Suggestion: Forum filtering

[johnamus]

Problem: The PF forums seem deader than they really are because all new posts aren't immediately visible when entering the forums front page.  For example if any subforum e.g. "Newbie Topics", has received more than one new post, the only way to view the new post topics, or even know if more than one post is available, is to click into that subforum.  With the large amount of subforums this takes a lot of time and leads to a large portion of new posts being ignored. 

Solution: Adopt a format similar to the one in the attached photo.  The new format displays all posts on the entire forum by default, BUT if a user wants to filter and only view topics from specific subforums he can simply click the appropriate box and viola: instant filtering.  Users who are mainly interested in certain topics can save their user settings to show these topics by default when they login. 

Don't get me wrong, the forum indexing is extremely helpful, but the implementation is not.  IMHO, without question my suggestion will lead to more forum views, more forum participation, and cause more users to log-in instead of view the forum as guests.

[BrickStoneOven]

There are a couple ways to see new posts. The easiest way is click on the "Show unread posts since last visit" link under the Pizza Making banner right under your name. Another thing is that if you haven't noticed after you are done looking into a forum the slice on the left hand side turns white. If someone has been into that forum and posted a reply or a new thread it will light back up so you know there has been a new post.

But honestly it takes a fraction of a second to click into a forum. The only ones that might take some time going through are the Ingredients and Pizza Making Equipment forums and even then it's still only a second. Out of all the forums I;m on this is by far the easiest to navigate through.

[Pete-zza]

Also, under Forum Stats there is a link called "View the most recent posts on the forum" that will let you see the last ten pages of posts.

Peter

[johnamus]

Thanks guys, I wasn't aware of those features (even though they were right in front of me).  I still think my idea has merit, but everyone has their own preferences.

[johnamus]

So I checked out the "show unread posts since last visit" function and I'm trying to determine how to jump into a thread at the post that is new to me.  I see where I can click to go to the first and last posts of the thread.  Is it possible to open a thread to the exact place where I last stopped reading? 

[BrickStoneOven]

So I checked out the "show unread posts since last visit" function and I'm trying to determine how to jump into a thread at the post that is new to me.  I see where I can click to go to the first and last posts of the thread.  Is it possible to open a thread to the exact place where I last stopped reading? 

Yes. When you look at the "Home" link you will see an open folder just below that says Pizza Making Forum>Forum Information>Forum Info>Suggestion: Forum filtering(your thread). If you click on the folder just above the last one(the thread you in at the moment) you will go back to the sub-forum where all the threads are for that category. So say you are in one of the threads in the unread section you can click on the folder above the last one and you will go back to where that thread was started.

[johnamus]

What I'm referring to is the ability to click on a link that takes me to the first unread post in a thread.  I attached an example screenshot from another forum. Notice the highlighted links, those links are what I am talking about, if I click on them I won't go to the latest post in the thread, I'l go to the latest post that I haven't read:

[BrickStoneOven]

I get what your asking now. IDK about that; Peter would have a better answer.

How does the forum know which post you read last? Do you have to mark something in the thread saying this was the last post you read? What happens if there were 20 posts since your last visit, does it take you to that first post of the 20? That is kind of interesting. I've never seen that on any other forum before. Which forum did you take a screen shot from?

[johnamus]

Its on the forums here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/, it's a very handy function for staying abreast of all the postings that are new to me rather than new in general.

[scott123]

While we're on the topic of viewing new posts, I'd like to see 20 pages, not 10.  I lost power for three days because of a snow storm and, when I came back, about a day's worth of posts were gone. In addition, on very busy days, I've checked in the early morning and then in the late evening, and some messages missed the cut. The forum's gotten a bit too busy, imo, for only 10 pages worth of new posts.

[norma427]

While we're on the topic of viewing new posts, I'd like to see 20 pages, not 10.  I lost power for three days because of a snow storm and, when I came back, about a day's worth of posts were gone. In addition, on very busy days, I've checked in the early morning and then in the late evening, and some messages missed the cut. The forum's gotten a bit too busy, imo, for only 10 pages worth of new posts.

Scott,

I think all you have to do is click on "No unread topics found since your last visit. Click here to try all unread topics." I always "click on here" to read on the right (in black) if I might have missed some posts.  

Norma

[scott123]

Norma,

I've got a 'Show unread posts since last visit' link, but when I click it, it shows me topics, as opposed to the 'recent posts' link which shows me posts. With topics, I have to navigate through each one to the most recent post, read it, and then make the decision as to whether or not to reply, as opposed to seeing a preview in the recent posts list. Unless I'm missing something, seeing new topics isn't really viable for skimming through every new post.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Scott

[norma427]

Norma,

I've got a 'Show unread posts since last visit' link, but when I click it, it shows me topics, as opposed to the 'recent posts' link which shows me posts. With topics, I have to navigate through each one to the most recent post, read it, and then make the decision as to whether or not to reply, as opposed to seeing a preview in the recent posts list. Unless I'm missing something, seeing new topics isn't really viable for skimming through every new post.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Scott

Scott,

Sorry, I thought you wanted to read any posts that you might have missed.  I guess I didn’t read enough or understand that you wanted to see recent posts.  I guess I will have to take some of mom’s memory pills.  At least they make her memory and thinking better.   

Norma

[johnamus]

It was in front of me the whole time! If I click on the purple "new" button I will go to the first post that is new to me.