists or has been registered.

[Jasdoif]

Converted? If Trixie's using a Windows PC, there's no "conversion" going on, CR/LF is standard for the platform. Just saying.Oh yeah, I was thinking it was LF for some reason....Clearly it's been too long since I've had to support platforms with different line break styles.

[TuggyNE]

Oh yeah, I was thinking it was LF for some reason....Clearly it's been too long since I've had to support platforms with different line break styles.

If memory serves, old Macs (pre OSX) use CRs only, UNIX variants mostly use just LF, and DOS/Windows use CR/LF. Apparently only a couple extremely obscure OSes used LF/CR.

</trivia>

[KillianHawkeye]

Isn't it weird how typewriters continue to affect our daily lives?

[TuggyNE]

Isn't it weird how typewriters continue to affect our daily lives?

Truly. Punch cards too; some programs still expect 80-column text.

Incidentally, the punch card is older than the typewriter; it was first used for semi-automated pattern looms in the early 1700s, and later adapted for computing census data in the 1890s. By the founder of IBM.

[Porthos]

Truly. Punch cards too; some programs still expect 80-column text.

Incidentally, the punch card is older than the typewriter; it was first used for semi-automated pattern looms in the early 1700s, and later adapted for computing census data in the 1890s. By the founder of IBM.

You are James Burke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series)) and I claim my five pounds. :smallsmile:

[TuggyNE]

You are James Burke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series)) and I claim my five pounds. :smallsmile:

Haha what? Nah, I'm just a guy who wants to know ALL THE THINGS. And was homeschooled. :smalltongue:

[Porthos]

Haha what? Nah, I'm just a guy who wants to know ALL THE THINGS. And was homeschooled. :smalltongue:

"You are X and I claim my five pounds" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud#Lobby_Lud_in_popular_culture) (commonly abbreviated to "YA X AICMFP", "YA X AICM£5", "AICM5GBP" or "AICM5UKP") is now commonly used in online discussion forums such as Usenet and B3ta. The phrase is often employed ironically to make a humorous comparison between the poster and another person, either a third person who frequents the same forum or a celebrity.

-----

I was bascially commenting on the fact that you were making a point driven home in Connections, specifically Episode 4. Consider the comparison a compliment. :smallwink:

Connections is a great series, BTW. Really drives home the randomness of how some things got created.