Board Change? - Marking Posts as Read

[longflyball]

Threads that I had already read used to appear normal, while threads with new posts used to be bolded. Now every thread on the 'new posts' results page is bolded. It's minor, but can it be fixed?

[RShack]

Threads that I had already read used to appear normal, while threads with new posts used to be bolded. Now every thread on the 'new posts' results page is bolded. It's minor, but can it be fixed?
Not happening here. Maybe you lost your cookie?

[RShack]

Not happening here. Maybe you lost your cookie?All these hours later, and suddenly now it is happening here. Somebody's doing something that's messin' with the cookies, that's my guess. Pretty annoying. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

[Tank]

Threads that I had already read used to appear normal, while threads with new posts used to be bolded. Now every thread on the 'new posts' results page is bolded. It's minor, but can it be fixed?

Yeah, I've noticed this happening every once in a while. Its annoying since thats how I use the OH every time I come on here, but its not the end of the world.

I used to go from section to section looking around for new posts, but I figured out I read pretty much everything anyway so using the "new posts" feature works best for me.

[McLovin]

Hmm... Is it still happening guys? Is it not working at all? Or does it appear to stop working correctly after a while?

[McLovin]

Also, when did you start noticing this?

[McLovin]

Also for the record, nobody is "messing with the cookies"!

It's working for me in IE, Firefox, Firefox on the Mac, and on my Blackberry.

I'm not saying you guys are nuts though. I just wish I could duplicate it so I can troubleshoot. The more info you give me, the better.

[longflyball]

I first noticed it about the time I started this thread. It was back to normal as of early this morning. My first thought was that it might have something to do with the restarting of the server that occurred the other night. If not it's a strange coincidence.

Thanks for the response. Hopefully whatever it was is gone.

[blueberryale77]

I have noticed the same thing. The first time was probably Thursday night. I think it was ok yesterday afternoon. Now it is happening again. At present, every thread that has been posted in since about 5 PM yesterday, or about 2/3 of the front page, is in bold. I'm guessing that's all the threads going back to the last time I logged off the Hangout before my current visit.

[RShack]

Also for the record, nobody is "messing with the cookies"!

It's working for me in IE, Firefox, Firefox on the Mac, and on my Blackberry.

I'm not saying you guys are nuts though. I just wish I could duplicate it so I can troubleshoot. The more info you give me, the better.
It happened shortly before I made the post about it. Somehow, threads that had been marked read got bolded instead. It didn't happen to all of them. But it did retroactively mark threads "unread" for the last several hours. I had been connected the whole time, so it was not a log-on/log-off issue.

It appears to be OK now, however.

I never thought anybody was messing with the cookies. However, I did think that somebody was doing something that had the accidental side effect of messing with cookies. Don't you stick a cookie on our machines to keep track of who read what? Or do you store that info centrally some place? Or both? I just assumed that somebody was doing something with the db and accidentally updated my cookie with the wrong info. (But I wasn't criticizing anybody for it. Stuff happens.)

[McLovin]

At present, every thread that has been posted in since about 5 PM yesterday, or about 2/3 of the front page, is in bold. I'm guessing that's all the threads going back to the last time I logged off the Hangout before my current visit.
Wait, that's how it's supposed to work. Threads with new posts that you haven't read during the current session will show up in bold on the front page.

[McLovin]

It happened shortly before I made the post about it. Somehow, threads that had been marked read got bolded instead. It didn't happen to all of them. But it did retroactively mark threads "unread" for the last several hours. I had been connected the whole time, so it was not a log-on/log-off issue.

It appears to be OK now, however.

I never thought anybody was messing with the cookies. However, I did think that somebody was doing something that had the accidental side effect of messing with cookies. Don't you stick a cookie on our machines to keep track of who read what? Or do you store that info centrally some place? Or both? I just assumed that somebody was doing something with the db and accidentally updated my cookie with the wrong info. (But I wasn't criticizing anybody for it. Stuff happens.)
No worries, I didn't take your post as criticism. Just saying that we haven't changed the way cookies work.

