Something changed

Today I noticed that I keep getting a very unwelcoming "you don't have permission" message when clicking to the site. I also no longer see my own profile image and "new posts" link when logged in.

I took the referral id off my link in my homepage to see if I would get the old "lobby" page to show up, but I still get that warning page instead. Of course it goes away once I log in, but it is not encouraging new visitors who might click from my site.

I am a little concerned because I listed an auction and since your only way of publicizing it is via the lobby page, that could be an issue in discuouraging traffic.

I have a link in my home page directly to Orchid-Bids, and that brings up that home-page ok, but there are no images unless the visitor clicks into a listing.

So, I have two questions: 1. Is something wrong with the old Orchid talk "lobby" page? and 2. Is there a way to get the images to show up in the front page of Orchid-Bids so that when there are more sellers the visitors can see a nice gallery to click through?

Found a work-around on the second question: instead of linking my home site to the Orchid Bids lobby page, I am linking it directly to my listing and so my imgae shows up there, with that nice simple invitation to potential bidders to register in order to bid.

Hi Denise,

I visited your page and took a look at the link. It is fine. You can also have your referral id like this: OrchidTalk Orchid Forum (this is mine) see yours on your USERCP page.

If you try to link people from your page to your PROFILE page, they will see the no permissions message. This is to perserve privacy on the forum. The member list here along with member profiles are kept private so that spammers do not harvest information. Even new members must post at least two messages to visit a profile page.

Regarding Orchid-Bids: Yes, there is a way to have a listing with image show-up on the home page. Actually there are a few.
1. the first - once someone has made an offer, it will display on the home page as a link
2. the easiest way is to purchase home-page featured item when placing the item for sale or auction. (there is a fee associated with that listing feature)

Your item will get forum traffic from the OrchidTalk lobby from the image that appears on the home page. Have you seen it yet? Just under the slide show!

When you link to Orchid-bids from your site you can use the link you have used http://www.orchid-bids.com or you can use the secure, ssl link: https://www.orchid-bids.com/auction/ Notice the (s) in the https prefix. This will link your visitors to the secure site. It really doesn't matter as when they login, they are directed to https anyway.

Cheers,
BD

__________________
RVO's OrchidTalk Forums - "Bringing People Together" Help support our Community: Donate or Become an OrchidTalk Subscriber today!
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .

By the way, if you use your referral link found on your USERCP, members who sign up for a forum membership here will be credited to your user name in your profile. I forgot when I posted my referral link above that it would turn to text in the forum. Here is what it looks like without turning it into a link: http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchidtalk/index.php?referrerid=3

Cheers,
BD

__________________
RVO's OrchidTalk Forums - "Bringing People Together" Help support our Community: Donate or Become an OrchidTalk Subscriber today!
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .

ok, I saw the listing in the lobby: looks nice. It falls "below the fold" in my screen and my habit is to go to the links in the navigation bar instead of to scroll down, so that is why I missed it.

One more question: is it possible to add a code snippet for traffic counters in the auction listings?

It is already there. Just take a look below the main photo image in your listing. It tells how many unique times the page has been viewed. Since the site uses cookies, it only counts a computer one time until the cookies are cleared.

Cheers,
BD

__________________
RVO's OrchidTalk Forums - "Bringing People Together" Help support our Community: Donate or Become an OrchidTalk Subscriber today!
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .

Found it, and happy to say that for such a small crowd, that listing is getting a lot of looks, even counting that I check it myself about twice a day

When someone places a bid or asks a question, you will be notified by email from the Orchid-Bids site. So, unless you just want to see the counter number , you do not have to visit the page to check on the status of your listing. That said, every time I list something I go and check it 2 or 3 times a day.

Cheers,
BD

__________________
RVO's OrchidTalk Forums - "Bringing People Together" Help support our Community: Donate or Become an OrchidTalk Subscriber today!
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .

Well, I just played with google search on "orchid auctions" and "orchid bids" and the listing itself came up at the top of the page! So the robots are grabbing nicely

Yes, it is very well spidered by the search engines. And the auctions rank usually first on the page for their keywords. I wish it had more business going on, but it comes in spurts.

Cheers,
BD

__________________
RVO's OrchidTalk Forums - "Bringing People Together" Help support our Community: Donate or Become an OrchidTalk Subscriber today!
We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box. ...Hmmm? .