[REQUEST] Forum Read Marking Type

[Crimm]

Please make it database driven.

If I hit A-P forums and don't happen to scroll down it marks that I have read everything. I have missed some really important things the past 2 days :(

I'm sure everyone would enjoy it :)

[sothis]

the forum is purchased vbulletin software and i'm no vbulletin expert - if you can find a way to do whatever it is you want it to do (i'm not sure i understand the problem requested) let me know the steps and ill potentially implement ^_^

[Crimm]

It's a setting:

AdminCP->VBoptions->General Settings->Thread/Forum Read Marking Type

This option controls how threads and forums are marked as read.

Click the help icon on the right for more information on each option.

Now what this will do is:

[According to: vBulletin Manual]

Thread/Forum Read Marking Type
This option controls how threads and forums are marked as read. The options are:

1) Inactivity/Cookie Based - once a user has been inactive for a certain amount of time (the value of the cookie timeout option) all threads and forums are considered read. Individual threads are marked as read within a session via cookies. This option is how all versions of vBulletin before 3.5 functioned.

2) Database (no automatic forum marking) - this option uses the database to store thread and forum read times. This allows accurate read markers to be kept indefinitely. However, in order for a forum to be marked read when all threads are read, the user must view the list of threads for that forum. This option is more space and processor intensive than inactivity-based marking.

3) Database (automatic forum marking) - this option is the same as a previous option, but forums are automatically marked as read when the last new thread is read. This is the most usable option for end users, but most processor intensive.

Note:
Changing this setting to database marking will mark all threads in the time set in the 'Database Read Marking Limit' as unread
Database Read Marking Limit

The amount of time in days to store the topic and forum read times. All topics or forums without posts in this many days will be considered read.

I suggest 3, because a thread will be marked unread until you actually read it.

Just note two things:

1. It's more intensive
2. When you first set it to 3 then everyone will have the forums all set to NOT READ (ALL NEW) - Everyoen can click the "Mark Forums Read" link to start it fresh.

I know you have always stated that you don't want help, but if you ever want to chat about vBulletin, please let me know. vBulletin.org Forum - View Profile: Crimm I have more mods coming :) I'll be happy to help. I want to donate, but I'm currently in a horrible financial situation, so I can't :(

[sothis]

actually, if you're super comfortable modifying vbulletin, i'd have great use for your help in the future - once the accounts are merged we want to be able to do a lot of stuff, but doing the merging is scary given i dont have a vbulletin person on board to help out with some stuff.

anyways ill think about this update then - though we're pretty strict on keeping stuff as non intensive as possible for load times, but we'll see.

[Crimm]

Thank you for your consideration and if you ever want to chat about vBulletin, please let me know. I love coding in it and have setup quite a few sites using it :P and I would be more than happy to help in anyway I can.

[Drahken]

I absolutely despise it when I have to constantly mark a forum read manually, it's friggin obnoxious. That kind of setup is really only useful for obsessive people who feel a need to read every single post, even threads that are clearly of no personal interest to them. Meanwhile, it forces the rest of us to either read every single inane thread/post on the forum, or constantly tell the forum "I didn't want to read that damned thread in the first place!"

If you have that much of an issue with missing posts after being away for an extended period, I would suggest one of 3 things:
1) Visit the board more often.
2) Use the "new posts" link at the top of the forum.
3) When you come back after an extended absence, read threads based on dates rather than read/unread markers.

[Crimm]

Okay understood.

How about another request then as an alternative:

[REQUEST] RSS Feeds

That will be less performance related and will allow people like me to get alerts on new forum threads, and may increase traffic to your site. I know personally I have been linking information back to A-P to drive traffic, and with an RSS feed people may visit or link more often.

[Drahken]

There's something similar to that built right in to vbulletin. Just go to any subforum that you want to watch & click forum tools->subscribe. The subscription thing is email based instead of rss based, but the overall effect is the same.

[Crimm]

I want to keep up with the forums, but getting tons of emails a day maybe a bit overkill. I just thought the RSS feed would be a good idea because small links would be in a small block on a desktop or on igoogle or something of that sort.

I'll live with it if neither are enabled... Just thought I would make a request.

If I continue to miss threads ... I'll live with that as well :)

[Drahken]

I don't have any objection to rss, I was just pointing out that you can already get similar results. I think the subscription thing has an option to only get notified once per day or something. I don't know for sure though, since I've never had any desire to try it.