New messages

[Blue Crab]

I still don't see what's wrong with clicking "Mark as Read" whether you've read the messages or not.

Most USENET readers work this way... you can't possibly read the hundreds of messages posted to each newsgroup, so you just click "Catch Up" or some other similar button to mark all messages read.

I guess I'm just from the old school... back in the days when you had to dial into single-user BBS's with your modem to stay in touch with everyone (is my age showing? ). In those days, you just marked a whole thread as "read" so the next time you dialed in, you knew if there were new messages or not.

I ran/coded such a BBS, but mine ran on a DEC pdp11/70 mini-computer that I got from my employer... had eight 2400 bps modems (in the days when 2400 bps was considered fast) on that sucker and wrote the whole BBS myself in BASIC Plus 2 (don't laugh, it was a structured programming language a lot like Pascal). Anyway, I had a feature on my BBS called "Global QuickScan" which allowed a user to quickly scan each topic for new messages, etc. instead of the user having to manually go to each board and look for new messages.

I think my suggestion of having the icon on the board index show whether a particular category has new messages makes a lot of sense. But, that's just me.  

Everyone here keeps saying "I dont use the 'Mark as Read' button or 'why mark them as read if you haven't read them' " ... Ok, then I ask: "then what on Earth is the 'Mark as Read' button used for? Why is it there? Is it simply decoration and no one dare click it becuase they haven't actually read the messages?"

I remember seeing an option in the Admin tools to turn the 'Mark as Read' icon on/off. Ok. Then I say lets add a mod that when the MAR button is off, then the root-level new messages icon behaves as it does now. And then the MAR button is activated, then the root-level new messages icon behaves the way I suggest.

Steve

[[Unknown]]

Look, here's how it works for me.

There are many a board that have important information on them, and if I mark them all as read, I will have a nightmare finding what I have yet read.  (I'm talking about another forum, but you get the idea I hope...)

Now, when I read a board (here or otherwise) I read all the new posts.  After I'm done, I move on.  Then, if I have dead time and there are old posts for me to look at, I do so.

However, the lighting of the boards would be ON ALWAYS for EVERY BOARD using your method.  However, t This is counter productive for me.  If it were so, I would never use the lights at all.

Such is the case on most larger boards.

-[Unknown]

[Daniel Hofverberg]

I completely agree with [Unknown]  - It's exactly the same for me.

[Blue Crab]

I see your point.

Hmmm... Ok, then how's this for an idea:

Red indicator = new posts.
Yellow indicator = none new, but some are unread.
black = No new, no unread.

Essentially, we'd add an additional color to indicate the presense of unread messages. The colors, of course, can be anything we like. But this would be a quick way to better determine the status of each board category.

I realize that for most of the larger boards, most of your indicators would be "yellow" all of the time... Again, the colors could be more subtle... like light green for new, dark green for no new/some unread, and black for none new/none unread.

I believe this solution would work for me and work for you... and would give YaBB SE a feature that none of the other forums offer!

[Peter Duggan]

Hmmm... Ok, then how's this for an idea:

Red indicator = new posts.
Yellow indicator = none new, but some are unread.
black = No new, no unread.

That wouldn't work for me at all...

I have green (='go') boats for 'new posts' and red (='stop') boats for 'no new posts' and there's no way I'd mess that up with another colour (so please don't anyone suggest amber!). The reasons I chose these colours were both to tie in with my site 'scheme' and because the change from red to green is instantly arresting (which further subtle shades wouldn't be). Likewise I'll think you'll find that these icons are so often customised that most folk would simply ignore the extra one and duplicate your yellow one for your black.

Why not post this in the Mod board if it's really what you want because it's clearly not going to find many backers as a core feature?

[Blue Crab]

Yes, I'm beginning to see the light (no pun intended). Definitely looks like I'm on my own here, so a custom mod is probably the way to go. Thanks for everyones input.