My "Show unread posts since last visit" button is not working.
When I press it I get that there are no new messages and yet when I check the forum I see lots of new messages that were posted since my last visit. This happened in work and again now I am at home.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Only happened to me once, now it's OK.
Carole
THis is still happening to me. I can clearly see new posts posted today and yet the "Show unread posts since last visit" produces no results.
I've got no idea what's causing this, I'll have to do some research. I notice that sometimes the "new" icon is missing from new posts. Might be related.
Just curious, what browsers are being used ?
I am using IE7 and amongst other things, I have noticed no "new" buttons, occasional display not as "frames".
I have only just found the "unread" button, so can't comment.
Mick
I get the same thing on IE7, Firefox and Safari.
Shame............
That means we can't blame Bill G :twisted:
Quote from: mickw on Dec 25, 2007, 12:19:01
Shame............
That means we can't blame Bill G :twisted:
why would that be then????
Still getting this also. Ian's posts on the "Uhoh" thread were not coming up when I pressed the button, but could be manually seen in the list.
Mike,
does the new post notification emails work for you?
Be aware, straws are being clutched at, at this point...
Never tried it as I didn't want to be spammed. Have just set it up (irritating as you have to do it 10 times, you can't do it for the entire forum that I can see). Will see how that goes. However, it's not what I want as I access the forum from work and home so emails will only go to one location. The "View unread posts" button always used to work fine until fairly recently.
I just want to try and establish whether it's something the bbs system isn't doing properly internally (email notifications don't go out properly) or whether it's a cookie problem (tracking what posts you read and what's new). Do you get the same behaviour at home and at work?
Show unread posts buttons works OK for me..... John
Yes I get the same behaviour at work (IE6) and at home (Firefox and Safari)
I Looked at about half the "show new messages" today and it worked OK.
I've just gone back in to view the ones I did not have time to look at before and the whole lot has gone.
I DIDN'T accidentally click on "mark all messages as read" either.
So "you are not alone Mike".
Very annoying.
Carole
I haven't received any emails notifying me of new posts either so that bit doesn't work too.
actually, I think this might actually be working correctly, but not the way we're thinking it should. It's new posts from your last visit, rather than showing unread posts. I need to read up on how and what it does before I do any more poking around.
No emails either Mike. Hmm, something else to think about...
Still doing it at home using IE7
Hmmm, Now I've read Ian's reply, I think it is my brain not working, rather than the "Show unread posts since last visit". I was thinking it was just "show unread posts"
Incidentally that would be a useful feature as on the basis of my experience yesterday and not having the time to read them all at one sitting having been away.
Carole
Quote from: Ian on Jan 04, 2008, 18:59:42.....It's new posts from your last visit,....
That is exactly how I thought it was meant to work. I log on after a day or two and there are lot sfo new posts, that can clearly be seen manually on teh fron tpage, but teh "SHwo unread posts" button produces nothing.
it does appear to be flaky even once it's understood what it's supposed to do.
By the way, has someone been swapping the key caps around on your keyboard again Mike?
noo i joost carnt spel
I'm not getting "show new posts since last visit" this weekend. I know the Forum has been quiet over the weekend but I've twice found replies to my posts from Daniel which did not come up as new postings.
Carole
Show unread posts since last visit is not working again when there are clearly new posts since my last visit.
Any-one else having this problem?
Carole
We're trying to keep them secret ;)
No problems this end.
Not noticed any problems here.
On reflection, I've had it a couple of times, but "refresh" in the browser usually kicks it all back into shape
It's worked this evening, but has not worked the last few times I have logged in.
Carole
Still not working. Any-one else having a problem?
Very annoying as I have to go into each section separately and sometimes miss things.
Carole
Carole. On my SLOW ... SLOW .... SLOW .... full up and £%%$*_*(*^% laptop the "Show unread posts.." line is actually working on the laptop. I have not, as yet, had any probs with that bit ..... only the operator of the laptop.
Doug. :cry:
It's almost certainly that the forum is getting a brief glimpse of you and thinking that you've visited it more recently than the last time you actually gave the forum any attention.
Ditto here too. There is nothing consistently wrong but I'm finding that posts are definitely being missed.
I can think of situations when "Show unread posts since last visit" will miss posts, depending on what sets the "this is when you last visited" time. Consider the following sequence:
- *:01 You click on "Show unread posts since last visit" and start reading posts
- *:03 Someone else adds a post to a thread that's not showing up in your list
- *:05 You finish off reading, maybe by posting something.
My guess is the next time you click on "Show unread posts since last visit" it'll use the *:05 time, and miss the *:03 post...
On a quiet forum when there's seldom more than one person online it'll work fine. If there're a hundred it'll be not much use. I rely on the main indexes...
Perhaps hitting "Refresh" before you quit the current session ?
OK, that's not the answer :-?
I just quit the forum with no new posts visible, then restarted and there were "new posts" showing in the section headings.
I had a nose around the sections and read the new ones but I didn't notice one of them :oops: When I went back to the main menu and hit Refresh, there were no new posts showing under the sections but when I clicked "Show unread......" the one I missed showed up.
Don't know if that helps or confuses things more ;)
It seems there's also something odd that happens if someone edits a post. Not sure exactly what, though... :roll:
show unread posts since last visit and also "Click here to try all unread topics."
dosent seem to be working today.
well at least from about 3pm anyway.
Mac.
