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Bug in Unread posts...

D

Dep

Guest
I use 'Show unread posts since last visit.' as a convenient way to track latest posts...

I was in earlier this morning and there were two pages of unread posts...
I read a couple and then went off to do something else and closed my browser.
When I returned there were just four posts in there.

This has happened many times before - it's definitely not correct behaviour as I have not viewed these threads - therefore the software should not be flagging the fact that I apparently have.

Has anyone else noticed this?
 
paul

paul

Moderator
Dep said:
I use 'Show unread posts since last visit.' as a convenient way to track latest posts...

I was in earlier this morning and there were two pages of unread posts...
I read a couple and then went off to do something else and closed my browser.
When I returned there were just four posts in there.

This has happened many times before - it's definitely not correct behaviour as I have not viewed these threads - therefore the software should not be flagging the fact that I apparently have.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...

When you close your browser and the open it up again and go to this Forum, does that not count as the next "visit"? Or does it require you to log off first then close your browser?

I would have thought that closing the browser then starting a new session and returning to UKCaving.com is a new "visit" hence the lesser number of "unread posts since your last visit".
 
bubba

bubba

Administrator
Hmm - it aways works perfectly for me - unread stay unread.

What are your cookie settings? i.e. do you allow cookies?
 
P

Peter Burgess

New member
There's a difference between 'show unread posts' and 'show unread posts since last visit'.  :-\

What is 'last visit'. The last time you logged in?
 
ttxela

ttxela

New member
paul said:
Dep said:
I use 'Show unread posts since last visit.' as a convenient way to track latest posts...

I was in earlier this morning and there were two pages of unread posts...
I read a couple and then went off to do something else and closed my browser.
When I returned there were just four posts in there.

This has happened many times before - it's definitely not correct behaviour as I have not viewed these threads - therefore the software should not be flagging the fact that I apparently have.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...

When you close your browser and the open it up again and go to this Forum, does that not count as the next "visit"? Or does it require you to log off first then close your browser?

I would have thought that closing the browser then starting a new session and returning to UKCaving.com is a new "visit" hence the lesser number of "unread posts since your last visit".
Click to expand...

I reckon this is how it works, if you don't read the posts before you go when you come back unread posts since last visit are only those made since you closed the window. I've been caught by this myself.
 
bubba

bubba

Administrator
No, it should keep them as unread even if you shut the browser down and restart it. Works like that for me.

The only time it gets confused is if i have two browsers on the same network logged in on different PCs.
 
antmcc

antmcc

Member
Mine behaves the same, I just assumed (as Paul says) that each browser visit is tracked hence if I close the browser any unread posts (at the time I close) are not marked as new on the next visit

Settings
IE7, Cookies are enabled, UKCaving cookie not updated since 4th June!
 
Elaine

Elaine

Active member
We both (ie me and Hughie) find that sometimes the 'unread posts' that are shown are just the ones posted that day or that afternoon. The earlier ones will eventually pop up as unread posts another time or even another day. Even though we have clicked 'show unread posts' several times since they were posted.
 
D

Dep

Guest
paul said:
Dep said:
I use 'Show unread posts since last visit.' as a convenient way to track latest posts...

I was in earlier this morning and there were two pages of unread posts...
I read a couple and then went off to do something else and closed my browser.
When I returned there were just four posts in there.

This has happened many times before - it's definitely not correct behaviour as I have not viewed these threads - therefore the software should not be flagging the fact that I apparently have.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...

When you close your browser and the open it up again and go to this Forum, does that not count as the next "visit"? Or does it require you to log off first then close your browser?

I would have thought that closing the browser then starting a new session and returning to UKCaving.com is a new "visit" hence the lesser number of "unread posts since your last visit".
Click to expand...

No. Unread posts is per individual post and should persist indefinitely as it is a list of all thoise posts you have never seen.
Normally it preserves unread posts between visits, including browser and PC shut-downs.

I'm going to experiment with crashing the browser/PC - it may be that when it (FF) shuts down under unusual circumstances the cookie is not written - even though this should happen when you refresh the page and its loaded into the browser.

Bubba: is there a data entry that records which topics a user has read?
Or is it purely cookie based?

AFAIAA (experiment pending) deleting the cookie and starting afresh does not suddenly reveal every post ever made as unread so I am fairly sure it doesn't work that way.
 
ttxela

ttxela

New member
antmcc said:
Mine behaves the same, I just assumed (as Paul says) that each browser visit is tracked hence if I close the browser any unread posts (at the time I close) are not marked as new on the next visit

Settings
IE7, Cookies are enabled, UKCaving cookie not updated since 4th June!
Click to expand...

Surely it has to work this way to get rid of any unread posts you don't want to read?
 
ttxela

ttxela

New member
Just tried it, big list of unread posts a few seconds ago. Closed the window and re-opened it and they've all gone. It's always worked that way on my machine......
 
D

Dep

Guest
bubba said:
Hmm - it aways works perfectly for me - unread stay unread.

What are your cookie settings? i.e. do you allow cookies?
Click to expand...

yes - all fully enabled 'normal' set-up.

Interesting - just had a fiddle with IE (I have IE and FF here)
IE cookie doe not change its timestamp when I browse through it. That's oening the browser, reading and closng all IE browser windows - no chnage in the cookie so it is not stored in there.

 
D

Dep

Guest
ttxela said:
antmcc said:
Mine behaves the same, I just assumed (as Paul says) that each browser visit is tracked hence if I close the browser any unread posts (at the time I close) are not marked as new on the next visit

Settings
IE7, Cookies are enabled, UKCaving cookie not updated since 4th June!
Click to expand...

Surely it has to work this way to get rid of any unread posts you don't want to read?
Click to expand...

No. Clicking mark-read should cause a flag to be set somewhere that says "this user has read topics 1,2+4"

Also your description of how it works sounds to me as you have this error permanently.

Or I have a permanent error in that it does NOT clear the posts when I shut the browser down?

What is apparent from the reposnses to this thread is that the behaviour is inconsistent for different users.

Just to clarify  - I am only talking about the link at the very top of every page marked: "Show unread posts since last visit." - not show recent posts - not the same thing at all.
 
D

Dep

Guest
I should add that usually it works fine for me...

But the very fact that maybe one visit in ten it does something radically different suggests an issue.

But which of the two distinctly different behaviours is the correct one as designed?
 
ttxela

ttxela

New member
The way it works for me is the way I expected it to work, wouldn't the other way be simply "show unread posts" without the "since last visit" bit........... :unsure:
 
antmcc

antmcc

Member
I've never seen it as a problem as it's 'since last visit' and I've never had it work any other way on (at least) 4 different PCs, but Dep's message indicates that he may be seeing something different normally.

Either way works for me as long as I know what to expect!
 
SamT

SamT

Moderator
I lose all the unread list if I close my browser, and re-open - its always been this way.

Im sure its something to do with cookie set up. I use several different machines, My work laptop, My desktop and my missus's laptop. I never have to put my password in on any of them - as I have the 'keep me logged on' setting set. Not sure if this confuses things.

I'll have  a mess about and see if I can get it to work properly (though I've never really found it to be a problem) guess i miss a few posts, but hey ho, theres far too many to keep up with these days anyhow)
 
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