Forum Software Bugs

[happy wanderer]

Is there an official thread for reporting and tracking forum bugs? There should be.

I've noticed different behaviour lately and perhaps this is since the recent update but not sure.

- Formerly, when you read a thread and then exited back to the list of posted threads the one you just read would turn from bold to normal font. This no longer works. New threads just stay bold after you've read them. I find this confusing as I don't know where I'm at.

- Similar to this is when you exit a Forum such as Oilheads in The Garage section and you have read every new post in there the Forum name in the list (Oilheads for example) would turn from dark shaded to light shaded indicating you are caught up in that Forum. This no longer works properly either.

- Double clicking on the Forum name (Oilheads) used to change the shade to lighter font _and_ all the posts in that Forum would be turned from dark to light font indicating you've marked them all as read. This no longer works either.

I have tried logging out numerous times to delete the cookies and logged back in again but this incorrect behaviour persists. Basically all the stuff that used to help you track where you were at visually is broken as far as I can tell.

 

[20774]

MJM -

Thanks for the input. Maybe this can be that thread...not about logins, but other "undocumented features".

My general response is that I don't think the features you've mentioned ever worked...that's my take. Eventually, when the background time on the forum catches up, the things you mentioned will be turned a different color. I never remember it being that quick.

One thing that might be helpful or another tool is to use the New Posts at the top left of the page. You should have a good idea of the time you last visited so you can cruise the titles, or look over at the forum that the new posts are from if you want to concentrate on a specific area, like Oilheads. This can be a quick way of checking what's new. Of course, if you don't visit but once a day or ever few days, New Posts will be completely full and you'll need to go to each forum.

One feature is to click on click on Mark This Forum Read under the Forum Tools once inside Oilheads. Theoretically, that should set all of the posts, read or unread, to having been read so that it's easier to find new posts the next time. Again, I can't say this ever really worked that well in the past.

The forum doesn't refresh itself for your view except after a set amount of time...maybe as much as 5 minutes. This might be what you're running in to.

Nevertheless, thanks for the input and we'll see if we can't find a secret button somewhere to make some changes.

 

[Omega Man]

This is all functioning as it should for me. I do think there was a change in the forum display refresh rate. For example, I looked at this thread approximately 45 minutes ago and now as I return I can see by the font display change that I have looked at this- earlier.
Perhaps if you watch your timing between visits you can let us know if that (timing) makes a difference.
A number of these features go back to default when there is a jump up a number of versions.
Gary

 

[happy wanderer]

I played around with Firefox security settings and got no joy. Bit I did find the solution. I am not sure if the Forum display issues reside in the cache or the specific Forum cookies as clearing them did not seem to help. But if you delete ALL your browser cache and ALL cookies everything goes back to normal. Unread threads or threads with new posts have bold titles to alert you and once you read them they go back to normal font shading. Same goes for the Forum titles in The Garage. Once you read everything and go up to the list level the specific Forum names go from bold to normal shade.

This is the documented behaviour and was working for quite a long time. It's possible browser settings, or cookies or even the cache somehow gets corrupted and ceases to keep track. It's also possible the upgrade contains a bug. Time will tell I guess but right now it's working as it should.

The downside here is all your history, saved passwords (if you save them that is, I don't allow the browser to remember any passwords) and your preferences for other sites such as banking or yahoo or whatever will all be deleted. Auto entry for things like your user name (enter first character and your userid pops up for you to select it) and other handy features will all need to be re-entered. No big deal really.

 

[20774]

MJM -

Thanks for reporting back...that should help others. Yes, it's a pain when cookies are cleared, but once you've gotten back to your usual websites and reinitiated the contact, life's back to "normal". Hopefully that will continue to work for you.

 

[Omega Man]

MJM -

Thanks for reporting back...that should help others. Yes, it's a pain when cookies are cleared, but once you've gotten back to your usual websites and reinitiated the contact, life's back to "normal". Hopefully that will continue to work for you.

And....Your computer should run noticeably faster- from start-up to page load
OM

 

[pauls1150]

Thread Display Options

Hey, Kurt & Gary -

Taking a hint from the F-twins posts, I attempted to change my Thread Display Options from "show the last month" (which is actually being applied to several of my views) to "show from beginning", then I clicked the "display threads" button on the right, and that seemed to work... but ONLY for that immediate viewing. It does not "Save" that setting.

I tried logging out & back in, no difference.

What am I missing, please?

Thanks!

PaulS

 

[Omega Man]

I'll have to look that up for you later- to be sure. While it should be in your personal settings- I don't mess with it much unless I'm loo it for something "old school", no search feature.
A peak at some of the forums show a few pages without any "show thread" change and some go back to the beginning. That is set during initial forum set-up.
I'll see what I can find.
Gary

 

[pauls1150]

FOUND IT - I went in to my general settings \ thread display options \ thread age cut off and changed it from Default to Show all threads. Seems to have fixed it for me.

Note that the showing of "All" only applies when actually logged in - if just browsing & not logged in, I get the default.

Thanks, now get back to rallying!

 

[Omega Man]

FOUND IT - I went in to my general settings \ thread display options \ thread age cut off and changed it from Default to Show all threads. Seems to have fixed it for me.

Note that the showing of "All" only applies when actually logged in - if just browsing & not logged in, I get the default.

Thanks, now get back to rallying!

Perfect!
This comes up from time to time so it will also help others
It is the norm for custom settings for an individual to only show when logged in.
Gary