A quirk around unread threads/forums

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timmmay

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#127167 1-Aug-2013 13:21

I sign up to email notifications for some of the threads I'm interested in. I click them, view the new posts, then I tend to go back to the forum index to see what else is new. What I find is the thread I clicked on a direct link to is always marked unread, even though I just read it. The net effect is I open a significant number of forums each day that I don't read, adding to server load unnecessarily (though it's probably negligible even with everyone doing it).

Once I view a thread from an email it would be really nice if that thread was marked read, and also the forum marked read if there are no other new posts to the forum.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#869936 1-Aug-2013 13:34

The "read"/"unread" is based on timestamps. We don't track individual posts one reads or not, rather look at the last time someone accessed the site and show everything posted since then as "new".

We actually don't have the "read"/"unread" terminology anywhere on the site.

timmmay

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#869939 1-Aug-2013 13:40

I think a small tweak or algorithm change could fix it up. For example I clicked on the email notification for this thread, read it, click on the geekzone forum, it said there was a new post despite me having read it.'

Not hugely important, just a quirk I noticed.

PaulBags

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#870086 1-Aug-2013 15:49

Things seem to be marked as new for me whether I've come from an email or just clicked through. Although for me it's possibly because I let noscript block the majority of the 60 million javascripts that want to run on every page.

timmmay

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#870161 1-Aug-2013 17:34

I block scripts too, and subscribe to make up for it.

freitasm

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#870184 1-Aug-2013 18:11

Blocking scripts will not affect this functionality. It's on the server side, and said it's based on timestamps, not individual topics.

PaulBags

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#871003 2-Aug-2013 22:15

I've noticed it also doesn't show new on things I haven't read yet, which is pretty confusing. Since this is really hindering my browsing of geekzone now, I've added the following lines to a stylish script for geekzone:

 
.forumRowLight img:first-child {display:none!important;} 
.forumRow img:first-child {display:none!important;}

A shame it came to this.

freitasm

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#871190 3-Aug-2013 13:11

As I explained above, we don't track individual users reading individual posts. We only show "NEW" to whatever was posted since your last login/access to the site.

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PaulBags

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#871266 3-Aug-2013 16:59

Yes, I got that. But when I see new tagged on some threads and not others then I'm tempted to ignore the threads without the new tag, even if I haven't read them. That is a hindrance. Being on geekzone perhaps I should care how the new tag is determined, but I don't. All I know is it doesn't work in any way that is actually useful to me, in fact just the opposite; and as an end user that's all I really need to know.

timmmay

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#871271 3-Aug-2013 17:07

vBulletin manages to mark read threads correctly.

Satch

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#871967 5-Aug-2013 12:22

Is this a good opportunity to again ask for the manual reset read flags functionality? ;-)

timmmay

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#871976 5-Aug-2013 12:40

Satch: Is this a good opportunity to again ask for the manual reset read flags functionality? ;-)

Do you mean that red link at the top of each page that says "reset read flags", or something different?

Satch

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#871978 5-Aug-2013 12:44

timmmay:
Satch: Is this a good opportunity to again ask for the manual reset read flags functionality? ;-)

Do you mean that red link at the top of each page that says "reset read flags", or something different?

I mean this http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=4&topicId=115023

freitasm

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#872073 5-Aug-2013 15:02

Working through things folks. Finished coding the digitl.co.nz import into our database, finished Unicode support in our database (almost, still have blogs to do), and slowly going through a list of things I have here.

Ragnor

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#872264 5-Aug-2013 19:17

timmmay: vBulletin manages to mark read threads correctly.

I believe vBulletin records on a per thread/post basis what you have viewed... would add significant amount of DB queries both read and write most likely.

mjb

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#872267 5-Aug-2013 19:22

freitasm:
We actually don't have the "read"/"unread" terminology anywhere on the site.

Huh?

Welcome back mjb (logout, reset read flags)

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