50 replies to this topic

[Amy Reusch]

It's taken me a long while to get around to posting this question.  I've noticed the problem ever since this Summer's upgrade to the new look.  My apologies if it's been answered already, but it didn't seem to be there in the other posts...

"View New Content" no longer seems to show me new posts since my last visit...  intead it shows me new posts since the moment my computer accessed the internet.  For instance, I would like to see the new posts since I checked in last night, but since my daughter used the computer at 7am to check school closings, Ballet Talk is showing me only new posts since 7am...  Not a big deal today, but if I've been away for a few days and then check, it does the same thing... shows me only the posts since my most recent access of the internet.  

How do I get it to show the most recent posts since my last visit to Ballettalk?  Do I have to log out each time so that it's a fresh log-in each new visit?

Thank you,
Amy

[leibling]

I have had the same problem- I thought my husband was reading Ballet Talk through my account!

[SandyMcKean]

I can't imagine how that could happen.  There is no way for the BalletTalk (BT) website to "know" that you were on the internet unless you visit the BT website.  This behavior most certainly does not happen to me.  I am on the internet all day, every day, accessing websites 10 times or more per hour.  If I don't go to BT for several days, I have pages of "new content" waiting for me....dozens and dozens of msgs.

I have looked thru all the BT software settings, I can't figure that any of them would create the behavior you are witnessing.  If I were you, I would try to figure out how and why your system is accessing BT *without* you knowing it (perhaps your browser always opens when you start the computer and automatically accesses BT.....something along those lines).

P.S. A long shot......check to see if your time zone is set properly in BT.....if it's wrong, it could be throwing off your timing calculations.  Another thing to check might be to see if you are subscribed to any topics or forums; I don't think it likely, but I suppose if the BT forum decides to send you a notice when you are not logged on, it could (unlikely) reset your "last visited" time to the time of the notification.

[bart]

Add me to the list of those who gets only the last post, regardless of how many have posted since I was last on Ballet Talk or, indeed, on line.

Clearly something is going on.  Thanks, Sandy, for the suggestions.  The last suggestion set me thinking.  I am one of those who gets email notifications of new posts in certain topics.  Might that be a factor that is intervening here?  

I admit that I have adjusted to in the old-fashioned low-tech way.  I have trained myself to scroll backward whenever I enter a new thread.

[SandyMcKean]

Ah, bart sheds a whole new light on this possible problem.  When I first read Amy's post, I interpreted what she said to mean that when she did a "View New Content", entire threads were missing from the list where a new msg had been posted since she last logged on to BT.  But with bart's description I see now that perhaps folks like Amy are seeing all the threads with new postings as they should, but just that the system does not position their browser to the last post in that thread since they last logged on.

This may well be how it works.  It may be happening to me too (now that I understand the actual problem).  I'll have to look more carefully.  I just naturally do what bart does (i.e., scroll up).  When I see a thread on the list of new content I am interested in, I go to that thread.  I nearly always scroll up to see the last post I had read before (I can remember since I don't follow very many threads).  I guess I never expected the system to positon me at the exact last post I haven't read in that thread.  Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn't, on my system, I just don't know.  I'll have to wait a few days without going to BT to find out.

P.S. I believe how most forum software works is that the system simply presents to you all the threads that have had a posting since you last logged on (that is, the system simply remembers....likely in a cookie.....the time and date of your last log on).  Where in that thread the system positions you could depend on a lot of things....including how your browser works.  This will be interesting to see how things are actually working.

P.P.S. I wonder if problems occur if you disable cookies in your browser?

[Amy Reusch]

I'll look around and report back... I'm not one of those who gets e-mail notifications... and indeed whole threads never show up in my "view new content"  (For instance, the updates to this thread never showed up.)  I'm pretty sure my browser accepts cookies for this site or I'd have to log on all the time, wouldn't I?  I do, however, use a Mac... maybe it's a Mac Safari internet browser incompatibility?  

Sandy, it does show me the current updates on the Links page... that is all in order... it's just when I check "view new content" that the site doesn't deliver as it used to.  Has there been a drop off in discussion since the new format?  I'm wondering how much I'm missing...

"posted today" seems accurate enough in regards to what my time is coordinated to... will look in the settings.

[Amy Reusch]

I looked in my settings (took me a bit to notice where those are now stored, by the way)... I noticed under View New Content there were two options:  [I'm paraphrasing rather than cut & pasting here]   either show all content that I have not read or show new content since my last visit.  I notice that show all content that I have not read is checked...    Now, would that show me quite a bit of content when I click "view new content" rather than less?  Do you think I should change it?

[Amy Reusch]

When i click on View New Content I get:  "There are 7 new entries since Today, 02:25 PM"       I don't believe I visited ballet talk at 2:25pm today... only when I originally posted, this morning.

