Keep Track of Threads with New Posts on PF

[LURCH]

Often, when I come into the Forums, I do not have time to go through all the forums in a single sitting. But, if I close out, I lose the hilighting that tells me which threads have new posts. I come back a few minutes later, and (of course) there no new posts since my last visit. Is there a way I can close my browser without losing the hilighting? Or, could the hilighting be changed so that it shows threads with a new post "since you last visited this sub-forum," rather than "since you last visited PF"?

If the option already exists, how do I activate it? If it doesn't, can it be created?

-Thanx

 

[Astronuc]

Get Posts in task bar at top of page.

https://www.physicsforums.com/search.php?do=getnew


IIRC,on the main page, put cursor over the topic, and that should indicate last post, and clicking on the topic will go there.

I each forum, look for three dots on left side of thread title and that takes one to the most recent post.

 

[Moonbear]

Often, when I come into the Forums, I do not have time to go through all the forums in a single sitting. But, if I close out, I lose the hilighting that tells me which threads have new posts. I come back a few minutes later, and (of course) there no new posts since my last visit. Is there a way I can close my browser without losing the hilighting? Or, could the hilighting be changed so that it shows threads with a new post "since you last visited this sub-forum," rather than "since you last visited PF"?

If the option already exists, how do I activate it? If it doesn't, can it be created?

-Thanx

I've been having that same problem since the upgrade. Even if I haven't read a thread, it gets marked as read (i.e., no longer bold font) if I've visited PF, closed the page, and come back. Only new threads since my last visit show up as bold. In fact, I've been noticing that sometimes, just navigating the forum marks everything as read (if I read a thread and then return to the subforum index page, everything else that was highlighted is unhighlighted). I sometimes had this problem with the old version and leaving and coming back, but not to this extent, and not while actively browsing threads on a page.

I don't know how to fix that, since I have the same problem. I don't think it's a setting we can control, though, because it doesn't do it to me every time.

 

[Kurdt]

Its always been like that for me. I do know other forum software has the ability to keep threads highlighted that have posts you've never read regardless of whether you log in or out. Maybe vBulletin does as well and its simply a matter of making it an option.

 

[pantaz]

Often, when I come into the Forums, I do not have time to go through all the forums in a single sitting. But, if I close out, I lose the hilighting that tells me which threads have new posts.

Same here... very annoying!

 

[neutrino]

Maybe vBulletin does as well and its simply a matter of making it an option.

Yes, it does. Once you close the window/tab and come back later, it would first list all the threads that have had new posts since your last visit, if any, and then below that it would list all that posts that have NOT been updated, but are still unread.

And, yes, I too would like that option implemented at PF. :)

 

[LURCH]

Waddaya think, Greg; can we do that here? I know you just did a software upgrade (love the new features, BTW, esp. "similar threads"). But maybe put this in the wish-list for the next one, whenever that may be?

 

[RonL]

Get Posts in task bar at top of page.

https://www.physicsforums.com/search.php?do=getnew


IIRC,on the main page, put cursor over the topic, and that should indicate last post, and clicking on the topic will go there.

I each forum, look for three dots on left side of thread title and that takes one to the most recent post.

What does IIRC stand for as I see it often in this forum ( If I Really Care) no longer fits

 

[Astronuc]

What does IIRC stand for as I see it often in this forum ( If I Really Care) no longer fits

IIRC = If I remember correctly, much like AFAIK = As far as I know.

 

[robphy]

IIRC = If I remember correctly, much like AFAIK = As far as I know.

Maybe these could be added to the Autolinking feature... IMO.

 

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

vBulletin provides the option of marking threads as read based on whether you've visited since the post was made (which ignores the fact that you might not have read it) or based on actually marking threads as read as you read them. It defaults to the first option because the second is processing-intensive and can increase server load (you have to update the database every time someone views a thread). If the server can handle it, it's easy enough to switch.

 

[Evo]

What does IIRC stand for as I see it often in this forum ( If I Really Care) no longer fits

Actually, originally it stood for If I Recall Correctly

 

[RonL]

Actually, originally it stood for If I Recall Correctly

Thanks, TGTK

Ron

 

[LURCH]

vBulletin provides the option of marking threads as read based on whether you've visited since the post was made (which ignores the fact that you might not have read it) or based on actually marking threads as read as you read them. It defaults to the first option because the second is processing-intensive and can increase server load (you have to update the database every time someone views a thread). If the server can handle it, it's easy enough to switch.

Yeah, I thought it might take up a lot of processor. Still, would be a cool feature if we could swing it. Thanks, Cap'n.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yeah, I thought it might take up a lot of processor. Still, would be a cool feature if we could swing it. Thanks, Cap'n.

Yup keeping track of every members thread read times via db indefinately doesn't sound good to me server and db wise.

 

[LURCH]

Too processor-hungry; I see. But how about by individual Forum, then (ie, "Physics," "Astronomy/Cosmology," "PF Lounge," etc.)? Or would that require treeting each of the nine forums as if it were a separate website? (As you might have surmised, I know virtually nothing about building or running a website)

 

[LURCH]

I can't believe I've been such an idiot! ("My head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!")

Not the site's processor; my processor! OK, so I was trying to think of a work-around, and I thought that I could open the Forums, go to each sub-forum just long enough to open that sub-forum and "save screen as," so I could have a visual reference to go back to and look at which threads are hilited. To call this an inellegant solution would be a gross understatement, but it got me thinking in a different direction. Instead of trying to get the Forums' server to keep track of every thread everybody has read, there must be a way I can get my PC to keep track of the threads I have read. Still taking up processor power and hard-drive space, but it would be a lot less burden, and it would be my hard-drive and CPU. For a moment, I thought of suggesting that this could be done in the form of a cookie that comes from the website, but then everybody wuold have it, and maybe not everybody wants it in their comp (could slow some machines down).

So what I need to do is write a program that keeps track of that information. Now, it would have to take a snapshot of the condition of the entire website at the time I open it, and then "mark as read" the threads that I open, while leaving other threads bolded. Then, the next time I visit, it would have to take a new snapshot and compare it to the saved info, leaving the old unread threads bolded, and adding bold lettering to the new ones. I'm not much of a programmer, but I'm going to give it a shot. Do you think it could be done in VB?

Also, maybe I'll start a new thread on this topic in the "Programing" sub-forum, and see if any of the more capable programmers might want to take a whack at it (they could probably come up with something better than I could). If I (or the others) come up with anything good, it could be offered as a free download to anybody who wants it.

 

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Problem is that bolding stuff is done on the the server side. You could implement your scheme as a Greasemonkey script or something for Firefox. That wouldn't help when you hit the button to search for new posts though.