Erik

Yup that's all it is. There are member tags (ranks) for members who have post counts up into the 15,000 range. You OFF'ers blew away the curve on posting and I had to raise the mark a tad bit. Member groups aka the badges that show you as "new, junior, valued, senior, elite" have not changed and those will increment as normal. So to paraphrase - Ranks (based on post count) give you the title (tag) below your name. Groups (also based on post count) give you additional features, access, rights, and storage. >> Edit << Tags aka ranks are gone for the time being, they are too confusing. That's it from the fray .... good luck!

Nawww I take my punches like everyone else around here and actually enjoy the humor even if I'm at the receiving end of it. Trouble is I failed kindergarten twice way back when I was a wee one so I never quite figured out how to play fair.

Since the conversion over to the new board software I've been adding new features nightly. One of those new features has a minor problem which I'll have to fix tomorrow, until then I've reverted the boards back to a kind of standard installation without some of the newly added stuff I've put in. I'll get back to modding up the boards tomorrow until then everything should be back to normal and if there is a problem please document it here so I can look at it tomorrow. Thanks. E

Are you sure? They are working fine here, on another computer viewing as a guest, and my phone. --- CAN NOT REPLICATE ---

In the right bottom of all the posts there are plus and minus signs. If a post has quality information or is good you can rate the post which does two things. 1) It gives the post an attribute of being positive or negative. This allows members who only want to see posts with a rating the ability to filter the posts (read: weed the good from the normal or the bad). 2) If a post gets rated so does the author. Those points add to the author's reputation on the boards. I also believe that in addition to the above we can set a forum to only show positive posts above a certain count which overrides the users filtering. For now we aren't filtering (read: hiding) anything, that's left up to the user. Hope that helps. E

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT In the next few days (primarily over the weekend) we will be changing over to new forum / site software. The change will be immediately apparent and a vast improvement to the services we provide here at CombatACE. Please keep in mind that while we have been planning this behind the scenes for quite some time the transitions are never error free. Once the new software is running some configuration time will be needed to get the boards and services online a 100%. I will try to minimize downtime and issues related to the transition however your understanding and patience during the upgrade will be appreciated. As always if there are errors or issues with site features, access, or other related upgrade problems please let us know by posting in our "Bug Reports / Suggestions" section located in the main general category.

This is a common problem for a lot of laptops. The good manufacturers recognize this and do what they can to minimize problems resulting from dirty cooling. Most laptops today have heat sinks on both the CPU and the video processor. The cooling fans are generally designed to pull or push air past the heat sinks which in turn cools the CPU and or video processor. By design there is very limited air movement through the case of the laptop which is why cooling is critical for laptops. The problem generally is that because a laptop goes where you go it collects dust or is by "nature of the beast" used in places where dust may be. The end result is that the cooling heat sinks become clogged and cooling efficiency is then cut dramatically. Keeping your systems cooling clean and your components cool is key, even on desktop models, but especially with laptops. The most common reason for HDD failure is actually heat. Heat also can cause memory to fail and components soldered on the board to become un-soldered or what is commonly known as cold soldered as the actual tinned solder looses it's conductive properties from being heated / cooled / heated / cooled many times over. Heat in all types of system is generally considered an enemy so you are wise to be suspect and or worried about this condition. Cooling stands, cooling pads, docking stations, and the like generally have a common concept in mind and that's to either assist in cooling by forcing or pulling additional air through the laptop cooling ports or to increase the airspace between the cooling surface and the flat surface used to rest the laptop on. You'll notice that a lot of cooling fans and ports (where air enters or exits) a laptop case are found on the bottom of the case. One of my peeves about this design is that setting this type of configuration in your lap (remember it's a laptop) will actually block the ports or fans from doing their job. Again because of design it's difficult to design a case that allows maximum cooling where both in/out ports are located on the sides, front, or back. Now that I've rambled on about design and the causes the fixes vary in complexity and cost. 1) Keep the heatsinks clear of dust, hair, lent, etc. - You can use compressed air to blow air both directions through the cooling system and you can use a household vacuum with nozzle attachment to assist in this process if you like. Either process requires a certain amount of caution, remember we are cleaning an air ducted passage that contains a metallic narrow surfaced fin heat sink. The idea is you want to move enough air through the duct to clean the unwanted debris but you're not forcing tornado force winds through the duct by using the family leaf blower or shop compressed air at 120psi. (General Housekeeping) 2) Have the unit serviced or DIY, case off cleaning which generally means to remove the case so you can get to the cooling components to clean them, replace fans, or replace conductive silver compound usually found between the CPU or VPU and the actual cooling heat sink. With laptops this is generally an extensive project. It's not just a simple matter of removing the screws from the bottom of the case (wouldn't that be too easy). Most laptops are built so that splitting the bottom half of the case requires removal of the LCD first which is generally step 8 or so after cosmetics, keyboards, and peripherals are removed. (Experience required!) 3) Once the cooling surfaces have been cleared or cleaned using a supportive device like a cooling pad or docking port can never hurt. Just remember buying additional cooling for a dirty cooling system may not affect the cooling of the equipment all that much. (Get Out Your Plastic) Good luck and happy flying! E A propeller is nothing more than a big fan. If you don't believe me just turn it off and watch the pilot sweat.

