a very minor question

[michael c]

the new board looks great...but i've had one odd thing happen lately.in the "current talk" section,the little icon of collinwood that means there are new posts is always lit-up(as opposed to black when there are no new posts).is that just me?

and mysterious...you lost part of your "quote"(fog that can...).

[Mysterious Benefactor]

the new board looks great...but i've had one odd thing happen lately.in the "current talk" section,the little icon of collinwood that means there are new posts is always lit-up(as opposed to black when there are no new posts).is that just me?

No. It's a tricky thing because, whether or not the new post(s) Coillinwood icon stays active really depends on how someone reads the new post(s) on any given board.

For instance, whenever there's something new on any given board and if one goes directly to the topics listing for that board (its MessageIndex page) by clicking the board's name or by using the "Jump to" menu, the new post(s) Collinwood icon won't display for that board once they go back to the forum's opening page (the BoardIndex). (Well, unless something else gets posted to that board between the time they've read it and they go back to the forum's opening page.  ) Accessing something new by using the "Show New Posts Since Last Visit" feature works the same way. (However, it should probably be noted that, even if someone doesn't read all the new posts on that board, the new post(s) Collinwood icon will still be turned off for the board (though the "new" icons will still remain on all the topics whose new posts haven't been read and those uread posts will continue to show up in the "All Unread Topics" listing of the "Show New Posts Since Last Visit" feature). Is anyone's head spinning yet?  )

However, if someone accesses something new by using its link in the "Recent Posts" section of the "Info Center" or by using the "View the 10 most recent posts on the forum" in the "Forum Stats" section of the "Info Center", the new post(s) Collinwood icon will NOT turn off - even if there aren't any more unread posts on that given board.

The bottom line is that if someone doesn't either access a board (as opposed to a topic/post) directly whenever something new has been posted to it, or if they don't use the "Show New Posts Since Last Visit" feature to catch up on the latest posts, they need to use the "Mark As Read" buttons to turn off the new post(s) Collinwood icon for any given board (using that board's own "Mark As Read" button) or all the boards (using the "Mark As Read" button on the BoardIndex). But remember, ONLY use "Mark As Read" after you've read ALL the new posts or if there are new posts left in topics that you're not really interested in - otherwise the system will wipe out the unread status of EVERY leftover unread post on the given board (or, if you use the "Mark As Read" button on the BoardIndex, the entire forum), their topics will no longer show the "new" icon, and the unread posts will no longer show up in "Show New Posts Since Last Visit" or its "All Unread Topics" feature.

One might ask why are there so many different ways to read the forum? Well, from the outset of computing it has always been the aim of good programming and the most important task of the programmer/developer to provide alternative ways to accomplish the most important/used tasks because the method one person might like to use another might not.    Personally (when I read this forum), I prefer going directly to the various boards. But there are a lot of people who use "Show New Posts Since Last Visit" (which I prefer when I read SMF's own site). And there are also a lot of people who use the recent/mark as read method (which I think is probably the most complicated - but to each his/her own - and I would certainly defend their right to use the method they like best  ).

Probably the best way not to run into problems is for people to decide which method they like best and then to stick to it. (Though, that being said, because they work so closely alike, alternating between going dirtectly to the boards and using "Show New Posts Since Last Vist" (or its "All Unread Topics" feature) won't cause anywhere near as many problems as combining one or both of them with the recent/mark as read method might. Alternating recent/mark as read with any other method is a potential disaster waiting to happen when it comes to possibly missing new posts or being led to believe there are new posts on a board when there aren't any!  )

(Aren't you glad that your minor question had such a complicated answer?  )

and mysterious...you lost part of your "quote"(fog that can...).

That's because there isn't enough space allocated on the new system for all of my personal text to display in my posts or on my profile's summary page. Increasing that space so it will show up is on my always increasing list of things to do.