Hey, from ff.net here. Figured I might as well share the wealth of my geekness. ^_^ I know how to fix ff.net's symbol problem! *pumps fist* Yes for computer programming! Since you write so much on ff.net and are probably fuming about ff.net's symbols, I think its about time to calm down Phantom and put down Bakura's flamethrower and fix things. If I'm bothering you, feel free to hit delete; I just think I'd better get this gem of geekness out; and you're like a famous ff.net with lots of contacts. Righto, enough babbling. Fixing time... Here's the basic idea. Fanfiction.net accepts word documents, text files, and HTML files, but eventually Fanfiction.net changes all of it into an HTML file, because that is what is used on the web. For some reason, ff.net strips symbols away along with other HTML tags it doesn't allow. However, if you replace the symbols with actual computer code, that is, replacing the symbols with the literal code of "ones and zeros" of computer language, you can get by ff.net's stripping. (…O_o…) The instructions below are loose, depending on which way you upload your stuff onto ff.net. (And it's also geared towards Microsoft users. If you use Netscape or Macintosh, you'll have to do some juggling to find Netscape's/Macintosh's equivalent.) ------------INSTRUCTIONS------------ 1. Write as usual, now using your accustomed symbols. Save as usual. 2. Now, convert whatever you have into an HTML file. If you've already been writing this as an HTML file with tags in it already, yea to you. With Microsoft Word, select [Save As HTML]; OR [Save As…] and either change the document ending from [.doc] to [.html] OR change the [Save as type:] to HTML Document. 3. Open up the source code (computer code) for the HTML document you created. The simpliest, sure-fire way to do this is to open up your HTML file with a simple text writing program. In Microsoft, it's Notepad and/or WordPad. WordPad is perferable; it's more sophisticated. Do this by selecting [Start], [Programs], [Accessories], [WordPad]. Then in WordPad, [Open], change [Files of Type] to [All Documents], and open the HTML document. This will give you its source code. What will pop up is the computer code for the HTML document. It should look like your regular text, but with stuff looking like

or

(stuff with angle brackets) dispersed in the text. This is HTML programming. Congratulations, you are now an amateur computer programmer. If you do not have stuff with angle brackets (notably, with a or at the top of the window) your window is "viewing" too advanced. We want primitive. Pure computer programming, not the fancy Word view stuff. Note: If you can't get to the source code, remember, there is always a back-door way. I know of like four ways of editing HTML files, if you can't get this to work, e-mail me and I'll list them. 4. In WordPad, under [Edit] choose [Replace]. 5. Under [Find what:] type in your usual symbol. Ex: For the asterisk problem, type in [*]. (Not including the brackets.) 6. Then, under [Replace with:] type in the literal computer code. In HTML, this is called an entity. This is literal computer code that tells the computer (or since it's an HTML file, the web browser) to print this symbol when it encounters this bit of code. --Entities for common symbols-- ALL entities for symbols begin with a single ampersand (&) and end in a semi-colon (;). If you're not seeing any [&] or [;] below, you're viewing this on the internet with HTML and therefore the web browser's interpreting the computer code as the symbol and printing them. >.< Well, at least it's proof that it works. Try viewing this without the HTML (go to the source code -- save the page, open it in WordPad, use a bit of "Find" and viola!) or try [http://www.bbsinc.com/symbol.html], or if you need more, type in "character entities" in a search site. * --> * + --> + / --> / = --> = ~ --> ~ ¬ --> ¬ OR ¬ ^ --> ^ _ --> _ [non-breaking space] -- OR   Ex: For the asterisk problem, in [Replace with:] type in [*] (Not including the brackets.) 7. Select [Replace All]. 8. Repeat steps 5,6,7 as needed for each symbol problem. Refer to the list above for common entities. Note: If you use //…// in your writing, for some reason ff.net accepts /…/ but not //…// . So under [Find what:] type in [//] and in [Replace with:] type in [//] . 9. SAVE. In Notepad/WordPad, SAVE IT AS AN HTML FILE. Not as a text document. Change the .txt ending to .html ending, and change the name so you know that this HTML is the one with correct "symbols." This HTML file that you fixed appears exactly the same as the HTML file with the old symbols. Open both of them and they look identical; but in the source code one has computer code for symbols and the other has actual symbols. The web browser understands both ways of representing symbols; it's just that ff.net doesn't. 10. Now, when you upload your document onto ff.net, choose the HTML file you "fixed." Check in the preview to make sure everything's okay, and update your fic as usual. Note: The proof of this way of fixing the symbol problem, so to speak, can be found by finding a fanfic that uses indents. Meaning that they indent each paragraph. Save the fanfic chapter that has the indents. Open it with Notepad/WordPad. Scroll down and find the text of the fanfic. Whenever you find a [

] or [
] there should be a bunch of [ ] all stuck together. The [ ] is an entity, proving that ff.net uses them. Unless ff.net decides to scrap entities too, this way of using symbols should work. ------------END INSTRUCTIONS-------------- ^_^ There we go. Yes, it is sorta complicated, but hey, it works. Since ff.net's kinda jumpy on what it accepts and stuff, always check with the preview. Or, make a test document with all of the symbols you use and test which ones work and which method. See ya around ff.net! ~LoneWolf16 "WAI! PI! 3.14159! … *sweatdrop* "