Lack of interest Automatic update of "What's new"

[Steve Fabian]

Provide automatic update of "What's new", with user specifiable update period.

Allow users to select which view is their default. My personal preference is "What's new".

 

[Chris D]

Automatic updating of that could be an unnecessary drain on resources. Also, when something is only one click away, does it really need to be automatic?

 

[MichaelDance]

You'd end up using too much cpu & ram.

 

[Rigel Kentaurus]

Provide automatic update of "What's new", with user specifiable update period.

Allow users to select which view is their default. My personal preference is "What's new".

I guess you could add a meta tag for refresh to your template and achieve this
http://webdesign.about.com/od/metataglibraries/a/aa080300a.htm

 

[Steve Fabian]

You'd end up using too much cpu & ram.

Really? On my 2GiB system in a typical usage I have 1.1GiB physical and 1.9GiB virtual RAM free. Setting the update period to 10min and assuming each update uses 1s of CPU time (a gross exaggeration, I suspect) it would still use less than 0.17% of CPU time. If that is a burden, you need a faster system anyway! BTW, Outlook Express is set to download all new mail and news messages every 5min - a much higher system burden.

...Also, when something is only one click away, does it really need to be automatic?

Not just one click away. I work on the keyboard for 99% of my work (as I suspect is the case for most of those not dealing with games or art) , taking my hand off the keyboard to make a click is a nuisance. Furthermore, I like my mail to be home delivered, instead of going to the post office to check whether or not something new arrived. To me, browsing for news is like taking a trip more often wasted than useful.
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How about someone answering what negative effect would arise from being able to set the "what's new" display as my default, so after I use "Mark forums read" I would automatically see the "nothing new" display, instead of the full list of available fora?

 

[Walter]

If that is a burden, you need a faster system anyway!

If you have hundreds of users online, yes, this is a burden.

 

[Steve Fabian]

You must be talking about the server, not the client.

 

[Chris D]

Of course.

It's no problem at all for the client. There's no resource drain at all on the client side. But it puts a heck of a burden on the server side. And that's the problem.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Provide automatic update of "What's new", with user specifiable update period.

Can you be more specific ?
If you don't mind me asking, exactly what problem is your request attempting to solve ?

There is real time updating .... ala Digital Spy
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/digital-point-spy.85/

digitalpoint submitted a new resource: Digital Point Spy

Spy for realtime monitoring of things going on within your forum.

Or would this work for your needs ?

 

[Steve Fabian]

Thanks, that seems to be the answer, assuming it can be used on the forum family I am continuously monitoring. I will look into it this week end.