Marking Forums Read

Figment

Click on Forum Tools > Mark This Forum Read in any forum, the threads get marked as read as expected, but after closing the browser session and opening another the threads are marked 'unread' again. The only way I've found to permanently mark threads as read is to use Quick Links > Mark All Forums Read, which, while a work around, is a PITA as it means ALL threads in ALL forums are marked as read.

I have tested this issue on more than one computer and with different operating systems and browsers - all with the same result.
I have also tested doing the same on a different site that uses the same forum software, and it works as intended.

Any thoughts?

fermi

I think it depends on which method of remembering read threads/forums is used here?

There are several option in vBulletin, with the easiest and least resource intensive being cookie based. Which I suspect is what is done here?

Downside is that if you do anything that clears the cookies, the read/unread info is lost between sessions.

The alternatives involve storing info on what has been read in the forum database, which on a forum of this size would presumably be a mahoosive amount of extra data and hence server load.

https://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vboptions_group_general

Thread/Forum Read Marking Type

This option controls how threads and forums are marked as read. The options are:

1) Inactivity/Cookie Based - once a user has been inactive for a certain amount of time (the value of the cookie timeout option) all threads and forums are considered read. Individual threads are marked as read within a session via cookies. This option is how all versions of vBulletin before 3.5 functioned.

2) Database (no automatic forum marking) - this option uses the database to store thread and forum read times. This allows accurate read markers to be kept indefinitely. However, in order for a forum to be marked read when all threads are read, the user must view the list of threads for that forum. This option is more space and processor intensive than inactivity-based marking.

3) Database (automatic forum marking) - this option is the same as a previous option, but forums are automatically marked as read when the last new thread is read. This is the most usable option for end users, but most processor intensive.

Former_MSE_Ian

Hi all,

Fermi is correct. We use the cookie based approach. It means we can keep our forums nice and nippy for our users.

If you plan on using "Mark this forum as read" a lot I suggest ticking the "Remember Me" box when logging in, and don't logout. You should find it works a bit better.

Ian

Figment

MSE_Ian wrote: »

Hi all,

Fermi is correct. We use the cookie based approach. It means we can keep our forums nice and nippy for our users.

If you plan on using "Mark this forum as read" a lot I suggest ticking the "Remember Me" box when logging in, and don't logout. You should find it works a bit better.

Ian

Hi Ian

Thanks for the reply, but I'm already using 'Remember Me'

fermi

The cookie based method does not work very well, full stop, whether you click "remember me" or not.

Has been that way for as long as I can recall.