threads heading remain bold

Let's pause for a minute here... mOp, the information posted for hadi does not apply to you. hadi is a guest and guests have different functionality from members, and they use different cookie values, as well.

As mentioned above, the read/unread thread information for members is stored in the database, so the cookies are not relevant for that functionality. Checking the cookies isn't likely to turn up anything for you. Now, as for the database and forum software... it is all functioning fine. You are the first member to mention any problem with the unread thread markers. You mention that others are having the same problem - please point out where they've posted about it and let's try to gather all the relevant information.

Also, since the code that manages this functionality is shared by all members, there is nothing I can check specific to you. Nor is there any functionality I can change for how the code works for you, again since it is the same code for all members.

Perhaps we should step back... exactly what are you seeing? Are threads that you have read still showing as unread (bolded) all the time? Is it immediate, or only when you return to a forum section? Have you actually used the "Mark Forums Read" link to set all forums to read state, ie. none bolded? What happened exactly? If threads keep turning up as unread, is it all threads or only some?

Have you fully closed the forum here, cleared all cache and cookies, and logged in from scratch since you noticed this problem? There were people having problems in the first days after the upgrade because they had cached versions of the javascript routines in the webpages here, which were no longer compatible with the 3.5 version of vBulletin.

 

mOp, no one is doubting you... I simply do not understand exactly you are seeing. You haven't fully explained the conditions of it, so I can not advise you any further until you do. Also, forget about whether you are logged in or not, I'm not sure why that was made a priority question, nor is anyone posting that they are doubting you on that.

So please, start over... What is the effect of what you are seeing exactly? What threads stay bold? How many in what sections and ranges of dates/times? Is it all threads, everywhere - or only some? I need details in order to even start researching this as there are no others posting about such a problem here.

 

Actually, that explanation helps a lot since it provides some specific details of what you are doing and seeing as a result.

One question more... Let's just look at the Updates forum situation to start. You go into the 'Update Alerts' section and see maybe a page of threads all showing in bold because they are "new". Do you then actually read all those threads to get them marked as read, or are you expecting that they will get unbolded after time has passed, or when you leave that section and return a bit later?

You see, the old version of vBulletin had a concept of "session time out" and after a 15 minute period of inactivity at the forum, all threads got automatically marked as read - in all forum sections. However, that was actually not a desired functionality for most people because they were always "losing" the unread thread markers, and weren't sure which threads they had or had not actually read the most recent posts from. Because of this weakness in design, the vBulletin developers made the change to make read/unread thread marking a database function where each and every thread on the forum could be held in an unread state until the member actually read it specifically.

Threads must actually be read (ie. clicked into - each and every one of them) in order for them to be marked as read. Or, a member must use one of the mark as read links (either the "Mark This Forum Read" for one sub-forum like Update Alerts, or the global "Mark Forums Read" from Quick Links) to mark a mass set of threads all as read.

Threads no longer get automatically marked as read solely because of the passage of time. They must either be specifically read, or one of the Mark links must be used.

 

Okay this all makes sense then... The funny thing is that the automatic (timeout based) marking of threads as read, was considered to be vBulletin's single biggest weakness by most people. The lack of a "sticky" unread thread marking system, (so people could return whenever they wanted and still have all threads they haven't actually read, no matter how old, remain marked as unread), was a wish-list item for years until they finally implemented it in vB 3.5.

I'm afraid that this is the way vBulletin works now for members, and you will need to use one of the "Mark ... Read" links from now on to get the threads all marked off the way you want them.

 

As far as I know, the "Back" function in all browsers simply steps you back one page into your browser history. If that is the case, then I would suspect going back from a thread to the thread index you used to get to that thread,should still show it as unread. vBulletin is not handling that function as it is all happening locally on your system.

I was just able to recreate that in Firefox. I had two threads in this General Topics section that were bolded with new posts. I'm answering this one, so I opened this subforum in another browser window... clicked on the one remaining bolded thread's "Go to first new post" button (), which took me to the one new post I hadn't read yet... then I used right-click "Back" option from the context menu, and the browser simply steped back in my history and showed that same General Topics index with the thread still bolded. (I did the same thing with a different forum section and unread thread using IE, showing the same functionality.)

If that is what you mean, then that is normal functionality since there is no dialog with the forum software/server in using the Back feature in a browser.

 

The vBulletin support forums have a suggestions section located here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=55