I’m starting a new thread here for the Q&A. No reason except the other one was getting a bit long and I also moved all the relavent answers into the Help section the other day, so this way I can start fresh and eventually if there are more good questions I can simply move the info from this thead into the Help section again.
So continue to ask away… the last time it worked quite well! I noticed people stopped emailing me the same questions over and over, so they must have found their way to the answers here. I was really getting sick of answering that question about time travel 5 times a day, so thanks Bazza for getting that out in the open.
Lantian — RE: the change in the comment layout
I believe the new layout on for the comments has to do with the new SPAM catching system we have on word press. This is a delicate issue at the moment… to say the least… so I think we will be sticking with whatever is working right now. The good news is it seems everything is working well with the new SPAM thing, we got rid of the security code and have tried something completely different. Lets cross our fingers… I certainly don’t want to have to mention the word SPAM again for the rest of my term here.
Kate — RE: importing archived lessons to iTunes.
There are a number of ways to get archived lessons in iTunes.
1. You can download the lessons one by one to whatever folder you keep them in, and then dragging the file into iTunes.
2. You can dowload them in Bulk using BitTorrent (see: http://www.chinesepod.com/technical_q.php#5) and then import the files into iTunes using the drag and drop or File > Add Folder… options
3. You can collect them useing RSS
Number 3 is my favorate because then iTunes automaticly downloads them and then you can also receive them into your podcasts tab as well as the library (which isnt possible if you just import them into the library). The RSS feed you find in the music store is just one of many feeds we provide. If you navigate to Podcast Archive > RSS feeds you will find a list of the feeds we have made. Click on the orange XML button and then copy and paste the URL into iTunes > Advanced > subscribe to podcast…
And you can use the My Course feature to create one of approximately 26,328,072,917,139,300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 and growing different customized feeds for youself! (don’t ask me how much company time I spent figuring that out). All you do is populate a course that is right for you, then click the RSS feed button and copy and paste it as instructed above. Good luck!
I like the “drilling and repeating” remix done by user that u can find on the wiki and the forum. Wouldn’t that be a good thing that Cpod do that by themselves and for every lesson, and i assume they could make it available to paying users….? it would be a great improvement. and a supplementary point to make people subscribe to Cpod…
Philou,
We have many new features we are developing and hundreds of things we could be developing if we had the time and yuen. Currently this is not one of the things that is on the agenda, but we are very greatful to Chris and all the other users who share their tools with the community.
Is there problems with the wordbank at the moment? I can’t seem to add any new vocabulary to it, it should add to the default list right? Also I think it really needs some kind of search facility, it’s very difficult to find words to add to a particular list if you over a 1000 entries.
Also it seems that my current entries aren’t currently in any list ie. not in standard, archived or deleted, and only show up when I view all.
I’m doing the ‘drilling and repeating’ remixes. The next 2 weeks there will be no new remixes as I’m going on holiday to a place without a broadband connection
But I would like to do all the elementary shows while I’m there. So if things work out as I plan there will be 30 or so rmixes added in 2 weeks.
I use these remixes as a tool for rehearsing previous lessons while I travel or when I ride my bike, go walking, etc. Each lesson is reduced to 2-5 minutes, so no time wasted. For learning the structures and the vocabulary I actually use the learning center. The expansion module is excellent. I use it all the time, trying to read the characters, listening to the pro’s and repeating till I’m comfortable with the vocab, the structure of the sentence and my own pronounciation. I am thinking of recording a session just to illustrate a way to use this expansion module. My only regret is that it is not ‘portable’ it would be great if I were able to download all the extra sentences in one mp3. But even as it is now, this feature alone makes the premium subscription worthwhile for me.
Marc in Belgium
Bazza — RE: words in your wordbank
When we added the new multiple lists feature to the wordbank a few users reported some bugs that we think have been fixed now. When you add words to the wordbank they should go into the standard (default) list. If this is not happening for you please get in touch with us at chinesepod@gmail.com.
The other thing that happened with some users is that the old words did not move over into the standard list. After some searching I found them in the “all” section, but not in any other folder. I spend a few hours moving individual user’s words into the standard list one by one. And thus the new “select all” button arrived… hahaha. Anyway, if you can’t find your words, they are probably in the “all” section. Just head in there and use the select all button to move them into the list you would like them to be in.
Marc,
woops, I just realized I had called you Chris in the post above! sorry! We and the users do appretiate your work. I’ll bring up your suggestion in the next meeting.
Is the select all button supposed to select everything in the current list? It only seems to work with just the current page for me.
We discussed this at length actually. Eventually we turned to Google gmail for best practices, and they just selected everything on the page, so that’s what we did.
I think your server had some problem today or the mirrored one for USA? I could not bring up website at work early in day or early evening at home. It just now started working for me. It was not login in problem since website couldn’t even be found.
