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Topics read / unread

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
edited January 2023 in Help Desk
Quick question - is there a setting on vBulletin that doesn't flag all topics as read if your session has exceeded ~10 minutes? I find that I visit TheSite, read the new threads in the top sections, work my way down health, relationships etc, then by the time I hit entertainment, everything new to me are automatically flagged as read because I have spent too long on the forum. Cheers.
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Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sorry, afraid the way vbulletin works the time limit on read thread also works with a number of other functions - such as the number of people who are online at the time.

    It's a bit frustrating and I'd hope they've seperated the functionality for vbulletin 4 (which we'll hopefully upgrade to within the year). But for now it's gonna have to remain like this. :(

    It's actually set to 15 minutes which I've got to say it's a bit too much to go over that - especially since things like how many people are online can tie into things like funding bids. Just going over this starts to feel a little dishonest.

    But, yeah, I can understand the problem just afraid it's not something I can sort out right now. :grump:

    On thing you could do would be to open threads in a new tab - frustrating but it should mean the original list stays there for you to look through?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No probs Jim, and thanks a lot for the tabbed browsing idea. I'll do that, as I have Firefox :-)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim V wrote: »

    On thing you could do would be to open threads in a new tab - frustrating but it should mean the original list stays there for you to look through?

    This is what I do, i have an original new posts list open, open stuffy I want to read in a tab, once i've opened it all i start reading then :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's bugged me numerous times, over the years. Sometimes it's very easy to spend a good 20 minutes reading and making a PT, which is where I always head first. Come back and everything is marked read... :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've never had any other vB forums reset everything to read after 10 mins on a session, just this place. It has done it with just selecting a forum, and going to the main page and it resets too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You also have to be careful when you place TheSite's forum index on your browser's Speed Dial. It calls up TheSite upon loading the dials, then you have to visit it straight away. The 15-minute clock starts ticking when the dials are loaded :-)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JavaKrypt wrote: »
    I've never had any other vB forums reset everything to read after 10 mins on a session, just this place. It has done it with just selecting a forum, and going to the main page and it resets too.

    Any examples of specific forums - like I said if we can find a way to show you're no longer online after 15 minutes of inactivity but also allow the list not to reset then we'd be happy to take a look at it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Right, okay dokey, had a look through the possible settings and made a change.

    This change may be more processor intensive, so please bear in mind it could cause problems. So let me know here if you're seeing any major slow down.

    We've changed the setting from using the 15 minute session time out to instead using a direct link with the database. On top of that I've got a 5 day set up to mark things as automatically read if there's been no activity.

    You should also see that this means if you're looking at threads at work, then at home, that the database should remember which threads you've looked at.

    Please let me know if you find this an improvement over the next few days so we can decide whether to keep it or move back to the previous setting.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oh and just to point out the obvious - you're likely to see a significantly longer list of unread threads once you check new posts again. This should come down with time, but as the list is remembering everything you haven't looked at, you'll likely see a lot of 'unread but not updated since last visit'.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ah, at the very start it's going to show you everything from the last five days (as it's now using a different way to track what you've read).

    You can quickly get it up to date by either using the individual option 'mark forum read' in each forum's tools. Or you can mark everything read using > Quick links > Mark Forums Read.

    Either way should get everything relatively up to date, ready to see how things work in the future.

    Right... probably stop reply to myself some time round about now...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim you confused me with your changes. I don't like it :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No worries, if other people respond the same way it's easy to change it back. In a lot of ways it's now working like a permanent list of everything posted you haven't read.

    One way I'm finding I use it is to look through the list and when I've read everything I want to just resetting it using the quick links option to mark everything read.

    That way it seems a lot less overwhelming.

    Apparently this is the way the kids like it these days :p but I'm more than willing to change back if need be. Consider it an experiment until, shall we say the weekend then I'll throw up a poll to decide which way to keep it.

    That sound okay?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ...I just click the "new posts" button. Everything you haven't read is on there isn't it? Well, from when you last logged on. I never search through the forums I just click that.
    Xx
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The change is how long things you've not read stay up for - previously they'd all show as read after 15 minutes, now they will only change if you have read them or mark everything as read.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This is weird, though I'm guessing they'll sort themselves out when I mark all as read in a minute... :)

    Cheers for trying, Jim. :)
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    Let's see how this new way works then.

    On the original problem:
    I thought everything got marked as read only if you idled on one page/thread for more than 15 mins, not just by being logged in for that long. That's how it always was with me, so how come it's different for Mons?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think he's saying the same thing tbh, just that he likes spending a while reading a particular thread and thinking of a reply.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^That'd been my experience, over the years. Sometimes you start typing something out, go back and edit it, maybe do a little hunting around for further information... and by the time you'd finished the one reply, everything else was marked as read. Didn't happen all that often, but it could be annoying at times... :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Everything has worked for me as it should, though I've not spent a huge amount of time in one place... :)
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    I just realised:
    This must mean that now I can log in to read only a few threads, then come back later and the ones I've not read will be still unread? I must test this!
    If it works, it solves my biggest problem with the forum. No need to have a second browser to check individual threads now!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yup, that's probably the biggest advantage :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Am I the only one that doesn't like this :(?

    I'm so used to being able to leave for 15 minutes or longer and come back knowing that all that will be left is stuff posted while I was away.

    I'm sure I'll get used to it but right now? Omg no likey :(.
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    Franki wrote: »
    Am I the only one that doesn't like this :(?

    I'm so used to being able to leave for 15 minutes or longer and come back knowing that all that will be left is stuff posted while I was away.

    I'm sure I'll get used to it but right now? Omg no likey :(.
    Just use the "Mark forums read" link.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim V wrote: »
    yup, that's probably the biggest advantage :)

    Yes. It's flocking great, TBH. I love you Jimmy Jimmy, oh Jimmy Jimmy... why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why, do fools fall... ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I will do when I remember, but I'm so used to not having to do that that it feels so weeeeeeeeeeeeeeird.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Franki wrote: »
    Am I the only one that doesn't like this :(?

    I'm so used to being able to leave for 15 minutes or longer and come back knowing that all that will be left is stuff posted while I was away.

    I'm sure I'll get used to it but right now? Omg no likey :(.

    But the stuff that would have vanished now appears under a line that says "The threads below have not been updated since your last visit but still contain unread posts."
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Big Gay wrote: »
    But the stuff that would have vanished now appears under a line that says "The threads below have not been updated since your last visit but still contain unread posts."
    It does?

    Is this in the 'new posts' list? Because I don't use that and, ashamedly, cannot seem to find it >.<.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ah, it's in the banner at the top, just below your login info - same place as Quick Links, FAQ, Member list
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    Once more I'd like to thank Jim and the rest for making this change :thumb:
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