If you post charts, please read this

(Admin Edit: The problem described below by Jim has now been fixed on the forum. Read further down this page for details.)

Hey, all. I noticed something awhile back, and just noticed it again recently, and thought I'd let everyone know about it. If you post charts here, you want to be aware of this.

Say you choose a name for a chart that may not be that unique, say 'interesting chart' instead of '040409 interesting chart', and then down the line you decide to use that same name again (or use 040409 interesting chart a second time, say later in that same day), it will overwrite the old chart. What I mean is, the old chart that is posted, which may have some notes you wrote in the post to go along with it, will no longer appear, but will now load with the new chart by that name.

I have read posts where the person labeled the chart say 'chart' and explained it all. I recalled the post from the first time I saw it. Then later they posted another chart of something else called 'chart', added their notes for that, and the new post shows the new chart, but the old post now also shows the new chart. This is easy to figure out because the notes, maybe mentioning the stock by ticker, no longer match up, and the new chart now shows in both places (and the old post has a chart with data after the posting date!).

I don't know if it overwrites the chart in the person's file of uploaded charts (I suspect so), which is where the post references for the chart, and hence it just puts in the chart by that name, or what, but it surely changes the old post's charts, which ruins the archive nature of posting.

I also don't know if each person's chart file is separate from another person's file, or not, as far as this aspect of naming goes. This is important because if they aren't separate, using the same name would overwrite someone else's chart.

DT, maybe you can discuss what you know about this? Maybe you or someone can try this and you'll see it indeed happens. I'd hate for some of the wonderful old posts to lose their charts.

Yes I did that when I went back to check an old post the chart had changed. Now I code
them so as not to post over a prior chart.

If we don't spread the word, though (or if DT has a fix), this will happen to others. Maybe have this topic sticky? Thoughts, DT?

I can confirm what Jim is saying. This is a bug with the current forum software that I believe is being addressed in the next version which is still coming. In the meantime you'll have to make each file name unique before you upload it. If you're using charting software like eSignal then there's a box that you can check when saving charts that will increment the chart name by 1 each time you save it to keep it unique.

My apologies that we have this problem with the upload at the moment.

No sweat, DT, as long as we have a workaround, and everyone knows about it, that's all that matters. It would be great if future versions worked this out.

I first noticed this about 2 weeks ago... now i try to choose different names each time i post!

DT;

This is off topic, but @ the 10 post they would turn blue when a new post was
made. Now they don't. Is there something I can do to fix this?

I've noticed a few strange things happening too.....sometimes I click on a post and it brings me to the last page of the thread..which is good....other times I have to scroll down to the last page.......I also seem to need to log in more often...just wondering if anyone else is having a few glitches

There could be a few anomalies like you've noticed. This is old creaky forum software that's badly in need of an update but the new version is taking a long time to come out...

The problem with uploads overwriting files with the same name that the user has uploaded before has now been fixed. If you create a file today and call it S&P500.jpg and upload it and then tomorrow you create a new different file but give it the same name then this will be fine and the original file will no longer be overwritten.

You may of course find it difficult to keep track of your files if you give them all the same name and you then want to attach a previously uploaded on so it may be in your interest to change the names. Also you might want to add a description to the file you're uploading so that when you see it listed you'll remember which one it is.

Another problem that's been fixed is the naming of the files. Previously there was a problem if a file's name had a comma or ampersand in it (possibly other characters as well). This has been fixed and file names can have anything in them now.