Threads automatically being marked as read

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by Tilpots

Again, why add extra steps to maintain what was already the default setting? Shouldn't you remember what you've read and what you haven't anyway?

No I can't. Usually, I login and read threads I have posted/subscribed to in UserCP, then I click "New Posts" to show new posts since I last visited (blocking forums I'm not interested in). The problem with the old setting was if I spent ten minutes or so in one thread, I would come back to see all the "new posts" marked as read, so had no way to figure out what was a new post any longer. In 24 hours or so this can be 400-500 new threads. There is no way I am going to remember what is new.

I think the chink here for you is you are not using the "auto-subscribe to threads you post" option. If you do use that, the new settings work really well.

I don't mean to discount your concern. I can see how the way you were using the forums may need to adapt a bit with this settings change.

[Tilpots]

Originally Posted by Weaselboy

No I can't. Usually, I login and read threads I have posted/subscribed to in UserCP, then I click "New Posts" to show new posts since I last visited (blocking forums I'm not interested in). The problem with the old setting was if I spent ten minutes or so in one thread, I would come back to see all the "new posts" marked as read, so had no way to figure out what was a new post any longer. In 24 hours or so this can be 400-500 new threads. There is no way I am going to remember what is new.

I think the chink here for you is you are not using the "auto-subscribe to threads you post" option. If you do use that, the new settings work really well.

I don't mean to discount your concern. I can see how the way you were using the forums may need to adapt a bit with this settings change.

I don't think the timeout was 10 minutes, I believe it was much longer. Maybe arn can chime in? The speed of the timeout seems to be most people's issue.


I'll give the auto subscribe thing a try but I don't see how it will help. I already use the search to stay up to speed. It's worked very well for a long, long time.

I just see this as decreasing usability because of the visual cues that have been in place are being tossed aside. I can see where being on the forums for a prolonged period this change could be beneficial, but that's not how I use it, so it's more of a loss than a gain.

[arn]

Originally Posted by Tilpots

I don't think the timeout was 10 minutes, I believe it was much longer. Maybe arn can chime in? The speed of the timeout seems to be most people's issue.


I'll give the auto subscribe thing a try but I don't see how it will help. I already use the search to stay up to speed. It's worked very well for a long, long time.

I just see this as decreasing usability because of the visual cues that have been in place are being tossed aside. I can see where being on the forums for a prolonged period this change could be beneficial, but that's not how I use it, so it's more of a loss than a gain.

Looks like before, if you went idle for 15 minutes, everything was marked as read.

With the new system, things get marked read by

1. reading the thread.
or
2. marking all as read
or
3. after 10 days

arn

----------

I can see how is seen as a downgrade for Tilbots.

He liked the assumption that if you are done visiting the forums, it assumes you have read everything before that moment.

The best equivalent at this point is to explicitly mark as read after you are done. Alternatively, it's possible that could be set as an option for the software to do somehow.

arn

[rdowns]

I like the new way it handles read messages. Thanks, arn. The old 15 minute limit sucked.

[hallux]

I'm with tilpots.

Not everyone visits every section. The "new posts" button doesn't work for everyone as a result. For example, there were 6 posts on page 1 of the "new posts" search that were from subforums I have any interest in, I can imagine that would drop closer to nothing when a new hot topic is posted to the front page of the site. I liked being able to scan a subforum that I frequent and seeing that first "unbolded" post saying that's the first thread that hasn't changed since I was last here/there. Having to think about the action of clicking the "mark all as read button" before closing the tab is something that doesn't have to be done anywhere else.

As I said, how about a longer timeout? It was 15 minutes before, how about 45 minutes or an hour? That would appease the people who visit 2-3 times all day and would also help the people that take longer to go through the items that interest them. If someone takes more than an hour to complete that task, does their boss know?

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by hallux

If someone takes more than an hour to complete that task, does their boss know?

That's assuming that they have a boss.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who multi-tasks and gets interrupted frequently when going through the forums, some interruptions lasting hours. It sounds like no solution will be ideal for everyone.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Tilpots

What you want basically serves little purpose, as every time you return to a Sub Forum, everything is unread. And if you can't remember what you've recently clicked on, well...

Its usefulness depends on how you use the forums. If you do all of your forum activities in one go and don't spend more than 15 minutes writing a post then it may not seem that useful.

