Forum - View topicForums being automagically marked read
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DerekL1963
 Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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So that I can avoid them, what are the rules (triggers) for the forums automagically marking themselves as read?
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ChirashiD
 Posts: 106 Location: WA |
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Generally, if you click on a thread the yellow sticky icon will turn white. That shouldn't happen "automagically" It's not a rule if it's doing something it's not supposed to. There could be bugs, trackers, bots or something else that's marking forums as read.
Also, if you log in before reading threads, then log out, read threads should still have a white sticky anytime you log back in again (unless a reply was posted before you logged back in). Also if you're visiting the site when not logged in, it should keep track of which threads you've read and not read as long as your browser is saving your history (I recommend a habit of clearing your cache, cookies and history every day). |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11300 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I'm gonna' guess it's either cookies or browsing history.
From home and work, I use Firefox. At home, I allow cookies, but auto-clear history and cache after closing the browser, and it marks the ones I haven't looked at as read. When I log back in, they're still read. At work, I don't allow cookies or history, and every time I log in, everything is unread. |
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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The problem isn't that I don't do something unusual like not clearing cookies (or using cookies in the first place) or not clearing my cache. The problem is the forum software is doing something forum software absolutely should not do - seemingly randomly and unpredictably marking the forums read.
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ChirashiD
Posts: 106 Location: WA |
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Hi, thanks for your update DerekL. I think it's evident this is actually a technical issue that belongs in the "Bugs and Technical Questions" forum. To get the issue the attention it deserves, I would post your issue in that forum and be sure to request this thread be moved to that forum as well.
[EDIT: Moved the Thread to Bugs & Tech. -TK] |
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist
 Posts: 3782 Location: Montreal |
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I'm trying to read the phpBB code and understand how it's working... and it kinda looks like which topics you've read are tracked via a session cookie... which means everything would look read when you restart the browser ???
I think I'll try to just make it a 14-day cookie instead, but if that doesn't solve the issue you'll have to wait for the upcoming forum upgrade. |
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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I've been watching carefully over the last few weeks, and I think that's what's happening. I visit the forums, and after re-starting my browser everything prior to the time of my visit is marked read even if I haven't actually read it. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9845 Location: Virginia |
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@DerekL1963
That is pretty much normal behavior for the ANN forums. If after entering the forum, I close my browser, or even close the ANN tab, everything up to the last time I was in ANN is marked read. It has been doing that for years. Once every couple of weeks that doesn't happen, but it is what I expect. |
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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@Alan45
It may be normal for ANN, but it's also not how practically every other forum on the 'net works. It's annoying because it means using email subscription links means losing the read pointers on every other thread on the forum - unless I have time to scroll through the forum before closing my browser.
If you have done this, it hasn't solved the problem. |
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ChirashiD
Posts: 106 Location: WA |
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@Alan45
The markings have always worked for me exactly like they are supposed to. None appear as read if I don't click on them and ones I did read stay marked for a while even after I log out. Actually the purpose of the marking isn't to tell you which threads are read or not, its to tell you which ones have NEW POSTS sine the last time you read it. Its a subtle but distinctive difference. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9845 Location: Virginia |
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@ChirashiD
It would appear that the site acts differently for different people. Possibly because I'm a subscriber on a different server. Just to be clear. I stay logged on so that ANN recognizes me when I open the site. I do a morning session, reviewing the forums and reading those that look interesting. When finished I close the ANN tab in my browser. In the evening I open ANN again and at that point most threads have been marked read. The only ones shown as unread are those that had posts after I left ANN in the morning. Threads that I did not read in the morning session are shown as read unless they had new posts since that session. Occasionally (every few weeks) when I open ANN in the evening, threads left unread in the morning are still shown as unread. I have no idea why the difference. @DerekL1963 I wasn't saying that is the way it should be. Just that it has been that way for several years and is not a new "bug". |
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ChirashiD
Posts: 106 Location: WA |
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Assuming nothing is different about the coloring scheme, rather than calling the threads read or unread let's objectively compare the forum behavior we observe: Threads are either marked orange or white. Ones that are wiggling just means many people have posted there in a short amount of time.
Here are the usual circumstances (when logged in) where a thread should be marked white: 1) no one posted in any of the threads since the time you last visited. 2) you log out and log back in, any of those threads that were white should still be white if no one else posted in it. Here are the usual circumstances where a thread should be marked orange: 1) ANY threads already orange will still be orange if there was a new post or you don't visit it. 2) When you visit a thread it turns white but a new post after closing it will turn it back to orange. Basically ANY time someone else posts in a thread, it overrides the function of using the thread marker to see which ones you visited. In other words, using the thread marker color to keep track of which threads you visit only works as long as no one posts in the threads you visit. So I'm thinking maybe the differences we are observing has more to do with how different people perceive the purpose of the markings. I have never really used them to see which threads were read or not, actually I really don't pay attention to them much at all, but when I notice some threads are different colors, how I interpret that is "oh there's some threads that no one posted in since the last time I visited it." Oh, also if there is some additional functionality of thread markers for subscribers (I'm not aware of it), sorry please disregard everything I've said. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9845 Location: Virginia |
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The problem is those threads that are shown as unread that I do not visit in a session. If I close ANN, they are automatically marked as read, even though I did not read them. For me that is not really a problem since I have the time to view the entire forum in each session. The only time that caused a problem was back when the site was having problems with DDS attacks and the site would lock up before I completed a session.
However, What DerekL1963 was complaining about was when you use a link in a notification to check on a single thread. When you close ANN it will mark everything as read even if you haven't gotten to them yet. When he comes back later to do a full session, he has to guess which threads he hasn't read. Basically, if you don't have time to review every unread thread in each sub forum you lose the "unread" notification. |
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DerekL1963
Subscriber Posts: 1114 Location: Puget Sound |
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It's not a perception issue. We're using standard terminology to describe the behavior of ANN's forums as compared to the standard behavior of pretty much every other forum on the web.
There's basically only two reasons a thread should ever be marked read: 1- the user has visited the thread, 2- the user has used the "mark forum read" button. @Alan45 My apologies if it sounded like I was biting your head off. It absolutely is a longstanding situation, I'd just finally had enough.
Pretty much, though it also applies if I click through a discussion link at the bottom of an article, etc... |
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ChirashiD
Posts: 106 Location: WA |
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I'm really sorry Derek, I was trying to be helpful. Perhaps something about the behavior or functionality of the site really is different for subscribers. Or it's just me who has a certain setting, but I don't know how to unset or modify it. I literally don't see (or need for that matter) anything on the site that feels like a reliable method to track read or unread topics. There's just threads marked orange or white and a link that says "mark all topics read." But if I click that, all threads simply turn white which will allow me to see which ones turn orange later. To me white does not = "read (as in the adjective)" white only means "wait (white) until someone else posts." Please like I said, just disregard everything I've said.
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