Help - Am I doing something wrong?

I posted a question this morning and got one good answer, but then it vanished from Recent Threads. It was under Other Casinos concerning Pearl River Resort. Did I post it wrong?

No; it fell further down the list because you have other threads with unread posts in them. If you go to the recent threads page and click the 'mark as read' button near the top, you'll probably be able to find it easier.

Alternatively, you could also browse to your profile and click the "View threads started by..." link.

One thing it took me a while to figure out was that the heading for the recent threads is actually a link to the entire list of recent threads. There used to be a link at the bottom of the short list that took you to the full list, but it went away when the site was updated.

You can just click on the heading to see the full list of threads in the order that they have been updated.

@Administrator:

It would be great if the recent threads link took you to ALL of the threads, and not just the ones you haven't accessed. It gets confusing when the list continually changes and does not match the short list on the main page.

Quote: scotty81

@Administrator:

It would be great if the recent threads link took you to ALL of the threads, and not just the ones you haven't accessed. It gets confusing when the list continually changes and does not match the short list on the main page.

The recent threads link does let you access all threads. You can use the page navigation boxes located above and below the list of threads to jump to a different page.

The order in which the threads are sorted is:

- For registered members who are logged in: all threads with unread messages appear first, in order of most recent activity (those with the most recent posts appear near the top), and after all the threads with unread posts come the threads that you have already read (again, in order of most recent activity).

- For someone who is not logged in: the threads are sorted simply by the order of the latest post (again, those threads with the most recent posts appear at the top of the list).

If there are too many threads showing up as unread, just click the 'mark as read' button at the top of the recent threads page. Once you do that, you'll find it easier to keep track of threads from that point forward.

Hopefully this helps clear up some of the confusion.

JB - I don't mean to belabor the point, but you still only see the unread threads even if you use the page navigation links.

Here's a frustrating scenario:

1) I access the last thread on the main page (the one at the bottom of the list)
2) I go back to the main list to read one of the top threads
3) In the mean time, the bottom thread drops off the main list, but since I have read it, and there have been no new posts, it doesn't appear in the recent threads list anymore.

I now have to wade through all of the categorized threads to find the one I was looking at.

*** Edited After The Fact ***

JB:

It seems as if this is maybe the third time recently that a member has reported difficulty related to the fact that the thread they read (and are still interested in) has "disappeared" from the list. Of course, in reality it just dropped down below the other unread threads. If they would scroll down, perhaps to other pages, what they are looking for is probably at or near the top of the list of already-read threads.

I happen to like very much the way the new feature works, because I have the time/interest to read all of the threads. But I understand that this "feature" could be an annoyance to someone who only wants to follow one or two topics. Particularly if they don't understand how the new sorting technique works.

So here is a suggested configuration that is relatively easy to describe, would probably be very easy to use, and is (unfortunately) likely to be a real nightmare to program. Could each of the pages that lists threads have active column headings, such that you click on the column title and get the forum or sub-forum sorted by that factor? Since I wouldn't be the one that would have to program this ;-) I would also suggest that the columns be separated something like (1) Thread title, (2) Originator, (3) Origination date/time, (4) Last poster, (5) Last post date/time, (6) Views, (7) Rating, (8) Read latest post yes/no. I can visualize reasons that users might want to sort on any of those fields. It would be particularly useful if sorting by one header would leave the previous sort as a secondary sort, such as sorting for unread posts originated by JB by last post date. Does that make sense? The default sort cold be the one you use now, or maybe it could be selected in a user's profile.

I hope I have adequately conveyed my understanding that this concept would place a significant and perhaps unreasonable burden on you, but I thought it might be something to consider for future site revisions, particularly since some users have difficulty with the more recently introduced features.

Or just leave it as you have it -- that works fine for me. :-)

Another solution would be to simply have a button at the top of the Recent Threads page that toggles between "Show All" and "Show Unread". It could default to "Show Unread" so that by default the page would work just as it does now. Should be a piece of cake to program.

** Dont' hit "Post" twice if the forum is slow to post your message **

A nice feature would be the ability to delete a post, but only if no new posts have been created on the thread.

And, while we are on the subject, the ability to "Edit" a post after responses have been posted, could end up being a source of controversy. Most other forums have a protection against someone editing their remarks after they have been responded to. Luckily, this forum has not yet stooped to the level of nastiness characterized by other popular gaming forums, but if someone wanted to really cause a problem they could make an outlandish post, wait for people to respond, and then go back and edit the post so that the responders looked like the idiots instead of them.

If someone doesn't believe this is possible, I went back and inserted "*** Edited After The Fact ***" in my prior post AFTER Doc had responded.

Quote: scotty81

... but if someone wanted to really cause a problem they could make an outlandish post, wait for people to respond, and then go back and edit the post so that the responders looked like the idiots instead of them. ...

Actually, I like being able to edit my posts later. I often find that I have made a typo that should be corrected or have an additional point I want to add. I don't always even know whether someone else has already posted, because I frequently find that someone posts while I am struggling along at the keyboard.

As for the particular stunt you mentioned, if someone makes an outlandish post, it is usually quoted in the reply that criticizes it. The nastier practice would be to quote someone and edit the quote to make it look stupid. I think most users around here are too bright to fall for that. I do often edit quotes to abbreviate them, as I did in this post, but when I do I hope I don't distort the original meaning.