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Problem with the Watch list and the "New" Labels
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Cringe Channel
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Aug 10, 2013 - 8:18 pm

This is an on-going problem one of my users has been having.

Whenever there is a new post in one of the threads he is watching, there would be this random occurrence where the "new" label (which is supposed to appear just over the "Stop Watching" button) would not appear, leaving him unable to determine which threads had new posts without checking the time to see which one was most recent.

Here's a video he created clearly showing the problem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....Ubstlj0AUM

I'm not sure if other users are having this issue.

He is using Google Chrome as his browser.

While we're here, is there any way to automatically sort the threads by most recent to oldest in the Watch menu?

Thanks

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Mr Papa
Simi Valley, CA
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Aug 11, 2013 - 12:53 am

if you want to change the order, you need to update the template tag...  so you will need to copy the spWatchesView.php template file from the plugin to your theme... then edit it...  we will find your changes first and use it..

when you have done that, find this line of code:

                $spListView = new spTopicList($spThisUser->watches, 0, true, '', $first);

and change it to:

                $spListView = new spTopicList($spThisUser->watches, 0, false, '', $first);

it will change it to order by latest posts.. by default, we group them into groups/forums like a normal forum view..

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Yellow Swordfish
Glinton, England
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Aug 11, 2013 - 5:52 am

I was sort of having trouble working out what I was being shown and asked in the video but let me throw a few facts into the mix to see if these answer the underlying questions. So - in no particular order:

  1. The 'Watching' (and/or 'Subscribed') button at the top may have a number beside it. This number represents the number of topics with new posts in them. So - if there is a topic you are watching with new post(s) then it will show as a number 1.
  2. The corresponding popup list shows all of the topics you are currently watching. If any of those topics have new posts then a 'New' button will show up. If there is a count shown then it represents how many new posts in that topic since your last visit to the forum. So - if there are say, 3 new posts, then the number will show up as 3.
  3. That line - 'since your last visit to the forum' - is important. Simple:Press will be aware when you visit a topic to look at new posts and, although there is no way of actually knowing for sure whether the new post(s) were read the assumption has to be that they were. It gets trickier however, if you have unread posts in topics that you do NOT load and leave the forum/or logout and then return later on. Simple:Press does its best to match up the date/time of posts but there may not be any certainty on whether some posts have been read or not. It does mean that while there may be unread posts in a topic - they are no longer 'new' in terms of your last visit to the forum. They could, actually, be quite old.

 

 

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YELLOW
SWORDFISH
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Aug 11, 2013 - 10:55 pm

Thanks Mr Papa, I'll look into that for sure.

 

Yellow Swordfish, I understand what you have said but I can assure you that is not the way the feature is working on my forum. Users who see the "Watching: 1" for the first time, then check the pop-up menu, sometimes do not see the "New: 1" label. (this is tested in the video displayed above).

We tried making the video as accurate as possible, is there any way the system could be faulty? 

What if upon loading the forum page, some background process makes the "Watching" list think that it's being, or has been, viewed, even if it has been for a fraction of a second.

Can you please look into this a little further? I'll be as cooperative as possible.

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Yellow Swordfish
Glinton, England
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Aug 12, 2013 - 5:24 am

The problem is more that I have no idea what I should look for. Firstly it should be noted that we have no other current reports of erroneous behaviour in this area. This doesn't necessarily mean anything but it does strongly suggest that no other users have noticed anything untoward. We also use these tools ourselves on this site of course.

In these sort of circumstances there is only really one way that we can look closely at what might be an issue and that is when we are given a set of clearly replicable steps that lead to reproducing a condition. If I can follow a specific path that demonstrates an issue and is replicable then I have something to work with. Without that, in this instance, I don't have anything to find.

I am not trying to be difficult. Believe me - if there IS an issue then I want to solve it. But without being able to actually replicate it then it is like looking for something invisible in the proverbial haystack.

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YELLOW
SWORDFISH
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Aug 12, 2013 - 3:44 pm

I'm not sure how to replicate it, described by my user who's having the problem, it appears to be completely random.

I can't even replicate the problem myself, nor do I have enough users using the watch feature to get more results. It seems to just be this one user having the problem.

Any Chrome extensions which may be effecting this? 

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Mr Papa
Simi Valley, CA
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Aug 12, 2013 - 9:00 pm

there could be, but I doubt it...  browser extensions usually manifest themselves in js or css issues...  not a certain functionality not being there... 

is your user willing to share their account with you?   perhaps you could go in and take a look and see if anything more to garner...

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