Like Weaselboy, I have my forum options set to auto-subscribe without email notifications to threads that I reply in. I also occasionally subscribe to threads of interest even if I don't post to them. The first place I check whenever I log into the form is the user control panel, so that I can keep up with those older threads and jump straight to the parts that are new to me (a big time-saver over the old setup, where this was much more difficult).

It's much more difficult to try and remember which threads were of interest. While the forum makes it easier to see which threads you've posted in, I don't visit this forum every day, and there's a good amount of thread churn: without the user control panel, I might have to sift back a page or two in some forums to find a thread that I had posted to, where someone replied. With the user control panel, I can see it right away, very easily.

There's a bit of mental record-keeping to be done in either case. You're used to remembering threads and checking the forums directly; I'm used to remembering rough times, so that I can know if a thread has had new activity since I last saw it in a forum. (Actually, there's not much mental record-keeping involved there, either: the forum tells you when you last logged in, and you could check to see if the post is newer than your last login if you really wanted.)

Long story short, it's just a different way of navigating the forums. I happen to think it's better, but that's an obviously biased view.

[fhall1]

Originally Posted by hallux

I'm with tilpots.

Not everyone visits every section. The "new posts" button doesn't work for everyone as a result. For example, there were 6 posts on page 1 of the "new posts" search that were from subforums I have any interest in, I can imagine that would drop closer to nothing when a new hot topic is posted to the front page of the site. I liked being able to scan a subforum that I frequent and seeing that first "unbolded" post saying that's the first thread that hasn't changed since I was last here/there. Having to think about the action of clicking the "mark all as read button" before closing the tab is something that doesn't have to be done anywhere else.

As I said, how about a longer timeout? It was 15 minutes before, how about 45 minutes or an hour? That would appease the people who visit 2-3 times all day and would also help the people that take longer to go through the items that interest them. If someone takes more than an hour to complete that task, does their boss know?

Ditto....I hate the new setup.... I don't read every thread in every subsection and when I finally leave a forum I liked everything being marked read. Then when I return I can pick up with the new threads (bolded)....now I have to remember approximately what time I last read a forum and stop skimming thread titles after that time....it really slows down my throughput here.

PS...I can't find where to mark all forums read in the user CP....can some kind soul point me where it is?
I guess after each session I need to do that for now.

[rdowns]

Originally Posted by fhall1

PS...I can't find where to mark all forums read in the user CP....can some kind soul point me where it is?
I guess after each session I need to do that for now.

Top of page under Quick Links.

I'd like to see a way to mark a subforum read, not the whole forum.

[Gregg2]

For the last week or so, threads are not being marked as Read for me. I've even used the Mark Forums Read link in the Quick Links pull down. Still not doing it.

[arn]

Originally Posted by rdowns

Top of page under Quick Links.

I'd like to see a way to mark a subforum read, not the whole forum.

There's a menu option in each forum

[SandboxGeneral]

Arn,

I like the new style of marking threads read on the forums. I have a suggestion, if its possible to be done: could we get the ability to have our own personal sticky threads in our Subscribed Threads page?

[Gregg2]

Originally Posted by Gregg2

For the last week or so, threads are not being marked as Read for me. I've even used the Mark Forums Read link in the Quick Links pull down. Still not doing it.

I should have also said that I never had to use that link until recently. Threads were always "cleared" (marked as read) the next time I came back to the forums. Was something changed recently such that you always have to do this manually now? It seems to have worked this time. So, all it took was me posting that it didn't work!

[r2shyyou]

Originally Posted by SandboxGeneral

Arn,

I like the new style of marking threads read on the forums. I have a suggestion, if its possible to be done: could we get the ability to have our own personal sticky threads in our Subscribed Threads page?

It's not quite the same and I'm not even sure if this will accomplish what you're looking for (and I'm not arn, whom you addressed directly) but you could create a new subscription folder called, for example, "Personal Stickies" and add to it only those threads that meet certain criteria.

[arn]

Originally Posted by Tilpots

Yes. I liked being able to distinguish recent posts from old ones. A quick glance would let me know immediately what was new. Especially useful for me in the Marketplace. Pretty much every time I click on a new subforum, every thread is bolded, too. Not sure how that's useful for anyone? I'd rather be able to distinguish recent activity from all activity. Unless your constantly scanning the forums, this option doesn't seem very helpful. I log in a few times a day, and it's really not doing anything for me.

try this

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1543085

[Tilpots]

Originally Posted by arn

try this

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1543085

SOOOOOOOO much better. Thanks for looking into this and giving us an option.