# Why does the "Go to first new post" button not work that great at TCF?



## Bob_Newhart (Jul 14, 2004)

If I haven't been to TCF in a few hours or days and I go to a thread that I have visited before, when I click on the little "Go to first new post" button, I generally end up near the end of the thread, entirely skipping over a whole mess of posts.

Other sites I visit, even if I haven't been there in several days/weeks, when I click this button, it goes to the next post after the last one I read. Not here, however.

Why is this?

<ETA> It even skips several posts if I haven't been to a thread in 20 minutes or so. I clicked on JAP's avatar thread when there were no responses, and 20 minutes later there were 21 responses so I clicked on "Go to newest post". It took me to the 18th post.


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## rhuntington3 (May 1, 2001)

Quite often, that button takes me to the same place every time even though I've read all the new posts in that thread. Quite annoying.


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## Boot (Mar 15, 2000)

Bob_Newhart said:


> If I haven't been to TCF in a few hours or days and I go to a thread that I have visited before, when I click on the little "Go to first new post" button, I generally end up near the end of the thread, entirely skipping over a whole mess of posts.
> 
> Other sites I visit, even if I haven't been there in several days/weeks, when I click this button, it goes to the next post after the last one I read. Not here, however.
> 
> Why is this?


TCF seems to automatically mark things as read after a set amount of time. There's always a point, usually around page 2, where all the threads go from bolded to unbolded. I think what you're seeing is part of the same mechanism.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I've often wondered the same thing. I'd love to know if there is a legit reason.


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## Boot (Mar 15, 2000)

A google search shows that this is tied to the inactivity timer. The same mechanism that shows you as offline once you don't do anything on TCF for 15 minutes, also marks everything posted on the forum before that time as read. And from the post I read, it seems that there's no way to change that.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

Here's the way to work around that behavior.

Go to the list of threads for a forum, like HH, or whatever. Pick a thread. Click on the number of posts in the thread. That will bring up a small window that shows the number of posts per user for that thread. Now, if you are using firefox, right click on the page in that small window and select "Reload => Every 5 minutes."

That will reload the post count page every 5 minutes, and as a result you will be kept logged in and active on TCF and the inactivity won't mess up the "unread" marker.


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## Bob_Newhart (Jul 14, 2004)

JETarpon said:


> Here's the way to work around that behavior.
> 
> Go to the list of threads for a forum, like HH, or whatever. Pick a thread. Click on the number of posts in the thread. That will bring up a small window that shows the number of posts per user for that thread. Now, if you are using firefox, right click on the page in that small window and select "Reload => Every 5 minutes."
> 
> That will reload the post count page every 5 minutes, and as a result you will be kept logged in and active on TCF and the inactivity won't mess up the "unread" marker.


You have to do this on every individual thread?

If so, this is stupid.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

Bob_Newhart said:


> You have to do this on every individual thread?
> 
> If so, this is stupid.


No, just do it on one thread. The automatic reload of firefox will keep you logged in, and then none of the threads will "time out."


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## Zevida (Nov 8, 2003)

I don't have any problems with the "go to first unread" button.


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## Marc (Jun 26, 1999)

Back in March, I had suggested that they enable per-thread read status. On another forum with which I'm familiar, we have that setting, and everyone loves it as it makes things far more consistent!

Plus, if that option were enabled, you could log into the forum to check something without having to risk getting all of your unread threads marked as read simply based on your last login time.


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## Agatha Mystery (Feb 12, 2002)

I had a problem at one point. I deleted my cookie and everything was fine after that. You might try doing that and it could fix your problem.


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## YCantAngieRead (Nov 5, 2003)

JETarpon said:


> Here's the way to work around that behavior.
> 
> Go to the list of threads for a forum, like HH, or whatever. Pick a thread. Click on the number of posts in the thread. That will bring up a small window that shows the number of posts per user for that thread. Now, if you are using firefox, right click on the page in that small window and select "Reload => Every 5 minutes."
> 
> That will reload the post count page every 5 minutes, and as a result you will be kept logged in and active on TCF and the inactivity won't mess up the "unread" marker.


