Does TPM have a comment policy?
Yes! TPMCafe and the TPM Media network follow a simple set of rules for acceptable commenting. 1. All political viewpoints are welcome. However, hate speech of any kind, libelous statements or threats to fellow users or others will be deleted and may be grounds for suspending or terminating a users account. 2. Four letter words are not banned, but we ask that they be used sparingly as overuse coarsens and undermines the debate. 3. TPMCafe is a venue for lively and passionate debate. But insults, personal attacks and the like make that sort of enlivening exchange impossible. If you just want to scream and taunt, please go somewhere else. If you have any question about what is and what's not acceptable, follow this rule: If you wouldn't use a certain word or talk to someone a certain way in a real-life political discussion at a Coffee House, don't do it here either.
I forgot my password / username
If you forgot your password, retrieve it with your email address here. If you forgot your username, we can look it up from your email address. If you don't have the same email address you signed up with, unfortunately we won't be able to give you access to the account.
I try to login and get the message "your account was disabled."
This is most likely beause you didn't respond to your confirmation email address. Once you respond to it, your account will start working. If you don't get a confirmation email, we can help you out.
I get a message saying "you don't have necessary privileges on this blog" or something to that effect.
You haven't established yourself as a readerblogger yet. Click BLOG NOW, and then confirm the creation of your new blog on the next page. If this doesn't work, contact us, and we can manually assign you privileges to your blog.
I click BLOG NOW and am sent to a blank blog rather than to the editing interface.
This is also a permissions error. If you can't get to the BLOG NOW page, we can manually assign you permissions to your blog.
I get the error: Can't call method "blog_id" on an undefined value at /var/www/cgi-bin/mt-current/plugins/CommunityDashboard/lib/CommunityDashboard/App/Community.pm line 32.
This is a problem with your browser not recognizing the logged in session. Clear your cookies and browser cache (sometimes called "private information") and log in again. You may also get this error if you are running any add-ons that block javascript and/or adblocking software.
I get another error not listed here.
Clear your cache and cookies and try again. Also try using different browsers (we recommend Firefox for its security and stability). If this still fails, copy the error message, what page you found it on, what browser and operating system you are using and send it to us.
I posted an entry, but don't see it showing up on my blog.
Make sure the entry status was set to "published." If there is a pencil icon next to the entry in Manage => Entries, it is a draft, and will not be published until you change the status.
I posted a comment and I don't see it showing up.
Unfortunately, to make sure the site works smoothly we have to place each comment in a queue so that our servers don't get overloaded. As a result, comments very occassionally take a few minutes to appear on the site. If they aren't up after five minutes, let us know.
I emailed a story from TPM to a friend. Did it go through?
Yes. There is no confirmation screen for the email feature. But rest assured, it has gone through.
I don't see all of my comments and recommends show up on my profile.
The Comments and Recommends pages are periodically updated and will not always be accurate up to the minute. They should be accurate within a matter of hours.
I don't see my actions show up on my dashboard-- why? / I only see xyz's actions on my dashboard.
The myTPM Dashboard is a bit like the Facebook News Feed -- it is a clearinghouse for information about everyone you follow; not your own actions. Your actions will show up on your blog/profile. If you only see one user's actions on the dashboard, it is because you are only following one user. Follow more users for some variety!
How do I follow/unfollow someone?
To follow someone, click the big FOLLOW ME button under their picture in their profile. To unfollow and stop receiving updates about someone, click the red FOLLOWING button and it will flip back.
Does HTML code work in blog posts?
It does. However, if you paste HTML code in from another program like Microsoft Word or from different blog editing software, it will often look correct but not recognize the underlying code. We recommend you compose your work in the system itself or in a program like Notepad that doesn't bring with it extra code.
I see HTML code showing up in my blog entries / I saved an entry and it changed the style on the page.
If you are trying to use HTML in your entry make sure the entry format pulldown menu is set to either None or Convert Line Breaks. If you have it set to Rich Text, your HTML code will be printed in the entry rather than parsed. If you posted an entry and it changed the look of the page (link colors, fonts, etc) it is probably because whatever program you pasted from is bringing style with it. MS Word is especially guilty of doing this. To ensure only plain text gets copied, "wash" your text in a plain text editor such as Notepad (windows) / TextEdit or the excellent free text editor TextWrangler (Mac).
I tried to upload an image and got an error message
We currently don't support uploading images except for userpics. There are many good free image hosts from which you can embed images in your blog.
Can I edit a reader blog post after I've posted it?
Yes! After clicking the BLOG NOW button, go to Entries from the Manage menu. You will see a list of your posts which you can go into and edit.
I don't see my picture show up on my profile / I can't change my picture.
We are hosting userpics offsite, so there is about a 10 minute delay between upload and when the userpic will show up on your profile. If it doesn't show up after about half an hour, let us know.
A page on TPM won't load, or is hanging on a file.
We're doing our best to use only fast and responsive ad networks, though sometimes their servers hiccup on an ad. If you can see what file the browser is hanging on, let us know and we'll pull that ad network out of rotation.
I get a runtime or javascript error on a TPM page.
This is also most likely an issue with our ad networks. Please note the error and what browser you are using, and send it to us.
I see the content on a TPM page, but the layout looks weird.
The browser is probably not loading a stylesheet. Hold down shift and reload the page.
How do I subscribe to TPM blogs by RSS?
All our RSS feeds are located here. To subscribe to all the entries of a specific user via rss, the URL pattern is as follows: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/username/atom.xml
I have another question that wasn't answered here or need additional assistance with one of the previous questions
Email help at talkingpointsmemo dot com