New posts

[Clitheroekid]

Can anyone explain how LF decides where to start with the `New Posts' when I click on the link?

The earliest one is sometimes yesterday; sometimes just a few hours ago. I'd vaguely assumed it would start at the last time I was logged on to LF, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Lootman]

Can anyone explain how LF decides where to start with the `New Posts' when I click on the link?

The earliest one is sometimes yesterday; sometimes just a few hours ago. I'd vaguely assumed it would start at the last time I was logged on to LF, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

The way it works for me is that it shows all new posts since the last time I logged off TLF.

There are a couple of wrinkles though. Sometimes it shows all the new posts since the previous time I logged off, i.e. including the new posts in my last session. I assume this is because I didn't really log off explicitly, but rather just closed the window or my laptop, and the system never detected an explicit signing off.

Also, sometimes I miss a new post, presumably because it was submitted a second before I signed off, so the system assumes I saw it when in fact I didn't. So I'm careful to check New Posts again, as the last thing I do before signing off.

This is all speculation based on my experience, and nothing more.

[UncleEbenezer]

Can anyone explain how LF decides where to start with the `New Posts' when I click on the link?

The earliest one is sometimes yesterday; sometimes just a few hours ago. I'd vaguely assumed it would start at the last time I was logged on to LF, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Logged on to LF" is not something the server can measure ("login" over HTTP is at best an emulation). You'll note the details shown in some pages are commendably honest, in declaring that the criterion for showing a user as "online" is just that they've submitted some request within the past five minutes.

When you click "new posts" on a thread, it simply takes you to the first post since you last read that thread.

Possible exceptions to that are when moderator action causes that information to be lost, or simply a bug in the system. I think there may be a race condition. One bug (IMHO) is that when I've read an entire thread or forum or marked it read, then posted to it, the software then shows it as having unread content due to my own post.

[gryffron]

The way it works for me is that it shows all new posts since the last time I logged off TLF.

No, that's definitely not right. HTML receives no notification when you navigate away from a page/site, so it doesn't know when you have left. Even manually pressing "Logout" doesn't clear "new" status. (I just tried it)

AFAICS each thread is "new" if there has been any new posts since you last viewed the final page of that thread.

HTML knows which pages you have requested. But it cannot tell when you scroll up or down the page. So it can't actually know that you have read any particular post, or even seen it on your screen. It only knows that you have been served that page and had a chance to read it.

Clicking on the red circle takes you straight to the first new post - and automatically clears the "new" status. Even if you have skipped 10 pages to get there.
Navigating to the final page of a thread by any other means, also clears the "new" status, even though this takes you to the TOP of the final page, from which the new posts might not be immediately visible.
Obviously, manually marking any thread/board or whole site as "read" removes all relevant new status.

Since you go back to the final page of the thread list after posting, a thread is not "new" when you yourself post on it.

Gryff

[mc2fool]

Can anyone explain how LF decides where to start with the `New Posts' when I click on the link?

Can you be more precise about what you are talking about, 'cos AFAICS the only New posts link is under the Quick links menu, whereas most of the replies here so far seem to be talking about the red-circle Unread posts icon.

[stooz]

I think it has something to do with all posts vs posts you have subscribed or posted to.

[Lootman]

The way it works for me is that it shows all new posts since the last time I logged off TLF.

No, that's definitely not right. HTML receives no notification when you navigate away from a page/site, so it doesn't know when you have left. Even manually pressing "Logout" doesn't clear "new" status. (I just tried it)

Hmm, then it works differently for you than it does for me.

When I sign in, as I just did a few minutes ago, the "New Posts" list is showing all new posts (well, as far as I know anyway) since I last signed off late last night. About two screen's worth. It's certainly showing none before then.

It doesn't retain posts flagged as "new" that I didn't read yesterday, nor for that matter new posts from yesterday that I did read. The icon on the left indicates, within a session, whether I already looked at it.

Nor do I subscribe to anything so that's not a factor.

In fact "New Posts" works exactly as I want it to, which is why it's my primary way of navigating the site. I might be wrong about technically how it works, but as long as it predictably works for me the way I want it to work, I'm not complaining.

[Lootman]

Another little wrinkle I've just noticed. If I log out and then immediately log back in again, the "new posts" are updated and, given the short time interval involved, it's actually showing no new posts at all.

But if i am logged out forcibly (which for instance happens to me when I change IP address while keeping my TLF session open) then the "new posts" list is not updated and looks the same as the previous session.

Curious and curiouser.