Why isn't this working for me? I click reload and it just reloads. Doesn't give me any options.


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## Boot (Mar 15, 2000)

YCantAngieRead said:


> Why isn't this working for me? I click reload and it just reloads. Doesn't give me any options.


You need the "ReloadEvery" Firefox extension.


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## JETarpon (Jan 1, 2003)

Boot said:


> You need the "ReloadEvery" Firefox extension.


Really? According to my Add-on list, I don't have that, but I do have the Reload Every menu.


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## jsmeeker (Apr 2, 2001)

it should require a specific browser to work right. I use other forums with multiple browsers from multiple machines and they get it right. It always knows. I don't get why TC can't get it right.


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## gchance (Dec 6, 2002)

Boot said:


> You need the "ReloadEvery" Firefox extension.


Of course! Such an obvious thing!

They could always just fix the board. Nahhhh, that'd be too hard.

Greg


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Marc said:


> Back in March, I had suggested that they enable per-thread read status. On another forum with which I'm familiar, we have that setting, and everyone loves it as it makes things far more consistent!
> 
> Plus, if that option were enabled, you could log into the forum to check something without having to risk getting all of your unread threads marked as read simply based on your last login time.


This is the real solution and it works great on forums that implement it. I wish they would do it here.


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## MasterOfPuppets (Jul 12, 2005)

The "first new post" button is doing its impression of the search feature.


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## Ruth (Jul 31, 2001)

That would be a huge improvement. I hope they do it. 

I use this feature a lot, and I have I experienced all of the problems that have been discussed in this thread.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

The only problem I have is if I exit my browser and then come back within a few minutes--it takes me back to where I was a long time ago!.

Also, in Firefox sometimes it shows a new post there when it's only my post being the only one I haven't technically seen, but that is sporadic.


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## mtnagel (Nov 15, 2003)

Marc said:


> Back in March, I had suggested that they enable per-thread read status. On another forum with which I'm familiar, we have that setting, and everyone loves it as it makes things far more consistent!
> 
> Plus, if that option were enabled, you could log into the forum to check something without having to risk getting all of your unread threads marked as read simply based on your last login time.


I agree. This is the way it should be.


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## mcb08 (Mar 10, 2006)

Agatha Mystery said:


> I had a problem at one point. I deleted my cookie and everything was fine after that. You might try doing that and it could fix your problem.


MMMMMMMMMMMM...Cookie!!


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

GoodSpike said:


> The only problem I have is if I exit my browser and then come back within a few minutes--it takes me back to where I was a long time ago!.
> 
> Also, in Firefox sometimes it shows a new post there when it's only my post being the only one I haven't technically seen, but that is sporadic.


I bet you have the timeout one too. Say you have 100 unread threads. You pop in to TCF and read one, then have to leave for 15 minutes. When you get back the other 99 are not marked as read as of 15 minutes ago. So you only see as unread new posts since then. Which means that I never, ever pop in unless I have time to go through all/most of my subscribed threads, so I won't lose my "place".

Are the mods even reading this thread? We should report it.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

I haven't used that feature since it never works right... I just wing it every visit. It would be GREAT if it worked.


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## dthmj (Mar 12, 2002)

Zevida said:


> I don't have any problems with the "go to first unread" button.


I don't either for the most part. The only time I do have issues is when I have a lot of windows open and doing something else and forget to read TCF and get the threads marked as read before I was really ready.

But for day to day use, it works just fine.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Seems to work fine for me. Only problem is when I come back too soon and it hasn't updated yet.

Then again, I doubt I'm ever away long enough for everything to reset the way some people are describing.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

eddyj said:


> I bet you have the timeout one too. Say you have 100 unread threads. You pop in to TCF and read one, then have to leave for 15 minutes. When you get back the other 99 are not marked as read as of 15 minutes ago. So you only see as unread new posts since then.


No, it's just the opposite--it's as if I was never in at all. Thus, if I pop into the thread I've already read, I need to read posts that I already read.