I couldn’t open CPod this morning either (10am-11am East coast Australia)
Yeah, it was working fine then suddenly disappeared about 9:30 last night (EST the same as Will).
Lantian, as far as I can remember there was never a search box on the main page, only the one in the Weblog that was put up last month. There was a brief call from the users to do more for searchablity, so I started pushing for it. But then when we decided to gather some specific formal input on what users wanted I think there was only one response (and I think it was you if I remember correctly). Anyway, I guess the search feature is not high on the priority list unless there is a large and specific call for it from the community. If people want it, let us know but please be specific about what you want to search on and it would be really helpful if you could point us to an example of a blog (preferably that uses wordpress) that has a great search feature.
RE: temporary site problems
The servers went down for a few hours last night. The problems had to do with the installation of an SSL certificate. The installation is complete and there will be no more disruptions due to this issue.
Lantian, you can do that directly on Google. Try searching ’site:www.chinesepod.com/podcast lantian’. You just need to work out which part of the site to search.
Rian, any chance you can clear my entire wordbank? It’s throwing up all kind of errors now, I think it would be best just to re-add everything again.
Lantian, now why hasn’t John recommended that? Sinosplice is, after all, his baby. Actually I remember when we were discussing this initially we had the idea that people wanted something more complex, like the ablitity to search by time and post subject and poster, etc. I know there is some more search capability planned for the next site re-design and they may decide to hold off until then, but I’ll do my best for you.
Bazza, the WordBank problem is a top priority right now. The tech team is on the case and should have it solved in no time. If you are getting specific errors please email them to chinesepod@gmail.com. What SHOULD happen when all is said and done is when you move words to the deleted folder they should not show up in “all”. after I believe one week they will disapear out of the deleted folder as well.
I think it really needs the option to select every entry in a particular list. With over 1000 entries, it equals about 50 pages to select individually. I’ll see if I can move everything to my deleted list though.
Ok it seems to work fine now, I’ve started from scratch.
Just one more question, it possible to just use a single list for the flashcards or concentration game?
Great. Ya, the tech team seems to have fixed the latest batch of WordBank bugs. Let us know if you find more. As for using a single list in the flashcards and concentration game, this is something we havent done yet but it is on our list of features that we would like to add in the future.
I can’t seem to add wildcards either at the moment.
Are there never going to be anymore Grammar Bank Tutorials? I miss them, they’re an excellent feature and a lot of fun.
Bazza,
Wildcards have always been a bit tricky, something about having to work words individually to keep the wildcards working. If they aren’t working they are probably just updateing something. The Grammar Bank Tutorials are finished for the time being, however we do have some new grammar tools coming complements of John. The grammar summaries are an example.
Still no wildcards Rian.
OK, I’ll bring the issue to the attention of the big guys.
SPAM FILTERS - Hi Rian, could you apply whatever filter settings you have here for the blog to the comments blog. I can post here w/o much trouble but it’s a crapshoot on the other one. There’s a post there today, could you pull it out of the spam box, thx!
Lantian, That’s a good peice of information. I’ll see what settings are different.
Hi Rian, I’ve been posting fine the last couple days in the blog and comments blog. But I just got spam-captured in the new zh.chinesepod comments. Could you carry over the settings to that blog too.
I just posted, could you look for that comment — I wrote half in Chinese, it took me a long time!!
8:47 a.m. China time
Hmmm, I went in there and had a look. Is your name in Chinese charactors on the zh site? Anyway, I rescued one person’s comment that was half English/half Chinese and the person had a Chinese name. Maybe it was you (hope so because there were none others in there). I’m starting to get the hang of this new spam software, but I wont be handling zh much at all since I don’t speak Chinese and from what I understand they don’t want any English on this site as it’s not made only for English speakers.
My wildcards are working fine now, thanks Rian.
SEARCH - I am such a tease. Ryan look at www.japanesepod101.com. They have an elegant search front and center.
SPAM-be-gone: Hi E-terns or whom it may concern. Could someone go over to the advanced Chinesepod blog and/or show Connie/Jenny how to delete the spam messages. It’s kinda not pretty right now.
Hi E-terns,
Is anyone else within China having trouble accessing Cpod? I can’t even download mp3s anymore. The tracert shows the ip bogging down at some point in the middle, probably the Pacific Ocean. I’m very frustrated, yelling at my DSL provider and instructing their staff how to use ping, tracert and about Gateways and routing tables is not really paying huge dividends.
Can your host mirror on a server WITHIN China?
I have tried to download the last Saturday show, cause I still haven’t gotten a complete file, what the heck was all the talk about Jenny’s button?!!
A ‘good’ China day.
I’m an advanced intermediate learner living in a non-Chinese speaking environment. Something I’d like to find are websites to practice reading. Can anyone recommend sites that have material that might be useful in this sense and maybe even interesting at times? Thanks.