[Amy Reusch]

This is so confusing...   I suspect that since I never revisited my settings when the format change happened, that several new default settings never took effect.  Having looked through the settings (and changed nothing), now all of a sudden there's this list of new topics that shows up on the right of the forum.  Curiouser & curiouser...

[SandyMcKean]

Amy,

I'm not sure what you mean when you say:

Quote

....and indeed whole threads never show up in my "view new content"

Here's what I see when I hit the "view new content" button.  I see a list of threads by title (not the individual posts in that thread whether the individual posts be previously read or brand new).  Then I can pick any thread I like, click on the little orange icon (with what looks like a right pointing arrow in it) that sits right in front of the thread's title.  That takes me to the thread in question so I can see the individual posts.

What I'm not sure of at this point is whether once I hit that icon does my browser positions me in the thread at the very last post in the thread regardless of when I last logged in, or alternatively deos it position me at the first new post after the last one I read last time I logged on.  I beleive it is the later, but after bart's post earilier in this thread, I'm now not sure.

[Amy Reusch]

Sandy, I mean that there have been whole new thread posted since my last visit that I only become aware of if I hunt through the forums...   I don't have evidence of it at this moment, but I'm sure it is happening... from my experience over the last several months compared to my experience of Ballet Talk over the past several years (I was an early member).

My experience of "view new content" seems like yours except that there is rarely much there and it posts these strange times as my "last visit"... Now, perhaps these times are the standard time of the board and not the adjusted time?  Might explain it...  though the 7am time this morning would have corresponded to the school closing check.... and the 2pm time would have corresponded to an e-mail check...

[SandyMcKean]

Amy said:

I noticed under View New Content there were two options: either show all content that I have not read or show new content since my last visit. I notice that show all content that I have not read is checked... Now, would that show me quite a bit of content when I click "view new content" rather than less? Do you think I should change it?

I use the "show new content since my last visit" option.  I've never used the other option, but I would think that option would show you more content because from the wording of the option it would seem to me that the option you've been using would show you not only threads with new posts since you last logged on, but also all threads that you have never read regardless of when you last logged on (or maybe it's done at the post rather than at the thread level).

It can't hurt to try the "show new content since my last visit" option.  That's the option I use.  See what happens....you can always switch it back.

[Amy Reusch]

That's what I'll do...  I'll try the switch.  

Oh, and I do have evidence of threads not showing after all... I notice there was a new addition on a Ballets Russes centenary thread, something I've been very interested in, but it never appeared in my "view new content".

I always enter the site through the Links page to see what has happened recently in the dance world... then I click "view new content" to see what the board is buzzing about.  It's been much quieter since the format change, but I think it's because I'm missing posts.  

Will try the switch, maybe it will make a difference.  I think it was a default situation because this is the first time I've hunted through the settings since the summer format change.

Thanks,
Amy

[SandyMcKean]

Amy said:

My experience of "view new content" seems like yours except that there is rarely much there and it posts these strange times as my "last visit"...

That can be confusing.  When the software says "since your last visit" it doesn't really mean that.  The software does not count every visit you make.  It waits a certain amount of time (I don't know how long, but it would be measured in hours) before it considers that you have re-visited the forum.  IOW, if you log on at noon, and then log on again just 10 minutees later at 12:10pm, it will still say "since noon".  It does this so that if you log on again very quickly (let's say you make a mistake and accidentally logged off), you don't lose your list of "new content" as would happen if it counted that immediate re-logon as a new visit.  BTW, you can tell which thread in the "new content" list you have already read all posts in because they do not have that little orange icon in front of them.  Only threads with new posts that you have not read at all have that icon.  Also my guess is that the time stamp on the "since your last visit" line is Eastern time regardless of where you are.  I logged on this time at about 2:50pm Pacific time but that line says "11:11am"

It may be possible that all that's on the "new content" list are threads that existed last time you logged on and have a new post added.  Brand new threads started since you last logged on could be missing......but that sounds like very strange software behavior to me.

P.S. I do know that in the old forum software, it was possible to miss threads with new content.  It didn't happen often, but under some circumstances (which I don't remember) it could happen.

[SandyMcKean]

Amy said:

I notice there was a new addition on a Ballets Russes centenary thread, something I've been very interested in, but it never appeared in my "view new content"....

We should be careful about terminology....it can get very confusing when we all end up talking apples and oranges .

I see now that this forum software uses the term "topics" where I have been using the term "threads".  "Threads" is used in a lot of places on the internet, but here in BT I should be using the term "topic"  You are calling "Ballets Russes centenary" a thread, but here it is called a "forum" (I assume you mean "Ballets Russes Celebrations").

So each forum such as "Ballets Russes Celebrations" or "Links" is called a "Forum"; some forums have sub-forums (such as "Pacific NW Ballet" sub-forum under the "American Ballet Companies" forum); a new thread in a forum or a sub-forum (that is: the very first post where you give it a subject) is called a "Topic"; and each msg posted to a topic is called a "Post".  So forums have multiple topics, and topics have multiple posts.