BTW, one other thing. With IE recently (maybe 4 months ago) the back button started not working properly. It would take me back to the part of the thread that was where I came in at, rather than the point of the thread I left. Thus if I quoted something, and posted, and then hit back twice, I wouldn't be back at the post I quoted, but instead the first post I read in the thread.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

GoodSpike said:


> No, it's just the opposite--it's as if I was never in at all. Thus, if I pop into the thread I've already read, I need to read posts that I already read.


That happens if you go back too soon (before the timeout period). If you wait long enough, you get the other behavior. Neither is good, and would never happen if they implemented the feature we are talking about.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Marc said:


> Plus, if that option were enabled, you could log into the forum to check something without having to risk getting all of your unread threads marked as read simply based on your last login time.


Ooo! I hate when that happens!


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

This is why I won't log in to TCF from the road to read a quick thread or PM. Because all of my unread markers will be lost.

Here's what I do when I visit. I'll go to my UserCP or Happy Hour proper and *command-click* on the "go to first new post" of any and all threads that are interesting to me. This opens them all up in successive tabs in my browser (Safari.)

Then I read one at a time and reply as needed. My "last read" spot is almost always accurate, since I read them all and close as I go. It also saves on load time because I am reading and scrolling as the new pages load in the background.

This would be fixed properly if the forum's mods changed the read marker style, saving each user's actual read state instead of doing it by forum timeout... it's been suggested but hasn't hasn't affected any change. In the meantime though, my system's working fine for me.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Fofer said:


> This is why I won't log in to TCF from the road to read a quick thread or PM. Because all of my unread markers will be lost.
> 
> Here's what I do when I visit. I'll go to my UserCP or Happy Hour proper and *command-click* on the "go to first new post" of any and all threads that are interesting to me. This opens them all up in successive tabs in my browser (Safari.)
> 
> ...


That only works if none of the tabs end up having multiple unread pages, then when you go to those, it resets the spot again. 

Mods, can we change to keep the correct read markers? Pretty please?


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

eddyj said:


> That only works if none of the tabs end up having multiple unread pages, then when you go to those, it resets the spot again.


It does for me. It loads up to the point that I last read. Maybe I'm explaining it poorly, but this system helps me be sure I've read everything since my last login in the threads I choose to participate in.

In any case I will agree, if they'd flip the vBulletin switch to make it work better, the user experience here will benefit. It's MUCH more server intensive though, so it's entirely possible (based on userbase size and activity) that they've chosen to not change it for that reason.


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## justapixel (Sep 27, 2001)

eddyj said:


> That only works if none of the tabs end up having multiple unread pages, then when you go to those, it resets the spot again.
> 
> Mods, can we change to keep the correct read markers? Pretty please?


I don't think this is something that we have the ability to do.

But, I can move this thread to the forum operations center and hope someday our technical guy sees it......


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

justapixel said:


> I don't think this is something that we have the ability to do.


sure you do  - every other board that is based on this software does it the much much preferred way.


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

justapixel said:


> I don't think this is something that we have the ability to do.
> 
> But, I can move this thread to the forum operations center and hope someday our technical guy sees it......


Yes, please do. The forum software most certainly has the ability. See Marc's post that show's vBulletin's current admin settings for this:



> Inactivity/Cookie Based - once a user has been inactive for a certain amount of time (the value of the session timeout option) all threads and forums are considered read. Individual threads are marked as read within a session via cookies.
> 
> This option is how all versions of vBulletin before 3.5 functioned.
> 
> ...


TCF uses #1 right now. What we'd like to see is it use #3... but as mentioned, might be too tough on the server. #2 wouldn't be so bad, though, and might be a nice compromise.

Pretty please?


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## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

justapixel said:


> and hope someday our technical guy sees it......


"hope someday?"

Too passive for my taste. We are men (and women) of action, are we not?!

Who is this "technical guy?" Is it his job to monitor this Forum Operations Center sub-forum? Can we not PM him a link to this, so he can read it and address it with a straightforward answer?


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Jebberwocky! said:


> sure you do  - every other board that is based on this software does it the much much preferred way.


I think by "we can't" she meant that _the mods_ don't have the ability to make that change.

Which is true, that kind of change requires an Admin, not just a mod.


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