Go to first unread post

[K-R]

If I click on the 'go to first unread post' button, and the first unread post is not on the last page, I instead get linked to the first post of the last page.

[TheGrammarBolshevik]

Yes, because by going to the last page you automatically mark posts on previous pages as read.

If you'd like to go directly to the last post of a thread, visit the thread by clicking the orange page icon instead of the thread title.

[K-R]

visit the thread by clicking the orange page icon instead of the thread title.

That's what I'm doing. And instead of taking me to the first unread post, it takes me to the first unread post on the last page. Which is fine, if the first unread post is, in fact, on the last page. But if it isn't, it just sends me to the top of the last page, instead of to the last post or two on the penultimate page. That's my entire point.

[gmalivuk]

Does it always do this, or only with some threads? If the latter, it's an issue with soft-deleted posts being counted as present by forum software, and then not displaying when you go to view the thread.

Typically your actual first unread post will be near the bottom of the previous page.

[K-R]

Does it always do this, or only with some threads?

I've never seen it not happen, that I recall, but the first unread post is on the last page 99% of the time so it's not exactly something that has the opportunity to happen all that often.

If the latter, it's an issue with soft-deleted posts being counted as present by forum software, and then not displaying when you go to view the thread.

...whut?

[SecondTalon]

If the latter, it's an issue with soft-deleted posts being counted as present by forum software, and then not displaying when you go to view the thread.

...whut?

On default phpbb boards, when a user deletes a post (something that can only be done if the user is the last poster in the thread), the post deletes. Gone. Poof. Vanishes forever.

We have an add-on mod whatchacallit that makes it so that users can only soft-delete a post. This means that for everyone who is not that exact user OR someone on the moderation staff (so, 99% of the userbase) the post is gone. But for the user who posted it (I think) and the modstaff (I know) the post is still there.

The end result being that for the userbase (and some users), there is sometimes peculiar behavior. I know one of these behaviors is a thread saying that it has a new post, but clicking on the thread not only reveals no new posts, but it also does not take away the New Post Notification icon. This happens when the last post in a thread is soft-deleted, and there are no subsequent posts - users never get flagged as seeing the post, so the new post notification never goes away. This is resolved by a moderator either hard deleting the post (doing what you'd expect deletion to do) or someone replying to it, thus making the last post in a thread something everyone can see, and letting the New Post Notification flag expire.

I believe that behavior also occurs when there is a brand new poster (Someone in the New Users group who has to have all posts approved) as the last poster - again, 99% of the userbase can't see it, so the New Post Notification icon will not go away.

So, if you could tell us which threads specifically exhibit this behavior (All threads? Certain threads? Say, high-traffic threads in General where people might post things then think better of it and delete them, such as the Confession Thread or Fleeting/Random Thoughts?) we can possibly figure out if it's a soft-delete related issue or not.

[TheGrammarBolshevik]

Another important effect of soft deletes, which might be more what gmal had in mind, is that the forum does not always correctly understand which page a post is on if a post has been soft deleted before it. Something like this, though I'll probably fuck up the details: if there are 85 posts in a thread, plus one that was soft-deleted on the first page, and I try to visit the last post on the first page (so, post #40 as I see it), the forum will think that this post is on the second page of the thread and take me there (since it counts the soft-deleted post in associating post number with page). It's possible that the ?view=unread parameter does something like this.

[gmalivuk]

Yeah, that's what I was getting at. I believe it calculates the page number to take you to before figuring out which posts it's actually going to show you, so you sometimes end up one page too far.

But again, best way to remedy the problem is to just go back a page and check the last few posts there. Best way to fix it (one thread at a time) is to report the post it took you to and let a mod eventually get around to scrolling back through for soft deleted posts. (If it's a super long thread, this might not actually happen.)

