Mark individual posts as read/unread

Tiara · Post by **Tiara** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:24 pm

I thought that there was already a thread created for this suggestion, but I can't find it, so maybe I was smoking something funny. . .

I believe that many users feel there is a need to mark read/unread messages.

The current system tags as new all messages posted since your last log-in, and counts as old all messages posted before your last log-in, regardless of whether you have read them or not. Since most people don't spend hours at a time reading all the new material, a lot of unread messages get buried. Every time a user logs off, the board essentially performs a "mark all read" function.

As I see it, the biggest problem is that if the system doesn't know what the last message you read in a thread was, it cannot return you to that point when you log back in to rejoin the discussion. That disjointedness is one of the biggest and most persistent complaints from the "old hat cabal".

The new boards that have been developed by Trey (http://cultureshark.net/3playa/) and Harriet (www.eplayans.net) each address this issue. Trey's board specifically shows how many unread posts you have in each thread, and takes you to your first unread post. Harriet's board doesn't show the count up front, but each time you click into a thread you are taken to the last page you read in that thread.

I think that the ability to rejoin a conversation without having to page back and forth to find where you left off is a significant contributor to the
continuity of discussions on those boards.

The previous eplaya had such functionality. Is it possible to implement something similar with the new board?

precipitate · Post by **precipitate** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:58 pm

> I thought that there was already a thread created for this suggestion,
> but I can't find it, so maybe I was smoking something funny. . .

There was. I started it. It has apparently been archived, which I find kind
of odd, since the problem hasn't been addressed yet. I think it's great to
archive issues that have been completed (as long as there's a way to get
back to them via search, etc.), but archiving outstanding issues?

FYI to the tech team, it does not show up when I search for all my posts,
though I thought someone mentioned at the eplaya summit that it should.
But I could have been mis-hearing something directed at a totally
different topic.

blyslv · Post by **blyslv** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:05 pm

What Tiara said.

In spades.

Double digits.

I cannot stress enough.

Egg-zactly.

Buono!