Brian: I believe you're mistaken. Opening a new thread in another window is still activity against your user id. The timer is reset and I'm pretty sure you get another 15 minutes at that point.
Carol said:
If you change over to viewing the Forums page instead of the New Posts listing and walk away for >15 min does it still "mark all read"?
Yes. Your 'Last Visited' info is what determines what posts are new and what posts are not.
When you arrive here after being away, say you were last here at 6pm yesterday, you have three variables in play.
Last Visited (L): 3/2/2005 6:00 pm
Next Last Visited (N): 3/2/2005 6:00 pm
Timer (T): 0:00.00
When you log in, say it's 10:30 am, N is set to the time your click reaches the server, and T is set to 15:00.00 (15 minutes) and begins counting down when you arrive here. Say you click "New Posts" at 10:30 am
L: 3/2/2005 6:00 pm
N: 3/3/2005 10:30 am
T: 15:00.00 and falling
You decide to read a thread 1 minute later...
L: 3/2/2005 6:00 pm
N: 3/3/2005 10:31 am
T: 15:00.00 and falling
5 minutes later you click the BACK button:
L: 3/2/2005 6:00 pm
N: 3/3/2005 10:31 am
T: 10:00.00 and falling
Why is T at 10:00? Because you haven't clicked anything new - you have not asked the server for anything. You've just gone back to the previously cached page in your browser - the list of new posts.
2 minutes later you click on another thread:
L: 3/2/2005 6:00 pm
N: 3/3/2005 10:38 am
T: 15:00.00 and falling
N is now 10:38 - 10:31 you clicked on a thread, you read it for 5 minutes (10:36)and went back (no server hit) and 2 minutes later you clicked a different thread (server hit) Timer reset.
Now instead of hitting
Back you click
New Posts. You get the list of new posts since 3/2/2005 6:00 PM
including all new transient posts.
The key to not losing your list of new posts is to
send a request to the server within 15 minutes of the last request to the server. Back buttons don't send requests to the sever. New Post reads and Thread reads (or any other link) send requests to the server.
Once you click a link and then sit still (as far as the server is concerned), for 15 minutes, the timer runs out, and this happens (say your last thread read was at 10:52 am:
L: 3/3/2005 10:52 am
N: 3/3/2005 10:52 am
T: 0:00.00 and falling
From this point forward, if you hit "New Posts", you'll be given the posts written after L, which is now 10:52 am today.
The key is, once you visit PoA, you must keep resetting the timer with a server hit before it runs out.
Here's what I recommend:
- Open the new post list in your main window.
- Read posts one time through first without responding (replying can take a long time)
- If you find a post you want to reply to later, open that thread in a new window
- When you finish reading the post or if you run low on time (15 minutes...) click "New Posts" again and then re-enter the thread you were reading
- Finish reading all new posts of interest in this manner
- Go back to your other windows and reply, but while replying, click "New Posts" every 5-10 minutes in the main window as well, to keep your timer fresh.
- Post reply and close extra window
- Review "New Posts" list for any new transient threads
- Once you catch up on your reading and replying, click "New Posts" one more time, verify no new transient threads, and then click "Mark Forums Read" under quicklinks
Do not click again until you're ready to repeat the process.
There are possibly two things we can do to help remove some of the pain involved in this in the short term:
1) Extend the 15 minute timer out to 30 minutes or longer to give you more time to read/reply before running out of time.
2) Disable the automatic marking read of posts (requires code hack)
Given the audience, I think #2 is probably the best option - allow you to mark read on your own and never do it for you...