Anomalies

[french frank]

How ironic.I decided to click straight on Master Jacques' post on this thread and am presented with page 14 of 15, which in the strange vBulletin logic is the second oldest page. Quick check to confirm that my settings haven't suddenly changed and wiped the "Latest Activity" preference. Nope. Try again, same result. Eventually get there by clicking page 1 at the bottom, which brings up the most recent page, complete with MJ's post.
I didn't get the same result clicking on a post rather than the thread for another topic, so - Anomalies indeed.

I get the same things happening but I think this is the case:

The faulty assumption is that if you've read a thread, you won't want to read it again until it's been updated by someone replying to it.

If there is an update, the thread will reappear in the What's New list. Click on the thread title rather than blue icon/post and you go straight to the update (newest post if you've set your Display Mode to Latest Activity).

If no one has updated it, go back to Forums and scroll down to the thread you want (right-hand column Last Post)), but again click on the forum/thread title not the post.

I think that usually works. Doesn't it?

[eighthobstruction]

I think that usually works. Doesn't it?

Recipe for Chocolate Brownies : Take 3 finely chopped shallots....place in a beret....heat Nivea tub to GM5....shape result and wait to cool on pavement....

[oddoneout]

I get the same things happening but I think this is the case:

The faulty assumption is that if you've read a thread, you won't want to read it again until it's been updated by someone replying to it.

If there is an update, the thread will reappear in the What's New list. Click on the thread title rather than blue icon/post and you go straight to the update (newest post if you've set your Display Mode to Latest Activity).

If no one has updated it, go back to Forums and scroll down to the thread you want (right-hand column Last Post)), but again click on the forum/thread title not the post.

I think that usually works. Doesn't it?

I'd logged out, gone away, and come back sometime later, in which time other posts had been added, so the "What's New" glitch shouldn't have applied anyway, but more to the point, if I click on the titled post(ie not just the poster's forum name) in the RH column, that should come up regardless, as indeed it did on another thread, and as it usually does, hence my remarking about the irony. Yes there are other ways of getting there, but I would quite like to take the direct route where possible/offered, and not have to second guess whether it is going to work!

[french frank]

Recipe for Chocolate Brownies : Take 3 finely chopped shallots....place in a beret....heat Nivea tub to GM5....shape result and wait to cool on pavement....

So that will be a No, then?

[eighthobstruction]

So that will be a No, then?

....Soz....cough ahem Sorry....impudence on my part....

[oddoneout]

Update and admitting defeat. Having said that clicking on titled posts usually worked I've had to revise that assertion. Wanting to read anton's recent post on the Breakfast tread I clicked RH entry and got the opening page of the thread, which of course goes back some time... Using the "Latest activity" link didn't do anything(presumably because it's already set, although evidently picky about when it operates), so back to 3 step process to find what the post was. 9 hours and several intervening replies(and logging out by me) isn't enough clear blue water it would seem to enable direct access to the post?

[french frank]

Update and admitting defeat. Having said that clicking on titled posts usually worked I've had to revise that assertion. Wanting to read anton's recent post on the Breakfast tread I clicked RH entry and got the opening page of the thread, which of course goes back some time... Using the "Latest activity" link didn't do anything(presumably because it's already set, although evidently picky about when it operates), so back to 3 step process to find what the post was. 9 hours and several intervening replies(and logging out by me) isn't enough clear blue water it would seem to enable direct access to the post?

What I did was on Forums, scroll down to Playlist programmes - Anton's post currently showing in Last Post. (Just use the right-hand column to see the latest posts.)
Click on Playlists
Click on The Eternal Breakfast Debate (left hand column, not right hand)

[oddoneout]

What I did was on Forums, scroll down to Playlist programmes - Anton's post currently showing in Last Post. (Just use the right-hand column to see the latest posts.)
Click on Playlists
Click on The Eternal Breakfast Debate (left hand column, not right hand)

Which is fine and what I have done - but it would be nice to be able to make just the one click - direct so to speak.
A further twist has emerged. If I am not logged in the direct approach works which, if it means that non-members can access posts(read only of course) then that's a good thing - it's what they could do on the old forum. However if, as seems to be the case, logging in means that route is no longer available then that isn't so good in my view, not least as arthritis kicking off big time currently means I prefer to keep hand action to the essentials - writing posts - rather than multiple repeats of triple scroll/click actions.
I am still so pleased that the forum is back, but I do wonder at some of the things that our use of this new version is throwing up.

