Pages don't seem to reload properly

[Borg]

I have two different computers that I access PF with and lately, the newer one isn't marking threads as read unless I reload the page. I haven't made any changes to my browser settings on either browser before this started. Was something changed about two weeks ago that might be causing this? The browser with the problem is Firefox 15 on Windows 7. The one that hasn't been affected is Firefox 3 on XP. I've tried a number of things including turning off all browser caching. No luck.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I have two different computers that I access PF with and lately, the newer one isn't marking threads as read unless I reload the page. I haven't made any changes to my browser settings on either browser before this started. Was something changed about two weeks ago that might be causing this? The browser with the problem is Firefox 15 on Windows 7. The one that hasn't been affected is Firefox 3 on XP. I've tried a number of things including turning off all browser caching. No luck.

Yes, I changed the time for setting threads as read from I think 14 to 7. So if you don't come to PF within a week, threads older than a week will be marked as read. Your old computer likely has the setting preserved in a cookie. At some point it will expire and be created again using the new setting.

 

[Borg]

I think that the bug that I'm seeing is a little different. For example, I have bookmarked the My PF page as where I always start. Let's say that I haven't been on for a day and there are 4 links marked as unread. I normally work through the threads, visiting each in turn and returning via the back button. Now, when I hit the back button, all of the threads are still marked as unread. It stays this way even if I go to another page on the list and return again. I can visit all of the pages, return to the My PF page each time and they all stay marked as unread. I now have to reload the page to get the threads marked as having been read and they all update properly.

 

[Borg]

I've taken a screenshot of my cookies and will compare them with the other laptop later.

 

[TurtleMeister]

I am experiencing the same situation as Borg. When I use the back button on my browser (Firefox), the page does not refresh and the thread does not get marked as read. It simply fetches the cached page stored by the browser. I have to manually refresh. This started around the same time that I had some problems posting (500 errors). But I'm not sure if something has changed with PF or if something has changed with my browser (possibly an update that I don't remember :). I checked the html at the main page and the no cache headers are still there.

Note: I am not complaining about this. I actually like it this way. I prefer to have control over when a previous page reloads. The site has much quicker response and less load on the server. I posted a thread about it a while back.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=478852

 

[Borg]

Something else that I remembered. When I return to the MyPF page, it also does not display any threads with new posts in any other threads either. For example, when I created this thread and returned to MyPF through the history, it didn't show up until I reloaded the page again.

 

[TurtleMeister]

Something else that I remembered. When I return to the MyPF page, it also does not display any threads with new posts in any other threads either. For example, when I created this thread and returned to MyPF through the history, it didn't show up until I reloaded the page again.

Are you talking about the "New Subscribed Threads"? If so, I am not having that problem.

Unless of course I use the back button to get to it and a new thread has appeared since I last loaded it.

 

[Borg]

Are you talking about the "New Subscribed Threads"? If so, I am not having that problem.

Unless of course I use the back button to get to it and a new thread has appeared since I last loaded it.

Yes, that's the page that the MyPF link at the top sends me to.

 

[strangerep]

I'm having the same problem as described by Borg. (I'm using Firefox 19.)
Like Borg, I also find it annoying.

 

[mfb]

Yes, I changed the time for setting threads as read from I think 14 to 7. So if you don't come to PF within a week, threads older than a week will be marked as read. Your old computer likely has the setting preserved in a cookie. At some point it will expire and be created again using the new setting.

Could we store the unread threads in the database, instead of using cookies? This would remove three annoying "features" of the current system:
- Sometimes, threads are not marked as read properly
- if you don't load any forum page for more than 15 minutes, the forum marks everything as read. Very annoying if you read, write, or research for long posts.
- after visiting the last unread thread in a forum, the forum is still marked as unread until you visit the forum again.

I know that the control panel warns about the database usage, but that should be fine (=result of another forum of similar size).

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Could we store the unread threads in the database, instead of using cookies?

I know that the control panel warns about the database usage, but that should be fine (=result of another forum of similar size).

Yes, but it is highly discouraged for big forums. What site does it work well on? Historically we have mysql problems. I don't wish to add to them.

 

[TurtleMeister]

For me, this issue of threads not being marked as read only occurs when I use the back button (browser fetches the page from cache). If I use the navigation links at the top of the page then the page is refreshed and thread is marked as read. I'm pretty sure this is the same action that Borg is seeing. However, he didn't specifically say if the page was reloading normally when he used the navigation links.

 

[mfb]

Yes, but it is highly discouraged for big forums. What site does it work well on?

http://diablo3.ingame.de/forum/ (German)
129,000 threads, 210,000 thread subscriptions, 27 million posts in the last 13 years (just 3 millions are still there).
Currently it is 0:45 AM here in germany, so visitor numbers are a bit low. It survived the peak of 4500 visitors (5 days after the release of Diablo 3) quite well, however.

 

[Borg]

For me, this issue of threads not being marked as read only occurs when I use the back button (browser fetches the page from cache). If I use the navigation links at the top of the page then the page is refreshed and thread is marked as read. I'm pretty sure this is the same action that Borg is seeing. However, he didn't specifically say if the page was reloading normally when he used the navigation links.

Yes, that's what I'm seeing also. Back button doesn't refresh but clicking a link marks them as read.

 

[Borg]

I'm seeing it on both browsers now also. Oh well.