Problem with the BBS

Posted by: andy

Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 01:44

I seem to be having a problem with the BBS. It appears to have forgotten how to mark messages as read.

The way I use the BBS is to go into a forum, read what I am interested in and the press the "up" button to return to the main index. In the past this marked all the unread messages as read. It does not seem to do this any more, it appears that the only way I can mark the messages as read is to read them.

Has anyone else noticed this change ?

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...
Posted by: Henno

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 02:41

It appears to have forgotten how to mark messages as read

I don't see anything wrong today. Messages are also tagged 'read' as they should be.
Are you logged-in??

Henno
mk2 6 nr 6
Posted by: andy

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 08:27

Yes I am logged in. The problem hasn't just been today, it has been happening for over a week now.

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...
Posted by: jbauer

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 09:00

Has anyone else noticed that when you have 10 messages in a thread, the BBS (from the main index page) does not give you an option of seeing 1, 2, or all pages... You have to be in the thread to choose to go to the next page. This is fixed on post number 11...

Maybe the author of the BBS is a fan of Spinal Tap??? "This one goes to 11!"

- Jon

Posted by: GeorgeLSJr

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 09:56

I see that the BBS doesn't mark any messages that you don't actually read as being read. TECHNICALLY, that makes perfect sense. I figured that was the way it was supposed to work. If you go into the forum and then go to the main index using the arrow or the "Main Index" link, it no longer shows that forum as having unread messages, but if you go back into the forum, any that you haven't read are still marked as unread. If you're actually saying that THIS isn't what's happening, then there's two possibilities... perhaps your cookies are turned off and you're not logged in or someone ate part of your cookie and it's messed up. The other possibility is that there actually IS a new message in the forum. Remember that when you go back to the main index, the BBS refreshes itself and tells you if there are any NEW messages again.

George
Posted by: andy

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 10:09

That is what is happening, i.e. the main index always shows the correct number of unread messages, but once you drill down the messages are still shown as unread.

This isn't what used to happen. Before when you pressed "up" while in a forum all messages got marked as read (even those that you hadn't read). This is good. This is how the other wwwthreads bbs that I use still works.

The way things are currently working is a real pain. You can't spot new messages unless you go through and read EVERY message (even those you don't want to read) each time.

I though to begin with it was because I had upgraded to IE5.5, but that's not it, it also happens from work using IE5.0

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...
Posted by: GeorgeLSJr

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 10:32

I agree with ya that it's a pain, but I understand the working. Perhaps it's a global setting that can be changed? FWIW, I don't have IE5 (ver.4), but I use Netscape and have the same "issue".

George
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 11:36

I think that the behavior may have changed when the BBS was upgraded a couple weeks ago.

Although I don't think it changed much. As I recall, it always worked like this:

- As soon as you go into a thread, it counts that thread as "read" in the index.

- If you don't read all the messages within the thread, and you go back out of it, tough luck: you didn't finish reading the thread while you were in there.

- In this way, you can "ignore" threads and mark them as ready simply by hopping into the thread and back out again.


I think that the recent upgrade may have added the following behavior:

- If you hop in and out of a thread, it counts the whole thread as "read" in the index, as before, but if you want to hop back into the thread and read it anyway, the individual messages will still have the proper read/unread marks on them so you can continue to browse. (I think that before, they all got marked as read.)


Can anyone confirm this behavior? If this is true, I don't see how it's a problem. I can only see it as an advantage.

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Tony Fabris
Posted by: andy

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 12:09

Can anyone confirm this behavior? If this is true, I don't see how it's a problem. I can only see it as an advantage.

That's what definitely appears to happen, and from my point of view it is not an advantage. Perhaps it's only a problem if you read in threaded mode as I do. I now have to wade through the threaded view working out which messages are really new and which ones I have already decided I don't want to read but are now "helpfully" marked as not read.

It is now taking me about twice as long to read each days posts. I would like the original behaviour back please, unless user options can be provided, or an alternative "up" button that does mark the whole thread/forum read.

(I have just checked the preferences screen to make sure there isn't a new config option for this, there isn't)

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...
Posted by: andy

Re: Problem with the BBS - 13/08/2000 12:19

I have just taken a look at the non expanded thread mode. The new behaviour makes sense in this mode because the list of topics tells you which actually do have new message, you do not see this info in expanded thread mode.

Unfortunately I prefer expanded thread mode, but I shall experiment a little more with the non-expanded thread.

(before you all ask, the reason I prefer the expanded mode is that if you want to read a single message in a thread it only take one click, in non-expanded mode it always takes two clicks)

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Edited by andy on 13/8/00 08:23 PM.