Not reliably seeing "new messge" icons

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:48 am

Is anyone else having this problem? Sometimes (not always) it appears that a forum, or threads within a forum, don't have new replies because the little icon is gray and not orange. But I may notice a date more recent than my last visit, or (more likely) going into the forum/thread I discover there are new threads/replies.

Any thoughts on how I could fix this would be appreciated.

Thanks!

SimonWright · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 9:36 am

It's working fine for me. In fact that's what drove me to look in this section.

Firefox v0.9.1
Mac OS X Panther

Simon

Edit: suggestion - try purging your cache?

Kevin Hoff · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:48 am

I usually just click on "view posts since last visit" in the forum index. It spares me all that painful thinking required to look at dates and times. :lol:

--Kevin H.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:46 am

Kevin Hoff wrote:

I usually just click on "view posts since last visit" in the forum index.

Same here. I went a step futher and put the hyperlink into a button on my task bar. So with one click it automatically logs me in and shows the posts since my last visit.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 12:27 pm

I'll have to try that, but I might think if it's showing me the "no new posts" icon, that means it thinks there are no new posts. The problem, of course, is that there often are.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 12:29 pm

The problem that carl is seeing won't be fixed by clicking that link.

I've noticed this happen to me once recently, and haven't found what the problem is yet.

Kevin Hoff · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 1:12 pm

I almost never get the new posts orange buttons but still the search finds the new stuff when I click this link:

http://www.4g61t.com/thsccforum/search.php?search_id=newposts

Try it for a day, see if it works for you. I think most likely the gray buttons are getting cached between the server and you.

--Kevin H.

George Bright · **Posted:** Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:30 pm

I ocasionally have a problem with the orange buttons. What happens to me is when I log in I get a rash of orange buttons. ( Do you guys actually get any work done during the day?) After I finish with a group say The Lounge, I come back to the index and the buttons that were orange are now grey. This happens about once a week for me. This seems to happen when there are a large number of posts. I just thought that one of the cookies on my system got scrambled. I am using IE 6.0 and Windows ME.

Note to self: Shoot Bill gates in the leg to inflict pain and suffering. :twisted:

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:13 am

OK, it just happened again today. The "how not to be a course worker" thread in the Autocross forum didn't get the orange icon, though the darker color of the link (presumably meaning unvisited) caught my eye. The entire thread (3 replies at the time I saw it) was new to me.

I tried the "show new posts since last visit" as Kevin recommended and it did not appear there either.

I wonder if it might be that the post appeared in the time period (5 mins?) between when I last left the forum and when the forum decides I'm not there anymore, or something like that...

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:06 am

Carl Fisher wrote:

OK, it just happened again today. The "how not to be a course worker" thread in the Autocross forum didn't get the orange icon, though the darker color of the link (presumably meaning unvisited) caught my eye. The entire thread (3 replies at the time I saw it) was new to me.

I tried the "show new posts since last visit" as Kevin recommended and it did not appear there either.

I wonder if it might be that the post appeared in the time period (5 mins?) between when I last left the forum and when the forum decides I'm not there anymore, or something like that...

Carl,

This might be a stretch, but is it possible that someone else is using viewing the forum with your ID/password? I am assuming it stores a cookie so that you can 'auto log in'. I also assume that when someone logs in, it sets a value (date/time of last log in, or maybe the internal ID for the most recent post, etc.) so it can determine "what has happened since you last logged in". If someone connects with your cookie, it would think you had logged in, so when you log in later (different session), it would think you had already viewed (or had a chance to view) the most recent posts.

It might be totally a coincidence, but it looks like some of the people who are reporting this also have spouses who are active in the club and are viewing the forum. Is it possible that some of you might be sharing a PC that is left logged on with one account and sharing the same cookie sometimes?

Richard

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 10:36 am

That was my first guess, but I think I remember them (Emmie and Carl) saying that they have their own computers.

Tonya and I get around it by using different browsers to view the forums.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 1:35 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

This might be a stretch, but is it possible that someone else is using viewing the forum with your ID/password? I am assuming it stores a cookie so that you can 'auto log in'. I also assume that when someone logs in, it sets a value (date/time of last log in, or maybe the internal ID for the most recent post, etc.) so it can determine "what has happened since you last logged in". If someone connects with your cookie, it would think you had logged in, so when you log in later (different session), it would think you had already viewed (or had a chance to view) the most recent posts.

A cookie is definitely set, but my guess is that it's only my login ID- that the BB keeps track of when I was last on. I say this because normally I do connect from 2 places - work and home - and when I move from 1 location to the other it usually gets it right. That said, I do believe most of times I've seen this problem is when I've just changed locs. I can't tell much from looking at the cookie- there appear to be at least a half dozen tidbits stored there.

Quote:

Is it possible that some of you might be sharing a PC that is left logged on with one account and sharing the same cookie sometimes?

I don't share my machine with anyone :twisted:

and besides, Emmie says she's stopped reading the forums (too much junk)...

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:35 pm

Carl Fisher wrote:

A cookie is definitely set, but my guess is that it's only my login ID- that the BB keeps track of when I was last on. I say this because normally I do connect from 2 places - work and home - and when I move from 1 location to the other it usually gets it right. That said, I do believe most of times I've seen this problem is when I've just changed locs. I can't tell much from looking at the cookie- there appear to be at least a half dozen tidbits stored there.

I think the part that determines what are the new posts for you is stored in the DB on the server. I am not sure, but I think it stores the last Post ID or something like that. So when you connect, any thread with a Post ID higher that that value gets the special treatment (special icon, etc.). I also think the URL that many people use to show the new posts works the same way.

Kevin Hoff · **Posted:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:44 pm

Yeah it's gotta be on the server not the cookie as I can move from work to home and not get a new batch of unread messages. I just looked at the cookie and it simply stores the autologin ID and site.

Glad it works for me! :lol:

--Kevin H.

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Not reliably seeing "new messge" icons

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