Missing a LOT of New Posts - Is This is a Problem for Anyone Else?

[thehipcrip]

No matter what method I use to read the boards, there end up being a good percentage of new posts that I haven't seen but are already marked as read.

When I visit a forum, something happens that updates the time stamp on my cookie so that all messages in all forums made before that time are marked as read. It's so bad that I've even taken screen shots of a forum after I've finished reading all new posts so it's easier for me to figure out which threads have new replies since my last visit to that forum.

Same thing with the New Posts function. If I use it and, after reading everything listed, go to individual forums, there's always at least one post/thread made within the time frame of the New Posts search but wasn't picked up.

The New Posts feature has one other big problem that may be easily fixable by Steven once he knows about it...

When a New Posts search returns multiple pages of returns, you have a limited amount of time to view pages 2 and on before the search expires and those pages of returns disappear.

This happened to me this morning. My New Posts search returned 55 results, 25 to a page. Shortly after I started reading, I got called away from my computer. When I came back 90 minutes later, pages two and three were gone, and somewhere out there on the board are 30 threads that have updated posts I've never seen but are now marked as read by me.

This is frustrating, and frankly it can be really embarrassing when I stumble across a thread that was started a while back but I've never seen because the New Posts function didn't pick it up. If I didn't know anty was so reliable about starting Happy Birthday threads in the Life forum, I would have missed my own B'day thread because it never showed up in my New Posts returns.

Does/Has anyone else have/had this problem? Moreover, has anyone found a way to solve it?

Steven, is there anything that can be done to the cookie settings so that activities like refreshing the forum index page won't also reset the "messages last read at" timer?

[Steven Edwards]

The best thing to do is, do what I do.

Load the New Posts page, scroll down, then open each thread you plan to read in a new tab. When done, close the New Posts tab and start reading, closing each tab/thread when you're done.

How long does it usually take you to get to page 2 after loading New Posts?

[Lazlo]

I do something similar. I hit the New Posts link and with the Infinite Scroll option keep scrolling down until all the pages are loaded. Then I work my way back up the list, middle clicking on each post I'm interested in to open it in another tab. When I get to the top, I close the New Posts tab and then read the threads one at a time in each tab, closing the tab when I'm done with that thread.

[sjean423]

LOL, What they said.

If I still miss them (say I open CC, and then don't do anything else until it is too late) I just go to "today's posts" and skim through the list, usually catching anything new. Of course that only works when I am popping in every day .... If I have been off line for a long period, I make a point of opening the threads right away.

[Le Todd]

The best thing to do is, do what I do.

Load the New Posts page, scroll down, then open each thread you plan to read in a new tab. When done, close the New Posts tab and start reading, closing each tab/thread when you're done.

How long does it usually take you to get to page 2 after loading New Posts?

Haha! I use that method, too.

[thehipcrip]

The best thing to do is, do what I do.

Load the New Posts page, scroll down, then open each thread you plan to read in a new tab. When done, close the New Posts tab and start reading, closing each tab/thread when you're done.

How long does it usually take you to get to page 2 after loading New Posts?

That will take care of not losing multiple pages (as if I don't have enough tabs open already!), but it doesn't solve the problem of missing replies (for example, I never saw the responses in this thread from LTF and sjean until I sought out this thread specifically). I've been using the New Posts function all day today, but the Care Forum thread about a PCA with MRSA has never been picked up...

It looks like I'll either need to use sjean's idea to also view Today's Posts (great suggestion, my friend) or visit each forum individually at the end of the day to catch what New Posts is missing.

Thanks for the tips.

[Le Todd]

That will take care of not losing multiple pages (as if I don't have enough tabs open already!), but it doesn't solve the problem of missing replies (for example, I never saw the responses in this thread from LTF and sjean until I sought out this thread specifically). I've been using the New Posts function all day today, but the Care Forum thread about a PCA with MRSA has never been picked up...

That's very strange.

[thehipcrip]

LTF, it's not strange at all for me -- it's commonplace. I took sjean's suggestion about looking at Today's Posts too, and discovered 15 threads (out of 115 threads updated today) that did not show up for me using the New Posts search.

The PCA with MRSA thread finally did appear as one of the New Posts returns, but only after FG replied to it.

One other thing I've noticed is that when I click on the little arrow symbol next to the thread title that's supposed to take you to the first unread reply in the thread, it often takes me to more recent posts than the last reply I've read. For example, today in the I Want Combo Trials Now thread, I had to backtrack two pages to go back to the place I'd actually left off reading -- the "Go to First Unread Reply" link missed 17 replies that I'd never seen.

Something is changing the time stamp in my cookie that indicates when I've last read a forum/thread and it's causing unread threads/replies to be marked as read when I haven't read them yet.

[Suzie Q]

hey Hip, i wrote you a couple of times also and you have not answered. did ya get them on here?

[Le Todd]

Something is changing the time stamp in my cookie that indicates when I've last read a forum/thread and it's causing unread threads/replies to be marked as read when I haven't read them yet.

Makes me wonder if there's an oversight in your browser preferences that's causing this.

[sjean423]

HC ..... I noticed that I tend to always read the boards via "Today'
s Posts" instead of "New Posts". (I am on autopilot when I click I guess)

And I will sometimes notice the same thing, the most recent post I am taken too is not always the first one of the day. I am sure it is cookie related.