Why does my browser go to the last post first?

Discussion in 'Forum Related Discussions' started by Mele20, Jun 1, 2004.

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  1. Mele20

    Mele20 Former Poster

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    This happens on all browsers I have - IE6, Firefox 0.8 and Mozilla 1.6. If I am on the main forum page and I look at a forum on the left and then on the right I see "last post" in that form and the name of the topic the last post was in. If I click on that, I get taken to the last post. Why? In most cases, I have not read any posts in that thread and just noticed it for the first time and it sounded interesting so I clicked on it. Why does this software assume that I have been following that thread and have read all posts but the last already?

    If I go to the extra trouble of opening the forum on the left side instead of clicking on the right, and I see that thread and I open it, I am not taken to the last post. I am taken to the first. The thread is highlighted even though I have already looked at the thread ...and this is on IE also.

    On the main forum page, if I hover my mouse over the last post on the right, for a particular forum, the hover message states that if I click on that I will be taken to the FIRST post in that thread. So why do I get taken to the LAST post instead? This happens on IE (not just Firefox and Mozilla which are so problematic here) also.
     
    Mele20, Jun 1, 2004
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  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Well, there are a few different functions available when you are on the main forum index page and looking at the last post / last active thread for a forum section. The image below shows two of them (showing the link and the mouse-over messages).

    The "last post" feature is very specific. The index page shows who made the last post, and what thread it was in. The arrow symbol there is specifically meant to take you to the last post, as the mouse-over explains and it does that.

    Clicking on the thread name a little to the left of that arrow (where the mouse-over shows "first unread post...") will do as it describes, and take people to the first unread post (from their perspective). And that works, too.

    Now, these generally work as documented for the vast majority of forum users here. Of course, we've discussed here a few times that for some reason most of these features don't work for you, but since this is not true for most people, I'm afraid I can't explain why they don't work for you.
     

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    LowWaterMark, Jun 1, 2004
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  3. MikeBCda

    MikeBCda Registered Member

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    OMG, what am I doing up at this hour of the morning. ?? :rolleyes:

    If it looks like I may not have read the topic at all, or I'm not sure, I find it simplest to actually go into the forum and then click on the topic title, which takes you to the beginning of the topic. Sure, the board offers all kinds of useful shortcuts if you find them handy, but you're free to navigate "manually" any time.

    And of course in a relatively busy forum, like the SpywareBlaster one, there's probably all kinds of new postings in a number of topics, which the "parent" listing won't show you.
     
    MikeBCda, Jun 1, 2004
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  4. Mele20

    Mele20 Former Poster

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    I know we've talked about my problems before but that was with Firefox and Mozilla. Now even IE has a lot of problems here. It too will not bold threads I haven't read even though I no longer keep this site open on my browsers all the time like I do the other sites I go to frequently. So, I could accept that my problems with Firefox and Mozilla were somehow unique to my browsing habits and those browsers. But IE? Everyone uses it. I have to repeatedly try to get the latest page even with IE and IE does clear the cache on each exit as long as OE is not open. Maybe OE has been open when I have not been able to get the latest page here. Some days I have OE open more than others. I'll have to watch this and see if it only when OE is open that IE won't bold threads here.

    This is a huge problem for me because I have NOD32. I have a terrible time trying to figure out what posts are new in that forum and trying to get a current page even on IE and even when I have adjusted my surfing habits to please the software on this site and I still have problems on the browser everyone uses? Much as I like this site, I could just not come here if I didn't have NOD32.

    Oh well...
     
    Mele20, Jun 1, 2004
    #4
  5. Paul Wilders

    Paul Wilders Administrator

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    Sorry to hear about your problems, Mele. The majority from the registered users do use IE as well - without any problems. Fired up IE 6 myself to check it out - and post this reply, without encountering any problems.

    regards.

    paul
     
    Paul Wilders, Jun 1, 2004
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  6. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    And I use IE6 exclusively and everything works as designed for me all the time.

    The only thing I can recommend is what I've mentioned before. This all works via cookies. The entire marked-post / unread-post system, including thread highlighting, linking to first unread, etc., all works by values stored in cookies. Permanent cookies and session cookie values. You mentioned before some tool that showed "a large number cookies" related to Wilders. Those are what I'm talking about.

    The session and the thread indicators are entirely based upon relationships between your last visit and activity values stored in the database here and all the specific thread information as well as visit/activity values stored in cookies in your browser. Anything on your system, proxies, data-stream filters, cookie managers, browser security settings, etc. that effects this session data will cause these kinds of problems.
     
    LowWaterMark, Jun 1, 2004
    #6
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