"new posts"

godfry n. glad · #1 05-20-2005, 05:50 PM

On the FF homepage, which appears with my avatar in the upper left corner, are two links, directly below my avatar, which state "new PMs" and "new posts". Now, the "new PM" is fairly self-explanatory, it tells me if there are any unread PMs awaiting me.

The "new posts" shows all those items which have new postings. That I understand. Yet, I don't read all the new postings and even when I do, it doesn't seem to change the count. However, if I close the site and reopen, it generally gives me another number, close to what it was earlier. However, sometimes after it's shown the likes of 237 new posts, it'll change upon reentry to the likes of 7 or 12. It evidently "refreshes" on occasion, but be damned if I can figure out how the system determines when that is done.

Can you enlighten?

godfry

Zikes · #2 05-20-2005, 06:00 PM

I tend to use "Mark Forums Read" from my Quick Links pretty often and the numbers have been accurate for me :shrug:

livius drusus · #3 05-20-2005, 06:16 PM

vBulletin has a big problem with peristent read marks, godfry. They use a combination of cookies and session timeouts and it doesn't really work well.

Zikes' is right that Mark Forums Read is probably the best tool to use for now, but the good news is the next version of vB (expected sometime in June) has a whole new read marks system so you won't have to put up with it for much longer.

viscousmemories · #4 05-20-2005, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by godfry n. glad

It evidently "refreshes" on occasion, but be damned if I can figure out how the system determines when that is done.

There is a time limit (I think it's 24 hours) after which posts are determined to no longer be 'new' whether you've read them or not. But liv is right that at this juncture it's a flawed system at best.

JoeP · #5 05-21-2005, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by livius drusus

vBulletin has a big problem with peristent read marks, godfry. They use a combination of cookies and session timeouts and it doesn't really work well.

Zikes' is right that Mark Forums Read is probably the best tool to use for now, but the good news is the next version of vB (expected sometime in June) has a whole new read marks system so you won't have to put up with it for much longer.

June! We can't wait that long!