[K-R]

So, if you could tell us which threads specifically exhibit this behavior (All threads? Certain threads? Say, high-traffic threads in General where people might post things then think better of it and delete them, such as the Confession Thread or Fleeting/Random Thoughts?) we can possibly figure out if it's a soft-delete related issue or not.

The queer safespace thread just did it, and was off by several posts. Can't remember any others, as it's not something I've really paid attention to (or, before I realised it was happening, noticed if the first post on the last page made sense by itself).

[Jesse]

Seems like it's only happening to you, if it's happening this regularly. Perhaps try the usual web things, clear your cache and your cookies.

[Zarq]

So, if you could tell us which threads specifically exhibit this behavior (All threads? Certain threads? Say, high-traffic threads in General where people might post things then think better of it and delete them, such as the Confession Thread or Fleeting/Random Thoughts?) we can possibly figure out if it's a soft-delete related issue or not.

The queer safespace thread just did it, and was off by several posts. Can't remember any others, as it's not something I've really paid attention to (or, before I realised it was happening, noticed if the first post on the last page made sense by itself).

What do you mean by "was of by several posts"? I've seen some peculiarity when there a couple of images on the page. I think the page centers on the new post before the images are loaded, and when the images load, the page jumps up a bit (the length of those images).

[TheGrammarBolshevik]

The Queer safezone thread is 157 pages long. That several-page discrepancy is explained by Greg's hypothesis if there are several soft-deleted posts among those pages. So, perhaps the question for this hypothesis is: have you had this problem on a short thread, such that the discrepancy is larger than you would expect there to be soft-deleted posts?

Guess the other question is, do you always get this problem, or does the forum sometimes succeed in directing you to the first unread post somewhere other than the last page?

[Diemo]

Hey so this is happening to me as well, generally on the really long threads, e. g. the FAID rant thread. but it only happens when i am browsing on my mobile (roughly half the time). Could it be a problem with the mobile interface?

[SecondTalon]

"The" mobile interface? Near as i know, there isn't one. There's how your mobile browser decides to display the phpbb forums. Mobile browsers do wierd things.

[gmalivuk]

Hm, threads in FaiD shouldn't have any soft deleted posts, so that might be a different problem.

[Zarq]

Hey so this is happening to me as well, generally on the really long threads, e. g. the FAID rant thread. but it only happens when i am browsing on my mobile (roughly half the time). Could it be a problem with the mobile interface?

What phone-OS, what browser?

[Diemo]

"The" mobile interface? Near as i know, there isn't one. There's how your mobile browser decides to display the phpbb forums. Mobile browsers do wierd things.

Yes, sorry. I should have written "my mobile interface".

What phone-OS, what browser?

I am using android gingerbread (on a Galaxy S +). I don't know what browser I have, just the default one (I assume chrome because it is android, but could be wrong).

I'll edit in the times (and threads) it happens here to see if I can find a pattern.

[SecondTalon]

In that case - yes, it is your mobile interface. I've had two different Blackberry devices and an iPhone with different browsers and discovered that some of them will jump to the right post THEN load images without reanchoring, causing the first post to be a random one. Some will simply refuse to go to the post the first time (meaning you need to click the "Go to first unread post" link at the top). Some will load the page, load the images and THEN jump to the anchor, so.. if the images take a bit, it'll take a bit to go to the First Unread Post. And some will anchor to the post and continue to load images, then continually jump back to the anchor until it's finished loading the page.

And that's just four different browsers I primarily used (Whatever is on Blackberry's default on the two different devices, Opera on Blackberry and Safari on iPhone). I don't remember how some of the other browsers I tried reacted.

[phlip]

I haven't had any problems with the "first unread" link on my Android, and it handles the whole images-loading-making-the-page-longer thing properly, ending up on the right post.

Only problem I've had with it is that the "first unread" link itself is really tiny, and touchscreens are terrible for precise input, so I have to zoom in a lot and even then it often hits the wrong link. Are you sure you're actually hitting the right link, when you have problems?