Forums seem to be loosing the Unread message status

[azjoe]

vlad et al... sorry you're having a problem.

In general the 'new posts' search works fairly well (regardless of whether you call it from the new post link on the navbar or the search drop-down). I believe it relies on cookies to work, so if you have cookies disabled, set to clear when you exit your browser, or you take too long and your session times out (which appears to be at least partly the cause of the problem you're reporting) the results will be unreliable.

Personally, when I open the forum, the first thing I do is click 'new posts'... that way I capture all the new posts (in that tab of firefox, which is the browser I use). I then open the ones I want to read in new tabs... that way, no matter what, I still have the first tab containing all the new posts. If you're an IE browser user, I guess you could open them in a new window... but that's really cumbersome compared to tabs. (If you havn't tried firefox you should... it's a really nice browser... an it's free.)

FWIW, I believe I read somewhere that newer versions of the forum software can keep track of the read status in the database instead of using cookies... and it supposedly works much more reliably. We'll look into that when we next upgrade the forum. ...joe

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edit:

I checked the latest version (3.5.4) of the forum software (which we haven't installed -- we are running 3.0.8)... here's a quote for one of the new config items:

This option controls how threads and forums are marked as read.

1. Inactivity/Cookie Based - once a user has been inactive for a certain amount of time (the value of the cookie timeout option [ed. -- default is 900-seconds]) all threads and forums are considered read. Individual threads are marked as read within a session via cookies. This option is how all versions of vBulletin before 3.5 functioned.

2. Database (no automatic forum marking) - this option uses the database to store thread and forum read times. This allows accurate read markers to be kept indefinitely. However, in order for a forum to be marked read when all threads are read, the user must view the list of threads for that forum.

This option is more space and processor intensive than inactivity-based marking.

3. Database (automatic forum marking) - this option is the same as a previous option, but forums are automatically marked as read when the last new thread is read.

This is the most usable option for end users, but most processor intensive.

[vladsch]

It is the timeout of the session. I will click on the "new posts" link from now on.

900 seconds is only 15 minutes. If this is increased to 7200 seconds (2 hours) it might be a better setting. It is impossible to read new posts much less respond to some in 15 minutes unless being on SRP is all you do and you catch the posts as they are submitted.

Thanks for the quick response.

[azjoe]

900 seconds is only 15 minutes. If this is increased to 7200 seconds (2 hours) it might be a better setting. It is impossible to read new posts much less respond to some in 15 minutes...

Remember, its 15-min of "inactivity"... I know I get caught by this when I get interrupted by phone calls, physical needs breaks, etc. (and simply walk away from the PC for an extended period -- sometimes hours )

There must be a downside else the default timeout wouldn't be set so low (but I admittedly don't have the faintest idea what it is at the moment ).

[vladsch]

azjoe,

Just remember that it is not inactivity of the computer keyboard and mouse but the web application.

Inactivity for web applications means that you are not interactiong with the application: browsing, downloading or uploading. So if you take 20 min to type a response without clicking preview or submit your session will time out. This will cause all threads to be marked as read.

This is exactly what I have been noticing.

Another scenario is walking away before finishing reading all the posts in one sitting. Which happens often during the day.

[azjoe]

Just remember that it is not inactivity of the computer keyboard and mouse but the web application....

Of course. Here's a quote from the forum software's support forum:

When you log in, vBulletin writes a cookie with an expiration equal to the cookie timeout unless the "Remember Me" checkbox is checked. This cookie gets updated every time you load a page, because you essentially login on every page load. So you can have your cookie set to the default (15 minutes) and browse the board for an hour without issue. Then you read a long page, get up and get a drink, and as time elapses the cookie expires. Bam you were "randomly" logged out.

Do you have "remember me" checked? If not, try it to see if it makes a difference.

As to changing the timeout value... based on what I was able to find it appears there are two camps; one group pushes for short (15-min or less) and the other for 1-hour. Seems that once it gets below 15-min/larger than 1-hour the user complaint level goes exponential. How busy the forum is and your personal browsing style tend to drive your desire to have it one way or the other. Unfortunately, there's only one timeout value per site, not one per member.

BTW, I'm going to move this to the "Site Comments and Suggestions" forum... the nature of this discussion seems to better fit there than in general razor discussions. Hope that's ok?

[xman]

As to changing the timeout value... based on what I was able to find it appears there are two camps; one group pushes for short (15-min or less) and the other for 1-hour. Seems that once it gets below 15-min/larger than 1-hour the user complaint level goes exponential.

What about a compromise, somewhere around 1800? I've experienced the same trouble Vlad has a few times and the extra time may save a little heartache.

X

[azjoe]

1800 = 30-min... that essentailly means that threads you've read would show up as unread for the next 30-min.

If there's general agreement that's ok w/me... or we can switch to option 3 (see quote in my earlier post) when we upgrade the forum and have it work the way it really should... ie, if it's read it's marked read w/o being affected by a cookie timeout value. Personally, I recommend we live w/what we have right now and wait for the upgrade, but I will go with the wishes of the majority.

[xman]

I'm easy to wait since it's affected me only rarely.

[Joe Lerch]

I'm lazy. I just click on the New Posts button when I visit the site. In fact, my shortcut takes me directly to the forum. The home page could be eliminated, and I would never know.

Me too! That's how I find new threads. Once I'm in a thread I get notifications by e-mail when there are new posts.

[Joe Lerch]

or you take too long and your session times out (which appears to be at least partly the cause of the problem you're reporting) the results will be unreliable.

I seem to hve a timeout problem when I do long responses. The program locks up and never saves the message. The bad thing is I loose the response because there's no way to block and copy once it locks up.