Being a lazy g*t, I just wondered if anyone was clever enough and powerful enough to do a little tinkering with the forum.....
At present, I tend to click on "New messages" (Since your last visit), which of course, does exactly what it says.
But from there, if I see a thread I'm interested in, I can either click the title, and be directed to the start, click the page number, and be directed to the top of that page, or click the flashing arrow, and be directed to the very last post. The trouble is, I've read 35 of the 50 posts (for example), so I don't want to go to the first or last post. And I cant remember which was the last page I visited until I flick through them, so....
On another (non-camping) forum I frequent, clicking that arrow takes you to not the very last post, but the very next unread post, i.e. it takes you to where you last left off.
Ok, it's lazy, but it is the future!!
If anyone thinks this is a good idea, and has the time and technology to put it into action, I'd appreciate it.
In fact, I'd still appreciate it even if they didn't, as this would still remain an (almost) perfect forum anyway!
From what I understand of the more commercial forum software (IPB, PHPBB etc), there are a number of ways in which the big-brand forum vendors incorporate this feature, all(?) of which involve rather hefty and complicated tables and scripts to log member, forum, topic and post id's, as well as the use of cookies on the users local machine.
I seem to recall reading that the software behind UKCS is purpose-built rather than a skinned commercially available forum package, so implementation of such a feature (as well as the commonly requested PM feature) would be a considerable undertaking for the site admin, which may well result in creation of vastly more headaches for staff and users alike than it would be ultimately worth for all concerned.
FWIW, as a regular user and former admin of a number of sites, I do find the "last unread post" feature to be extremely useful, but equally appreciate how much of a massive pain in the backside it can be to build in new functions on an existing installation. Even supposedly 100% compatible vendor approved plug-ins on a practically standard forum installation can result in unexpected bugs and glitches that take hours of pouring through lines of code to identify and rectify, and I'm getting tetchy just thinking back to so many wasted evenings....
I agree with Mucker 1884, I think it will be a great idea to have that feature. I was always a Fan of the Old Newsgroups :-)
I also appreciate that there is a cost involved, either to develop on a bespoke system, or Purchase an add on from a commercial vendor.
What I would like to see is an option to Subscribe to a thread or group, and there is a a link which takes you to your "Subscribed Threads" or groups. There is some groups, I am not interested, and just clutter what I want to see, especially if I have been away for sometime.
clbewi - There is a simple work around for your problem, is create your other half an account, it is free and costs you nothing. I had to do that for my wife, as she would log on and view latest posts, and they wouldnt be there for me to view when I logged on.
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Topic: Last unread post......
