"New Posts" function?

[bobafifi]

Hi Barry,

The "New Posts" link is now returning pages of stuff, not just the latest. Did you change something or is this a bug?

-Bob
https://www.usedviolins.com

[Barry]

The "New Posts" link is now returning pages of stuff, not just the latest. Did you change something or is this a bug?

I changed it. Before it was only returning posts from your last login. However if you if leave the system for a while (20 minutes?) it will logout you out, whether or not you have seen all the new messages. I thought it was best to err on the side of too much rather than too little. Now it returns the last week's worth of posts, sorted with from most recent to oldest. You can read down as far as you like - similar to the Yahoo website.

[gandalf]

The ones you haven't read yet seem to show up looking yelowish, so I just go check those. This sounds better. I tend to just bring up the page every so often and hit "New Posts". I had noticed that it was being somewhat random with what it called new. I'd really like it to only come up with posts that I haven't read though.

My process:
1 go to page
2 hit new posts
3 scan for anything interesting
4 read messages
5 go to line 2 until nothing interesting
6 hit mark categories read

Doing this once or twice a day is real easy and take little time. More often makes you really addicted.

I'm not really sure if it works the way I want though. I like that I get to look at everything, but don't have to read everything. It's rather fast. It would be better if only messages that I haven't actually read showed up in New Posts.


I changed it. Before it was only returning posts from your last login. However if you if leave the system for a while (20 minutes?) it will logout you out, whether or not you have seen all the new messages. I thought it was best to err on the side of too much rather than too little. Now it returns the last week's worth of posts, sorted with from most recent to oldest. You can read down as far as you like - similar to the Yahoo website.

[Veronica]

\ I'm not really sure if it works the way I want though. I like that I get to look at everything, but don't have to read everything. It's rather fast. It would be better if only messages that I haven't actually read showed up in New Posts.

I would suggest that there could be an option box where you can choose for yourself the timescales for new posts among a list like: past 1 hour, past 2 hours, past day, past week, and another one that's for the time since your last time on the site. It would be nice if this option stayed the same until you personally changed it. I think this would make all concerned happy.:)

Is this possible, Barry?

[Barry]

Thanks for posting your process, Gandalf. I have two concerns about that being the "standard" process. First, again, if you go away from the system for a while it will log you out. The other is that I don't want ask people to use the Mark Categories Read button each time they check for new posts.

I've had the same idea, Veronica.
I need to keep it simple now, for me and for the users.

[gandalf]

I'm probably just looking for a way to bring up a list of posts that are "new to me". The BBS system seems to know which posts I haven't read and marks them with yellow. When I hit the "Mark Categories Read" button it seems to mark all the posts as being read by me. That's the simplest thing for me is to 1 see all the posts I haven't read yet and then 2 mark them all read after I've read the ones I'm interested in.

I'm not suggesting this be the defacto way to do things, it's just how I like to do things. I can scan the entire wacco in 30 seconds + post reading/replying and then return some other time in the day or the next day. The only improvement I would suggest is to make "New Posts" into "Posts I Have Not Read Yet" or make an area like that. Maybe recent posts and unread posts. It's just an idea, I don't really "need" that as it functions perfectly well for me anyway.

In the old BBS days I'd hit "N" for newscan and it would go through all the groups showing me any new posts. That's sorta what this feels like.


Thanks for posting your process, Gandalf. I have two concerns about that being the "standard" process. First, again, if you go away from the system for a while it will log you out. The other is that I don't want ask people to use the Mark Categories Read button each time they check for new posts.

I've had the same idea, Veronica.
I need to keep it simple now, for me and for the users.

[bobafifi]

Also, now the "Mark Categories Read" function under the "Quick Links" menu is returning to the WaccoBB index (Home) page instead of the "New Posts" page. Is there a reason for this?

Thanks,

-Bob
https://www.usedviolins.com

[Deb]

Also, now the "Mark Categories Read" function under the "Quick Links" menu is returning to the WaccoBB index (Home) page instead of the "New Posts" page. Is there a reason for this?
https://www.usedviolins.com

Dear Bob,

Barry is on a break and I am helping moderate. I don't know the answer to this question, but maybe Ingo does. Ingo? We may have to put this on the list of things to address in a couple of weeks.

Deb
(moderator)

[bobafifi]

Barry is on a break and I am helping moderate. I don't know the answer to this question, but maybe Ingo does. Ingo? We may have to put this on the list of things to address in a couple of weeks.

I realise Barry is on break. However, I prefer posting my questions as they occur to me - with the understanding that Barry will see them when he gets back - rather than wait.

Thanks Deb,

-Bob
https://www.usedviolins.com

[gandalf]

To my knowledge it's always done that. This command seems to mark every post on the board as being read by you and all categories as having no unread posts. I click it when I'm done so the next time I check back only new stuff is marked.


Also, now the "Mark Categories Read" function under the "Quick Links" menu is returning to the WaccoBB index (Home) page instead of the "New Posts" page. Is there a reason for this?

Thanks,

-Bob
https://www.usedviolins.com

[bobafifi]

To my knowledge it's always done that. This command seems to mark every post on the board as being read by you and all categories as having no unread posts. I click it when I'm done so the next time I check back only new stuff is marked.

Actually, "Mark Categories Read" used to update the status of the page you were on (in this case "New Posts"), not return to the index page.

Thanks,

-Bob
https://www.usedviolins.com

[bobafifi]

For those interested in having a direct link to "mark categories read" for their browser's "Bookmarks Toolbar" (Firefox, Safari), this is it:
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?do=markread

-Bob
https://www.usedviolins.com