Mine hasn't worked for a couple of months. I've given up now and just look for the blue tags. It does mean I miss the odd post now and then though.
Carole
it's probably worth avoiding the "back" button too. Lots of the forum is clickable (for example Orpington Astronomical Society > Random Rambling Ruminations > Updates and Upsets > in blue above will take you back to the forum you came from. The browser will then give you a fresh impression of the page with any updates that have appeared in the mean time.
Well after not working for several months it suddenly started working again this evening!!!!
:exclaim:
But will it last?
Carole
This is still not working reliably and I keep missing important posts. Is this something to do with my PC settings and if so, what should I do?
Carole
It is known not to be 100% reliable because it uses a very simple mechanism which cannot catch everything.
Quote from: Carolepope on Jan 13, 2010, 15:51:42what should I do?
I would suggest not relying on it, at least for important messages (whichever they may be).
Just curious, are the read/unread flags generated by cookies ?
A lot of people have reported this problem so it's either a forum issue or something our systems are doing. A common thing we do on our PCs is delete cookies or prevent them.
The forum does use cookies, but only (as far as I can tell*1) for login. It may get confused if you delete cookies while you're reading the forum.
There is a database table keyed on user and board IDs with a field for message number. As far as I can tell it's a "low water" level rather than a post-by-post one*2, but it might be trying to be a bit cleverer than that so that some holes in your reading history survive for a while.
One thing it might be worth trying is making use of the "Mark All Read" option occasionally, as that'll make sure it has a clear line to start at.
Also, if you have a category hidden (aka "collapsed") then you may well not see any new posts in it*3.
Obviously, if (for some reason) you're not logged in then the forum won't adjust (or use) your last visit pointers.
*1 It's possible it might use cookies to get a "last time I visited" value, but the experiments I've done suggest that it doesn't.
*2 A post-by-post table would, of course, get stupidly large very quickly...
*3 There's a hideous join in the query that determines what's read and what's not read which includes invormation about hidden categories.
Cheers Rick
Looks like it's not an easy fix after all, shame :(
I think it tries to keep some sort of track of holes in your reading, so that it can flag as new posts you've not yet read, even though they're older than posts you have read. However, I suspect it doesn't always succeed.
I suspect it does suffer a bit from the window of missed opportunity problem I described earlier.
If you make much use of the (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/Themes/oas/images/expand.gif) and (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/Themes/oas/images/collapse.gif) buttons then I think you'll probably also increase your chances of missing something.
So, in summary:
- We know it's not perfect
- Use it, by all means
- Don't rely on it to show you everything you might have missed
- Help it out by using the MARK READ link when you're done with a board
- Cross-check against the "Recent Posts" list at the bottom of the screen
Show unread posts seems to have stopped working the last couple of days.
Carole
When you say "not working", do you mean:
- It's not showing any unread posts at all, but I know there are some I've not read.
- It's showing some unread posts, but is missing others.
- Something else?[/\i]
Quote•It's showing some unread posts, but is missing others.
Carole
I've been trying to spot a pattern, but so far the only time I think I might have caught it not showing all the unread messages has been when I returned to a tab which had been sitting open but unattended for a while.
I'll see how it goes, seems to be spasmodic.
Carole
Yeah, which makes it trickier to track down. I suspect it gets an updated last-visited time, and misses all the new posts in a particular time window, but it's hard to reproduce the circumstances...
Now for instance I just came onto the Forum and it showed me the post about the Weather, are the weather God's joking?. But it wouldn't show me this post which I found because it was in blue.
Carole
So you are saying that you can see "new" posts that have the blue "new" tab but not the "recent posts" list at the bottom ?
Hmmm... So it missed the older of two posts, which fits my speculation but isn't conclusive...
No Mick, when I click show unread posts it might list say two, but if I then look down the list of sections there could be several new ones highlighted in blue which I haven't read which haven't come up on the show unread posts list.
Carole
So there's a "show unread posts" button ?
I can't find it :-?
If you un-hide the stuff at the top (click the (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/Themes/oas/images/upshrink2.gif) on the right-hand end of the line that says "Hi Mick") you'll find some links inside. It's one of them. Usually, I leave all that stuff hidden as it uses too much screen space, and look for blue logos instead...
I suppose you could bookmark the relevant link (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?action=unread), but it does occasionally seem to miss a post or three...
Thanks for that Rick - I think you've told me this before :oops:
Show unread posts has not been working for quite a few days either on my phone or the PC.
Carole
Carole you are replying to a 10 year old post. The entry before yours was by Mick, in 2012.
Is it response to that post or a new issue with unread posts?
I've not noticed any issues and ive always used unread posts as a saved link.
Mac.
It's a new issue. I thought you preferred continuation of same posts.
Carole
The answer to the issue is probably in this earlier post in this thread (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=2833.msg33101#msg33101).
Basically, that feature works best when you keep things simple, and is apt to get itself in a knot if things get complicated...
QuoteIt's a new issue. I thought you preferred continuation of same posts.
(https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/120/whatsapp/314/thumbs-up_1f44d.png)
QuoteBasically, that feature works best when you keep things simple, and is apt to get itself in a knot if things get complicated...
What on Earth does that mean?
I use the forum exactly the same every time. I click on Unread posts and normally it shows me posts l haven't read.
The last few days it is not doing that. What is complicated about that?
Carole
Seems to be working again now thanks.
Carole