New post indicator (replaced by new s/w)

[Rugger]

I typically leave one window open for surfing thru the boards here looking for new posts. I use favorites to quickly navigate to each of the boards I frequent. Within the past 1-days I've stopped getting the indication for new posts when I hit the boards - even if I haven't seen the posts.

Update: I haven't been refreshing the pages - just tried it and got the new post indicator. :?

 

[steve_sa]

Hi Rugger,

You have to refresh the page to get new posts indicator :?

 

[Ned_Flanders]

*snickers*

 

[RichPLS]

I can picture you today with untucked shirts, sleeves rolled up and a few more wrinkles and grey sprouts.

 

[Rugger]

Hello Steve.

Sometimes it's working and sometimes not...argh!sd

 

[steve_sa]

Here's how it works, FYI

As long as you have an active session (lasting an hour), it will show you all the new posts. If the session expires, and you go back in, it will show you the new posts since last session. So if you let the session lapse, and 2 minutes after lapse you go in, you should see very few new posts.

 

[russell]

I hate to start referencing the old board. But. Before, you had to view a particular page in a thread before it showed the posts in it as read.
Maybe I'm not understanding you , are you saying that the posts you see or don't see are somehow depended upon Length of time you were signed in? [/You lost me]

 

[steve_sa]

When you are signed in, you can view posts and their status chagnes from ornage to white (once you view them). When you logout or session expires, and then you log back in later, you will see orange status only for posts since last time you were there.

So if you logged out at 2 pm, and log back in at 4 pm, orange status applies to those messages posted AFTER 2 pm.

 

[jiffy]

I hate to start referencing the old board. But. Before, you had to view a particular page in a thread before it showed the posts in it as read.

I only been in the Other once or twice in the last few days and see No new post in hardware or games.

 

[russell]

When you are signed in, you can view posts and their status changes from orange to white (once you view them). When you logout or session expires, and then you log back in later, you will see orange status only for posts since last time you were there.

So if you logged out at 2 pm, and log back in at 4 pm, orange status applies to those messages posted AFTER 2 pm.

OK, my question is........... even if I don't read a post will it will change to white if I stay logged in for >1 hour????? This could explain some of the weird stuff happening with the new/read post markers.

Orange status should only change to white if I have viewed the post or at least no more than the page the post is on! [/still lost]

 

[Rugger]

Me too...still having issues with seeing new posts as orange. I've been logging out and I see some as new when I log back in, but it's annoying that if I stay logged in at a compter, that I end up losing the new post indicator.

 

[dhlucke]

I'm confused. All I want is for it to show as a new/unread post until I either read it or choose to mark all as read.

 

[dhlucke]

As an example: I checked the forum from my home PC this morning, but only the community section. No logging in or out, cookie was good.

I then get to work and go to the hardware section and everything is marked as read despite me not having even been in there and there being a bunch of new posts. I didn't log in here either, cookie was good.

Now you're telling me that I only have an hour to get to all the unread posts?

 

[Jake_Barnes]

When you are signed in, you can view posts and their status chagnes from ornage to white (once you view them). When you logout or session expires, and then you log back in later, you will see orange status only for posts since last time you were there.

So if you logged out at 2 pm, and log back in at 4 pm, orange status applies to those messages posted AFTER 2 pm.

That doesn't seem to be the case with me either. I logged out last night and then in at 9:15-30is am ... no red status lights in Hardware and Community were lit. I did the same with a testing dummie acct that had not been used for at least 2 days, no color anywhere. Only after I had loggged in with this main Moderator acct are new post status lights changing to red after posts are made (after my log in this am). :?

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I'm confused. All I want is for it to show as a new/unread post until I either read it or choose to mark all as read.

Here here! I second that notion! I third it! I infinity it! Why in the world is the forum set up to do anything but the most logical and obvious thing?

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Except for a occassional new post in the Hardware section, I have no new red indicator status lights ... even when I see that new post have been made. I haven't logged out, so I should be getting updated color, right?

 

[dhlucke]

Steve,

I don't mean to be a party pooper but the way the system is setup now does not work. It's really frustrating.

1. If I close the window, let alone log off, switch computers, etc, everything resets and shows as being read.
2. My own posts show up as new posts.
4. Did you say the session resets after 1 hour?

The way we need it is for our own posts to not show up as new posts and for any new post to stay as a new post until we either read the post or set the posts as read with the link at the top of the page.

Now on top of that it might be nice to be able to click on the "View posts since last visit" link to find new posts since we closed the window or logged off, but that's a different thing altogether.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I can get some new lights when I change from Community to Hardware ... but only 1 or 2 ... and the time "since my last visit" resets when I switch categories ... even if I never logged off (I haven't logged off since near 9:30am).

 

[steve_sa]

It looks like the last vist time is getting messed up, and that is why you are seeing all these problems with status turning white :roll:

I am working on it today, so please stay posted.

steve

 

[Jake_Barnes]

It looks like the last vist time is getting messed up, and that is why you are seeing all these problems with status turning white :roll:

I am working on it today, so please stay posted.

steve

After I read your post (without loggin out), when I went back to the Community main page, the times since my last visit changed from 12:28pm to 12:35pm ... :?:

 

[steve_sa]

That is the problem. It is supposed to show the last time you logged off (or your session expired). Somehow it got messed up (I am looking into it).

 

[Jake_Barnes]

That is the problem. It is supposed to show the last time you logged off (or your session expired). Somehow it got messed up (I am looking into it).

Yep ... after this post, the "time" changed again from 12:35pm to 12:42pm :!:

 

[slvr_phoenix]

It looks like the last vist time is getting messed up, and that is why you are seeing all these problems with status turning white :roll:

I am working on it today, so please stay posted.

steve

Steve, while I appreciate all of the hard work you do, and I hope that this bugfix goes well, I still can't help but feel that basing the read/unread flags on the last vist time is very much the wrong way to go. (Especially with a timeout flag involved. It should never time out. That's what logging out is for.)

Oh, I suppose on the one hand it's the only real way to help the folks who use multiple PCs until all of the cookie data can be stored server-side.

But on the other hand, it's clearly a bad hack to everyone else.

And I'd be willing to bet that a survey would show that the number of people accessing from multiple systems is less than the number of people accessing from a single system.

Personally, I'd rather scrap the whole thing and go back to cookies being the whole shebang until this can be done right on the server side. This goofy half-way thing is just no good IMHO, even without the bugs.

I'd put this under the category of "Conflicting User Requirements" and do a customer survey or something.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

NO! BAD IDEA, BAD IDEA!

 

[Ned_Flanders]

The way it should be done is this:

Database server side stores all new posts since you last logged out of the forum (Logout being either a manual log out or a session time out (which for this to work session time out needs to be reduced to like 3 minutes of inactivity to keep information more accurate)) - That information is then used to correctly mark threads as read/unread from ANY PC as you log back on.

Local Cookie data should be used for keeping track of new posts in a session - For example, I read a thread (Cookie data stores visit time (to the second)). Then as I return to the thread index of a sub forum the last visit of each thread should be checked to the last post time. If there has been a new post since my last visit (note I haven't logged out / session timed out) orange light should be shown.


The reason for needing session cookie data is that the forum database cannot be expected to track all visit times of all threads for every user.

I hope I made myself clear - It's hard to explain :?