# A New Concern



## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

up until now, i have just always read every new post, no matter what it was.

the highlighted (bold) topics told me where to go.
however, yesterday i decided to skip that, and wait a day to get caught up.
i just closed the window and thought no more of it.

now, a day later, the list has shrunk.!
the number of bold threads is less!
how can that be?

it seems that acknowledgment of some kind is required, but that doesn't quite fit either.
if i don't do a daily due diligence, what does it cost me?

by looking at the dates and times, i can see what areas contain things i have missed,
but now i wonder what all that means.
if i don't check on a regular basis, am i lost in the dark?
(well, i always am, but i'm trying to follow the glimmer of light.)

there is always the date, time factor to consider, so all is not lost,
but isn't the forum supposed to provide better info?
shouldn't it tell me what i have not read,
as opposed to what i have not noticed.

just wondering.


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## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

just as a point of reference,
as i go back to the main forum,
there are no new posts so noted.
there must be at least ten new posts i have not read, but none show up in that category.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

edgeee said:


> up until now, i have just always read every new post, no matter what it was.
> 
> the highlighted (bold) topics told me where to go.
> however, yesterday i decided to skip that, and wait a day to get caught up.
> ...


My concentration is not the best today but a few things I have noticed over time.

Sometimes I do not bother to log in with my username. I simply read the posts that are in bold, being the new posts that I haven't read, and when I come back to the main menu the ones that I have read are no longer in bold. By the time I have finished reading no bold headings appear, as long as someone hasn't replied to a thread while I was reading through the list in which case that one would now be bold.

When I leave the site and come back the next day all the threads that I had previously read are again in bold even if I had read them the day before. It seems to be a case of either logging on with your username or not. If I do not and then come back again the next day how would it keep track of a "guest" visitor. It can't.

Whenever I log in with my username I seem to have no problem coming back either later in the day or the next day or several days later and having only items that I have not read being new posts or those that I have not read.

Hope this helps. If not it may have something to do with your settings and perhaps TundraGreen might have a suggestion.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Detailman said:


> My concentration is not the best today but a few things I have noticed over time.
> 
> Sometimes I do not bother to log in with my username. I simply read the posts that are in bold, being the new posts that I haven't read, and when I come back to the main menu the ones that I have read are no longer in bold. By the time I have finished reading no bold headings appear, as long as someone hasn't replied to a thread while I was reading through the list in which case that one would now be bold.
> 
> ...


You have described how it works. The only thing I would add is that, as Edgeee guessed, there is a time element involved. The bold highlighting does expire. So, the bold is turned off it you have logged in and read the thread or if the most recent post is more than x days old. I don't know the value of x. Also, it is very common for the system to leave the title bold when I have already opened that thread. It seems to happen about 1 out of 10 times, even when there are no new posts.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> You have described how it works. The only thing I would add is that, as Edgeee guessed, there is a time element involved. The bold highlighting does expire. So, the bold is turned off it you have logged in and read the thread or if the most recent post is more than x days old. I don't know the value of x. Also, it is very common for the system to leave the title bold when I have already opened that thread. It seems to happen about 1 out of 10 times, even when there are no new posts.


Thanks for the clarification Will. Hope this helps Edgeee.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

That useful bold feature is a function of the software that the forum is built on called vBulletin. It works in combination with your browser and the cookie read/write function of the browser. It also uses the time clock on your computer and the time clock on the web server. It's a very nifty feature but because it relies on so many things it is complex and prone to being buggy.

Around a year ago the forum upgraded to version 3.8.7 of vBulletin and that version indeed appears to have some bugs in regard to keeping track of what you have and haven't read. It sometimes shows bold for things you have already read and sometimes doesn't show bold for things you have yet to read. The previous version that the forum used didn't have this issue but 3.8.7, although it has several cool new features, brought in some bugs as well.

4.0 is the current official release version of vBulletin, so hopefully when expatforum.com one day upgrades to a newer version this bug will be patched up.


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## Detailman (Aug 27, 2011)

circle110 said:


> That useful bold feature is a function of the software that the forum is built on called vBulletin. It works in combination with your browser and the cookie read/write function of the browser. It also uses the time clock on your computer and the time clock on the web server. It's a very nifty feature but because it relies on so many things it is complex and prone to being buggy.
> 
> Around a year ago the forum upgraded to version 3.8.7 of vBulletin and that version indeed appears to have some bugs in regard to keeping track of what you have and haven't read. It sometimes shows bold for things you have already read and sometimes doesn't show bold for things you have yet to read. The previous version that the forum used didn't have this issue but 3.8.7, although it has several cool new features, brought in some bugs as well.
> 
> 4.0 is the current official release version of vBulletin, so hopefully when expatforum.com one day upgrades to a newer version this bug will be patched up.


That explains why it has still been bold, on the odd occasion, despite my having faithfully logged in the previous days and the day in question. Thanks.

When I upgraded to a new version of software that I had used for over 15 years it crashed my system so badly I had to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything. Tried it again and it crashed the new system. No longer use that program although it was my fovourite. I am always nervous when there is a new "improved" update.


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## edgeee (Jun 21, 2012)

Detailman said:


> Thanks for the clarification Will. Hope this helps Edgeee.


thanks for the clarification guys.
it does help my understanding.

but there is no need to capitalize the first letter of my name.
i made it lowercase for a reason.
it's intended to mean that anything i might find here, or elsewhere, is always primary while i remain secondary, at best.
hope You understand.


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