Infuriating forum behaviour

[Peckris]

If I am able to go into a forum from the top level - e.g. British Coin forums - and find new posts in "Lots of British coin-related Discussions" - this is what I am able to do:

• Click "In: topic name" (on the right, below date of last post) and it takes me to the first unread post in that topic. Which is, of course, where I want to be.

However, having finished in that topic, I then click Go to get back up to the forum's list of topics, and now I am faced with :

• Click the topic title - which takes me to the start of the topic

• Click a page number - which takes me to the TOP of that page

• Click the last posted date - which takes me to the very last post

There is no way - from a forum's topic list - that I can go to the first unread post in a topic. Of course, I can go one level up, back to the top level, but that only gives me the last topic which someone posted to.

The infuriating thing about this, is that if there are 15 replies in a particular topic since the day before, I want to go to the start of those, i.e. the first unread post. Not have to trawl back through God knows how many, to find the first unread one.

Edited June 6, 2010 by Peckris

[azda]

Peckris, you're in danger of being renamed Victor Meldrew

[1949threepence]

When I saw the thread title on the home page, it seemed to read "Infuriating forum behaviour by Peckris" minus a comma after the word "behaviour"

I wondered what the heck Peck had been up to

[azda]

You mean Victor? 1949

[Peckris]

Seriously guys, this is a real nuisance. It's piss poor design : if I can do it from the Top level via an In: button, why can't it work at the middle level also? I really am fed up to the teeth of having to trawl back through threads just to find the last one I read and then work forward from there. Is it too much to ask forum designers to have even a tiny bit of consistency?

Doesn't this characteristic annoy you too? I can't be the only one pissed off by it.

[1949threepence]

Seriously guys, this is a real nuisance. It's piss poor design : if I can do it from the Top level via an In: button, why can't it work at the middle level also? I really am fed up to the teeth of having to trawl back through threads just to find the last one I read and then work forward from there. Is it too much to ask forum designers to have even a tiny bit of consistency?

Doesn't this characteristic annoy you too? I can't be the only one pissed off by it.

Seriously, I agree with you. Although as it doesn't massively inconvenience me, I'm not too bothered.

Might be an idea to e mail Chris & see if he can organise a software update.

[1949threepence]

Just as a rider to what I put above, I have to say that on the whole, I find this forum very easily manageable. It's not ultra busy, so it's generally fairly easy to find where you were before, simply by going into your own profile and clicking on posts made.

I've been on some very heavily trafficked forums, where there are hundreds of posts every minute of the day: threads can be created and drop right off the front page within a few minutes, if they get no replies. Now they can be tough to find your way round.

[Peckris]

Just as a rider to what I put above, I have to say that on the whole, I find this forum very easily manageable. It's not ultra busy, so it's generally fairly easy to find where you were before, simply by going into your own profile and clicking on posts made.

I've been on some very heavily trafficked forums, where there are hundreds of posts every minute of the day: threads can be created and drop right off the front page within a few minutes, if they get no replies. Now they can be tough to find your way round.

Good point. Though I'm thinking of one Sunday recently when azda got into an enthusiastic verbal exchange and there were around twenty or more posts to go back through (including a change to an earlier page, just to add to the general hassle). If it had been the last topic posted to in that forum it wouldn't have mattered ,as I could have got where I wanted from the top level, but sadly it wasn't.

I'll try messaging Chris as you suggest, but it's possible it's just a "feature" of this software.

[1949threepence]

Just as a rider to what I put above, I have to say that on the whole, I find this forum very easily manageable. It's not ultra busy, so it's generally fairly easy to find where you were before, simply by going into your own profile and clicking on posts made.

I've been on some very heavily trafficked forums, where there are hundreds of posts every minute of the day: threads can be created and drop right off the front page within a few minutes, if they get no replies. Now they can be tough to find your way round.

Good point. Though I'm thinking of one Sunday recently when azda got into an enthusiastic verbal exchange and there were around twenty or more posts to go back through (including a change to an earlier page, just to add to the general hassle). If it had been the last topic posted to in that forum it wouldn't have mattered ,as I could have got where I wanted from the top level, but sadly it wasn't.

I'll try messaging Chris as you suggest, but it's possible it's just a "feature" of this software.

It could be. Many forums these days, use V bulletin, which does have the features you are after. But that said, I don't dislike IP Board. It does have some useful additions lacking on V bulletin.

[Fubar]

If I understand it right your going forward all the time.

I moderated on a very busy site (40k members with 1.5k per day regular) and I had to check almost everything.

I found the best way was to use the back button or the back arrow at top left.

That way you go back to the page you saw first and can read the next one with new posts. When you've read them all in a particular forum use the back button to get back to where you started on the home page and move to the next forum with new unread posts.

Works for me but diff'rent folks, diff'rent strokes.

[Peckris]

If I understand it right your going forward all the time.

I moderated on a very busy site (40k members with 1.5k per day regular) and I had to check almost everything.

I found the best way was to use the back button or the back arrow at top left.

That way you go back to the page you saw first and can read the next one with new posts. When you've read them all in a particular forum use the back button to get back to where you started on the home page and move to the next forum with new unread posts.

Works for me but diff'rent folks, diff'rent strokes.

No, I think you may have misunderstood? I'm not talking about the same session, but about coming back the next day, when there could be quite a lot of new posts in a topic. What ANY forum software should do, is what you get in this forum, but only at the top level : the ability to go into a topic and go to the last post you read (i.e. the day before, or whenever)

[1949threepence]

Peck ~ did you get a reply from Chris about this issue ?

[Peckris]

Peck ~ did you get a reply from Chris about this issue ?

Speaking as Scheherezade (this is my 1001 post ), no I haven't, but Chris seems to be otherwise occupied these days - he hasn't posted for what seems like ages.

[1949threepence]

Peck ~ did you get a reply from Chris about this issue ?

Speaking as Scheherezade (this is my 1001 post ), no I haven't, but Chris seems to be otherwise occupied these days - he hasn't posted for what seems like ages.

Yes, I had noticed. Think his last post (or last activity, any rate) was 6th May.