I have turned on some caching options, which, depending how your browser is configured, will not download certain things like avatars and images until your browser demands a change. If you want to force a refresh for a page, just do Control+F5 in Internet Explorer or Control+R in Firefox.

To those that are having problems, please try to force a refresh by typing Control+F5 in Internet Explorer or Control+R in Firefox.

[McLovin]

Also, let me explain how the 'new posts' feature should work. This is all by default per the board software documentation.

Threads with posts that haven't been read by your account during a login session will show up in bold on the Forum List pages and via the 'New Posts' link. They will remain in bold until you have loaded the last page in the thread (which loads the newest post).

After 15 minutes of inactivity by your account, the board considers all posts read by your user account. This 15 minute mark is timestamped. The next time you login, any post from that timestamp onward will be considered unread and will appear in bold. Rinse and repeat...

[RShack]

After 15 minutes of inactivity by your account, the board considers all posts read by your user account. This 15 minute mark is timestamped. The next time you login, any post from that timestamp onward will be considered unread and will appear in bold. Rinse and repeat...
Is there some important reason for marking everything read after 15 minutes of inactivity? I might be looking something up in another window, or getting the groceries out of my bride's car. So, from my point of view, doing that is a bad idea. Seems kinda arbitrary. Is there an especially good reason for doing that?

[McLovin]

Is there some important reason for marking everything read after 15 minutes of inactivity? I might be looking something up in another window, or getting the groceries out of my bride's car. So, from my point of view, doing that is a bad idea. Seems kinda arbitrary. Is there an especially good reason for doing that?
The 15 minute setting is the software default. I can address your point with Tony and Scott though.

[scOtt]

I have just the opposite problem.... If I even appear on the forum for a second, just to check on one little thread I'm interested in, it marks EVERY thread as read.

Is there some way to mark threads as personally and ACTUALLY read, and those not gotten to yet... as still unread? This has bugged me for a LONG time now.

[RShack]

The 15 minute setting is the software default. I can address your point with Tony and Scott though.
I'd appreciate that, if you would.

I'm not sure exactly what the benefit is of marking things read that haven't been read. Seems like it defeats the whole purpose. It'd be nice to have read posts marked as read, and unread posts marked as unread. Seems simple and truthful to me. Maybe marking them as read when they're not somehow helps things on your end. I'm not saying we should cause problems on your end. But if you could get us something more than 15 minutes, that would be nice. There's lotsa ordinary everyday things that take 15 minutes.

Regardless of any of this, I appreciate the way you're answering questions, and asking questions, and generally explaining stuff. I think that's a good thing. Thanks...

[scOtt]

I'd appreciate that, if you would.

I'm not sure exactly what the benefit is of marking things read that haven't been read. Seems like it defeats the whole purpose. It'd be nice to have read posts marked as read, and unread posts marked as unread. Seems simple and truthful to me. Maybe marking them as read when they're not somehow helps things on your end. I'm not saying we should cause problems on your end. But if you could get us something more than 15 minutes, that would be nice. There's lotsa ordinary everyday things that take 15 minutes.

Regardless of any of this, I appreciate the way you're answering questions, and asking questions, and generally explaining stuff. I think that's a good thing. Thanks...
WADR to all the board guys... what Shack said. Can't we have read threads be read? And unread be unread? Like I said... this has bugged me for several years now. I just never said anything.

[McLovin]

I have just the opposite problem.... If I even appear on the forum for a second, just to check on one little thread I'm interested in, it marks EVERY thread as read.
This happens immediately?

This almost sounds like a personal problem. Or a personal setting. ;) I looked all around in the controls though, and didn't see anything.

[McLovin]

I'd appreciate that, if you would.
Maybe marking them as read when they're not somehow helps things on your end.
To this and Scott's point - 'real' marking of threads is a heavy resource issue. We have some options available to us, but we have to consider the overall picture and what's most important. Individual user thread tracking uses up a lot of system resources - resources we need to dedicate to keeping the information flowing.

Again though, let me reiterate, that no settings around this option have changed. Things should be working the way they always have, limitations and all.