Impossible to start reading unread thread from first post

[Dean]

It seems you lost me here.
I really do like the way it works, my only objection is when you have threads which you have never opened before, in this case it is more logical that the thread title takes you to the first post in a thread despite the period that the admin has set to make a thread/post as read. In this case and in this case only a thread title should take you to the first post in a thread.
Well, hope you got what I mean.

Understood. That is the issue some people have with this. Trouble is, there is no way to differentiate between a post marked as read because it is old vs a post marked as read because it has been read. Again, the idea is to click on the date the thread was created on to get to post #1, not the thread title.

I would give the system a chance with actual users, I am. Admins tend to think 'different'. Of course it depends completely on what your forum is about (it could be an admin forum).

 

[Ahmed]

... .Trouble is, there is no way to differentiate between a post marked as read because it is old vs a post marked as read because it has been read. ...

OK, if that is the case then I got it. I was assuming the same as Paul in a previous post of his:

...

I know that may explain it, however, thats how many people use forums, and the way it works here is going to irritate one hell of a lot of forum users once people start using this on their own forums. It shouldn't be hard to change as I would assume that XF works pretty much the same as VB in that it keeps a record in a table of threads you have actually visited, so it would not be hard to change the behaviour of each thread link based on whether you had actually (really) read the thread rather than the overall "forum read" marking.

 

[Dean]

I think you understand too.

I am not going to address Pauls comment except to say the little tiny box in front of an unread thread functionality has been moved to the title of the thread, and the title of the thread functionality has been moved to the start date of the thread.

The official response is here, and the following post which addresses the thread marking timeout:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/random-questions-answered.114/#post-38320

 

[Ahmed]

Yes.
It'll be a little weird for most users to click on the start date as it's not that obvious/clear. and I much doubt the average user will know that without telling him that (I myself didn't know that at first).
Well, I think it will be easy to make a small template edit to make a more obvious link or a small button that takes to the first post in a thread instead of the start date. I think Admins can modify template to suit their and their users' needs.

 

[Dean]

Spot on Ahmed. Exactly right. I think there will be many changes such as that to suit every forums desires.

 

[Paul M]

Has any more thought been given to this ?

Its by far the most irritating "feature" for me, and means I often cannot be bothered to participate in threads - as when I click on one and find myself plonked in the middle of it, I just swear, give up, and do something else.

 

[dutchbb]

I just click the grey dates, works for me. But they should probably include a legacy feature.

 

[Paul M]

Not really a viable option, I dont want to have to think "have a read that thread before", and then have to remember to click on a barely visible date.

I automatically click on the title - and if I have not visited that thread before, it should take me to the start - its not rocket science.

 

[dieketzer]

before going live i am going to make a template adjustment to make the links 'legacy', but that doesnt solve the 'last read' issue. in the meanwhile i have bumped read marking up to 30 days.
i think this is something that will never be changed, so hopefully some clever person will come up with a fix.

 

[Ahmed]

It still irritates me as well (not so much though). If that is not going to be changed, maybe someone could do an add-on that indicates which threads has been marked as read because they reached the read marking up time but never got read, and which threads has been marked as read because a user has actually already read them. How hard that might be?

 

[Dean]

Personally I am a huge fan of the way it is currently working.

I am only a frequent member on forums when they use this type of thread marking system because the alternatives thread marking systems I find far less friendly. The only change xf has done is to remove the tiny little box people need to click on in front of the thread title and instead use the title itself. That saves time.

And of course use the thread start date as the link to get to the beginning of the thread.

.

 

[dieketzer]

its only a tiny little box if one elects to use a tiny little box...
imo, the vb method is the most user-friendly. it seems not to matter at all how long it has been since i last visited a thread- i am always directed to the proper post.

 

[Didzi]

I think the idea of clicking the thread title and jumping straight to the first unread post is a good idea, however clicking the time of the post to go to the first post is not user friendly and I believe many people visiting forums that run XenForo will not be aware of this feature

 

[Paul M]

Personally I am a huge fan of the way it is currently working.

Your a huge fan of landing in the middle of a thread you have never looked at before ?

Seriously ?

 

[Dean]

Your a huge fan of landing in the middle of a thread you have never looked at before ?

Seriously ?

I can click on the date, as can my forum members, which generally speaking are not high tech at all, if I wanted to start at the beginning.

 

[FredC]

Personally I like the way it works now, greatly.

For you people that do not like it, what % of the time does clicking on the thread title take you farther into the thread than the first unread post?

Almost every time.. when i click on a thread title on the forum index of a thread ive never read 90% of the time it lands me in the middle of the last page, I almost always have to scroll to the top and click on page one.. this is sriously annoying and frustrating, actually the only thing i really hate about this software..

 

[FredC]

I can click on the date, as can my forum members, which generally speaking are not high tech at all, if I wanted to start at the beginning.

View attachment 6077

as to the screen shot that fine with me, but stil clicking on a thread title does not work as intended.. If ie never read a thread it should take me to page one post one not the middle of a thread on the last page.. this isnt a cookie expiring it hapens on new threads to.. I do not like this in the least..

 

[FredC]

Absolutely no need to shout.

Read the 2nd link. After 28 days (current setting) a post is marked as read, even if it has not been read.

you need to be open to the fact that it isnt always a cookie issue Dean.. something isnt working properly.. Honest, scouts honor and all that good stuff...

 

[FredC]

Has any more thought been given to this ?

Its by far the most irritating "feature" for me, and means I often cannot be bothered to participate in threads - as when I click on one and find myself plonked in the middle of it, I just swear, give up, and do something else.

10-4 agreed 100%

 

[whynot]

I don't like this feature at all.