A Turbo-prop Regional Airliner Reborn The BAe Jetstream 4100! The Jetstream 41 turboprop regional airliner, manufactured by BAE Systems, is a major development of the Jetstream 31/32 regional airliner family, which entered service in 1982. The Jetstream 31 and the Jetstream 32EP (enhanced performance) are 19-seat turboprop airliners. The stretched Jetstream 41 development was announced in 1989, the first flight took place in 1991 and the aircraft entered service in 1992. The goal was to compete directly with 30-seat aircraft like the Embraer Brasilia, Dornier 328 and Saab 340. The Jetstream 41's stretched fuselage is 16 ft (4.88 m) longer, consisting of an 8 foot (2.5 m) plug forward of the wing and a 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) plug to the rear; the fuselage design was completely new and did not contain any parts of the old fuselage. The new design required an increased wing span, which also included reworked ailerons and flaps. The wing was mounted below the fuselage in order for it not to carry through the cabin aisle, which also led to larger wing root fairings which increased baggage capacity. The Jetstream 41 is fitted with Garrett TPE331-14 engines (now owned by Honeywell), and delivered 1,500 shp (1,120 kW) and later 1,650 shp (1,232 KW). They were mounted in new nacelles which increased ground clearance. The flightdeck was equipped with a modern EFIS setup, as well as a new windscreen arrangement. The J41 was the first turbo-prop certified to both JAR25 and FAR25 standards. The J41 flew for the first time on 25 September 1991 and was certified on 23 November 1992. In January 1996, the J41 became part of the Aero International (Regional) (AI®), a marketing consortium consisting of ATR, Aérospatiale (of France), Alenia (of Italy), and British Aerospace. Over 90 Jetstream 41 aircraft are operational worldwide in both 29/30 seat commuter and 14-seat corporate shuttle configurations. An accurate, detailed simulation of the Jetstream 41 has been sorely missing from desktop flight simulation... Until Now! After being in development for 9 months, PMDG's award winning development team is proud to release this faithfully reproduced aircraft! In traditional PMDG style, no effort was spared during this extensive development process and we are certain the J41 will quickly become your favorite regional turbo prop simulation! PMDG Announces it's newest release. >> READ MORE <<

IL-2 STURMOVIK: BIRDS OF PREY MISSIONS REVEALED TEST YOUR METTLE AND EARN YOUR WINGS 505 Games in collaboration with 1C Company have today released more information on the mission mode in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. The highly anticipated WWII aerial combat title will hit the shelves on 4th September for Xbox 360, PS3, PSP and DS. Mission mode extends the game play experience in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey by offering new missions that are unlocked through progress in the main campaign mode. By successfully navigating the campaign missions in each of the six scenarios, new operations become available such as night time recon, airfield assaults, escorting bombers, supply transports or troops to their destination, neutralising anti-aircraft units, low fling ground attacks, vessel air patrol and interception of enemy supply transports to name a few. These additional operations bring the mission total to 50 across the campaign and mission modes. Based around large-scale aerial combat over the ground-based military operations of World War II, variety is at the heart of the action in IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Players participate in the most famous confrontations of the era piloting fighters, battle planes or heavy bombers across a range of missions. There are six theatres of war in which to engage – The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily, the Battle of the Bulge and Korsun – representing the main airborne battles of World War II in Europe. As well as taking environmental and landscape visuals to new heights by incorporating satellite technology, IL-2 also boasts a tangible damage effects engine. Players will see real-time damage to the aircraft such as holes in the wings and trail lines during dogfights. IL-2 will support up to 16 players in multiplayer aerial combat set across 4 scenarios - Dogfight, Team Battle, Strike and Capture the Airfield. IL2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey will be published by 505 Games in collaboration with 1C Company on 4th September 2009 for Xbox 360, PS3, DS and PSP. Playable demos for Xbox 360 and PS3 are available to download now from Marketplace and PSN. For the latest information visit the official website at http://www.il2game.com or follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/IL2BirdsOfPrey New Media Maze Ltd

wpnssgt

Basically ... What this boils down to is that everyone who ranks as a Senior Member (based on post count) is given the same 7 stripes. When you move up to the next status you'll be given a new image (member icon) that will again have another pay grade set of stripes assigned to it. It has no reflection on your real-life accomplishments (and I mean that sincerely as an E6 is an honor). In our keeping with the military way of doing things it was our way of incorporating some rank and file. I'm certain the opposite holds true where E5 and 6s sign up on the site as a new member and get an airman stripe. As a final note feel free to share your real-life details in your profile if you're concerned about the confusion. Thanks for posting that up. E

The View New Content is the same feature, Fates is correct. It's located on the top right of the forums under the search window and direct left of the RSS Feed Button I agree it's something we're aware of and working on. Thanks.

Interesting ... but you were right this is confirmed and at the same time fixed. Try it now. E

Ok ... well there maybe something incredibly wrong with the search tool, but when I enter "Sukhoi" I get 877 results just in the forums alone. I'll try switching to a member account and see if I can duplicate the error. Thanks for posting. E

- RESOLVED -

The problem is file integrity and seed management. With almost 10,000 files that whole process is impossible by today's standards of consumption. E

Yup that's good. I'm not sure why you'd be timing out on the upload unless it's a file type we don't accept. Try again tomorrow and let me know. I'm curious now.

Open a command window. START > RUN > Type "CMD" (without quotes) > Press [ENTER] A black command window will appear. your_documents_path > TYPE at the command prompt. ping combatace.com -n 50 When the report finishes you can right click on the top file bar and select Edit > Mark to highlight the text in the window. Press [ENTER] to copy what you've highlighted to your clipboard. You can then use [CTRL]+V or paste to paste the information in a reply. That's it. Yeah normal browsing and posting replies isn't nearly as critical at maintaining a good connection as uploading or download files where information is passed back and forth confirming receipt of packets between computers. Let me know.

Well then if it's not browser related it's connectivity related. Have you pinged the site to see if you're having "timeout" network congestion issues? That would do the same thing as you described above. Basically the connection between the site and you is somewhere falling off. Let me know what you come up with.