Strange forum behavior

[Hummusx 0]

Does anyone else have weird things happen in the forums like going to the third page of a thread instead of the first page, or jumping halfway down the page instead of showing the first post? It's really distracting. Sometimes I click on a thread and read the first one, and then I'm like "What the hell is this person talking about?" then I realize that I'm looking at the 10th post down instead of the first one.

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It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

[alanab 0]

i think it goes to the last post that you havent viewed

[Casie 0]

It happens to me on occasion but not always!

~Porn Kitty
WARNING: Goldschlager causes extreme emotional outbursts!

[skymama 35]

In your "Display Settings Profile" in "Edit Profile", do you have it set to "jump to first unread post"?

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[PeteW 0]

Yup same thing happens to me. I am sure sometimes I have never read that thread.

Pete

[PhillyKev 0]

I believe it resets and thinks you've viewed everything after you leave the forums. So, when you come back it will jump to the first post since the last time you were here, regardless of whether you opened that thread or not.

I don't think it used to do that, but I've noticed it happening a lot lately.

[turtlespeed 212]

Hmmm, I have a neat one, kind of annoying though.

Everyones, well, most everyones avavtars at one time or another stretch across my screen and if the pic is dark enough, it willmake it impossible to read the post. It's really slowing down my PW'ng.

Happened last night and again this morning, I can clear it by dragging the scroll bar up and down a little, bu it never clears it 100%.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Hummusx 0]

This is the key! Everything is getting marked as viewed even if I haven't actually looked at it. At least, that seems to best describe the behavior.

____________________________________
It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

[goose491 0]

Typically, you get to the first unread post.

But If you logged on for a day, and there was a new thread (showing as orange) that you did not read at all before logging off, you could log in at a later date and have it shown as white (like you read it) with orange pages behind (meaning others have posted there)

If you click on this thread, it will go to the first post made after you logged off the first time, thusly, even though you've never read this thread before, you appear part way through it.

make any sense?

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[katiebear21 0]

It will get marked as viewed if you've logged out and then come back on right away or something like that. Set it up so it remembers your logon so even if you close the window you don't get logged out.

Not a very technical explanation but I know it's something like that.

Katie
Get your PMS glass necklace here

[GigaBuist 0]

Quote

I believe it resets and thinks you've viewed everything after you leave the forums. So, when you come back it will jump to the first post since the last time you were here, regardless of whether you opened that thread or not.

I don't think it used to do that, but I've noticed it happening a lot lately.

I'd have to take a gander at the database design and the code to make a true assement of this but I'll take a stab in the dark here.

If the forum system actually tried logging which posts you have read and which one's you haven't you'd end up with a matrix that had every user on one side and every post on the other side. That'd be friggen gigantic!

Well, it wouldn't be a true matrix as in a X by Y grid but instead a two column join table with a user ID in one column and a post ID in the other column. In an "all posts read by all users" situation the size of the grid would be the same though.

Every time a post was brought up the system would have to do a lookup to determine if you've read this post or not. If not, insert a new "you read this" record. if you pull up 20 posts in a single view that's 20 lookups and up to 20 inserts into the table. Given the traffic load of this place -- that's a nightmare.

Far far easier to just keep track of the last time user X read forum Y. I -think- that's how this works though I've never really paid attention. Once you hit a thread in talkback it flags you as having read talkback at that point in time. When you returnlater, even if you didn't touch a thread, it still figures you probably read that stuff.

Optimal solution regarding usability? Nope -- but the alternative is a mess.

I just realized I've had my head in way too many technical discussions today as this seems like normal stuff to talk about. Crikey.