[french frank]

A further twist has emerged. If I am not logged in the direct approach works which, if it means that non-members can access posts(read only of course) then that's a good thing - it's what they could do on the old forum.

I'll investigate that - along with a few other things which are currently puzzling me.

[french frank]

Not an anomaly - just a deliberate change from vB 4. I wanted it to be possible to collapse the Categories/Channels so that people could choose to close some of them temporarily or permanently if they wanted the homepage to be more compact, just as they can collapse the left-hand sidebar items (Useful links &c), visible on the homepage . This was the vB response from 2020:

"[vB 5] was a major rewrite but not 100% complete. Many new features were added. Some that we deemed no longer required were removed. vBulletin 4's code is mostly that of vBulletin 3 which dates back to 2003. The web has changed in that time and not every feature remains relevant. In this particular case there had long been feedback that allowing users to effectively 'hide' bits of the site they didn't want to read, was not helpful for sites that need to monetize, nor indeed helpful for any site that wants to maximise content discovery."

I don't undertand that, as it was a user decision whether to collapse the category, based on their personal preference: it didn't change the default view.

I'm still wrestling with various navigation possibilities.

[oddoneout]

Not an anomaly - just a deliberate change from vB 4. I wanted it to be possible to collapse the Categories/Channels so that people could choose to close some of them temporarily or permanently if they wanted the homepage to be more compact, just as they can collapse the left-hand sidebar items (Useful links &c), visible on the homepage . This was the vB response from 2020:

"[vB 5] was a major rewrite but not 100% complete. Many new features were added. Some that we deemed no longer required were removed. vBulletin 4's code is mostly that of vBulletin 3 which dates back to 2003. The web has changed in that time and not every feature remains relevant. In this particular case there had long been feedback that allowing users to effectively 'hide' bits of the site they didn't want to read, was not helpful for sites that need to monetize, nor indeed helpful for any site that wants to maximise content discovery."

I don't undertand that, as it was a user decision whether to collapse the category, based on their personal preference: it didn't change the default view.

I'm still wrestling with various navigation possibilities.

It's the same argument as adverts - the companies wanting to push their goods(and yes, I know they provide revenue for the broadcasters) don't want viewers/listeners to be able to avoid them.
It's why you often have to plough through acres of guff to get at the bit you actually want on a website - you have to be exposed to all the business wants to "sell" you, the views of the user are secondary. Can't have people being individuals and making their own decisions!
It's a compromise - either you design completely from scratch to your spec( unrealistic for most) or you go with a readymade and customise as much as possible.As vB says the web has changed, but those changes are not necessarily for, or to, the end user's benefit.

[Master Jacques]

Is it open now? I did something but I'm not sure what

Yes, thank you - all is well for me with Prom 31 now.

[FFAdminMKS]

Yes, thank you - all is well for me with Prom 31 now.

Probably closed by accident and reopened by accident then. Such is life.

Edit: (signed: french frank)

[Pulcinella]

Probably closed by accident and reopened by accident then. Such is life.

Edit: (signed: french frank)

I had assumed that 'Closed' simply meant 'Not Open yet' (i.e., thread set up but not available for posting on until a week or so before the concert).

I think that in previous years Alpie used to have the threads already primed and ready to go, so thought that he could no longer hide them.

[Dave2002]

Is it possible to get threads shown with the most recent items first? Also for quick navigation to the first and last posts in each thread, as in the previous incarnation of this site? At the moment threads seem to come up with the most inconvenient options. Also there is a way [supposedly] of setting the filters so that last week's posts come up - but that doesn't help if the most recent post was 3 weeks ago.

I wonder if the search feature is now more powerful than before. I gave up trying to navigate to a post I wanted to comment on, but slightly to my surprise, a carefully tailored search found it very quickly.