unviewed posts gone

just in the last 48 hours or so, the unviewed posts number in read isn't showing up - though the folder is coloured when there are new posts. is it me?

There is an option in the software titled <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Show total # of unread replies in topics?</span></span> which I can select or not. There is also a warning with that option that says: <span style="color: #CC0000"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">Warning: This can cause excess load and contribute to slow speed</span></span></span>.

Each time a member enters any forum, the software has to query the database for each individual member to determine the exact number of unread posts for that specific user. If we have a lot of members on line at the same time and they are all entering forums at around the same time, the load on the database can cause the entire site to slow down, which has been happening more often as we get more members online now.

So, I decided to turn that option off for now to see if it helps speed the forum up some. However, when you enter a specific forum you will still see the folders will be highlighted in yellow if a topic has at least ONE unread reply. Then, when you enter that topic, you will be taken to the first unread reply in the thread and you can then tell by scrolling down, how many other unread replies you have in that thread. Thus, having the software do all those extra queries just to count the number of unread replies was putting a lot of strain on server and database resources for very little added benefit. You can still see which topics have replies you have not read, and when you enter the thread you can see how many there are.

Just idle curiosity, is there a way to have the forum software only query someone's watched forums? I have about 7, and some forums I never go to.

Not sure I understand the question. If you go into a specific forum, it will only querry that forum (for number of unread replies). It doesn't do the querry until you actually enter the forum in question (I'm pretty sure)

When I'm on the main forum list, I see in red the number of un-read posts for all forums. What I'm getting at is if I don't have the Lotus forum watched (no offense Doc) could the software not update that particular forum. So if I'm watching 7 forums that I frequent, it wouldn't query the other 33 or so forums.

If you view the main forum list and can see all the other forums, I don't see anyway around it doing a query on all the forums. At lease not without some major programming...then it would have to to a querry to determine which forums you are watching, then do a more complex querry to only query those and ohhhh...my eyes have gone crossed!

Didn't mean to make you go blind. :laugh: It seems that the forum queries your watched list automatically when you log in, so I'd think of it as more of a filter. A case of too many idle brain cells. I'm gonna rally now.

Guess my short term memory is shot, says I already raced today.

thanks for the explanation, makes sense to me, just wanted to make sure it wasn't something I had done. as always, thanks for all you do!

I've decided to turn this back on. Please let me know if you experience any slowdowns.

Basil,
Would it help if you turned it off on the main page? the number there isn't as helpful as the number in the forum itself (least for me anyway....)


mark

I noticed that you had - haven't really noticed a speed difference - thanks