The way you currently mark messages as read makes me nervous. I'm always worried (for sufficiently small values of always) that Gryphon will announce the Second Coming or something in the time between when I finish reading the new posts in a forum and when I hit 'mark'.

I'm assuming there's some big huge reason we can't just have messages marked read when, you know, they're read (meaning you only have to hit Mark when you don't feel like slogging through the messages in the first place), but I thought I'd ask anyway.

--Zenigame, the happy little Tortle

>I'm assuming there's some big huge reason we can't just have messages
>marked read when, you know, they're read

Yes.<1>

<1>For those truly interested I've had long discourses on this over in the DCScripts boards: http://www.dcscripts.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

The ultra-short version is - a timestamp per forum per user isn't too bad. A timestamp per thread per forum per user would be messy. A timestamp per post per thread per forum per user would be fscking crazy - in both added server load and space used to store all those timestamps.

-MegaZone, megazone@megazone.org
Personal Homepage http://www.megazone.org/
Eyrie Productions FanFic http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

MegaZone wrote:

>Yes.<1>

Fair 'nuf. I was thinking you'd just need a bit per post per thread per... but then I remembered about editing of messages. Thanks for not popping my head off at the suggestion (no doubt one you've heard before). \n_n/

--Zenigame

>Fair 'nuf. I was thinking you'd just need a bit per post per
>thread per...

True, when you get to the individual post level you could just set a bit. But that's not the big issue - the issue would be tracking those bits x the number of posts x the number of users. That's a big number, and doesn't scale well.

Maybe when DCF moves to a database backend it might be a way to do it more efficiently, but I haven't come up with one yet (nor has anyone else - I haven't seen any other web forums that do a reasonable job of it). Most systems that track by post are client-server, and the client has to remember all that stuff, not the server (ie, USEnet).

-MegaZone, megazone@megazone.org
Personal Homepage http://www.megazone.org/
Eyrie Productions FanFic http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>The ultra-short version is - a timestamp per forum per user isn't too
>bad. A timestamp per thread per forum per user would be messy. A
>timestamp per post per thread per forum per user would be fscking
>crazy - in both added server load and space used to store all those
>timestamps.

I blame this on the nigh-insane file storage in DCForum as well.
1 thread per file? article numbers based on thread AND order in thread?

if there were sane article numbers, you could have a newsrc-like file.
one per user. track an article as 'read' in there.

-jer
--
jer@gweep.net
Ceci n'est pas une .signature

>I blame this on the nigh-insane file storage in DCForum as well.
>1 thread per file? article numbers based on thread AND order in
>thread?

The article numbers based on order works since DCF is primarily a threaded forum, and doing it that way simplified things. It may change as DCF grows and gets more features, since it is becoming limiting.

The one thread per file thing is understandable based on where it came from. Though I'd go with a directory per thread and each post as a file in that directory.

I would not go with USEnet style of one directory per forum and all the posts tossed in there, having to look into each post to figure out which thread it goes in.

>if there were sane article numbers, you could have a newsrc-like file.
>one per user. track an article as 'read' in there.

It could be done even with the system as it is - I thought that through a while back. You can generated unique 'article numbers' from the components. But it seems like more work than it is worth to me - since I don't care for the 'mark it just because I clicked on it' system for web forums.

I'm liking USEnet less and less the more I use DCF actually.

-MegaZone, megazone@megazone.org
Personal Homepage http://www.megazone.org/
Eyrie Productions FanFic http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>I would not go with USEnet style of one directory per forum and all
>the posts tossed in there, having to look into each post to figure out
>which thread it goes in.

that's what database + index files are for.

>I'm liking USEnet less and less the more I use DCF actually.

yes, but you've been known to say good things about Javascript,
and bad things about lynx too. :)

-jer

--
jer@gweep.net
Ceci n'est pas une .signature

>>I would not go with USEnet style of one directory per forum and all
>>the posts tossed in there, having to look into each post to figure out
>>which thread it goes in.
>that's what database + index files are for.

True. I just like being able to attack the files manually without having to crossref... But I'm like that.

>>I'm liking USEnet less and less the more I use DCF actually.
>yes, but you've been known to say good things about Javascript,
>and bad things about lynx too. :)

Yes I have, on both counts.

-MegaZone, megazone@megazone.org
Personal Homepage http://www.megazone.org/
Eyrie Productions FanFic http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>a timestamp per forum per user isn't too bad.

OK, so can we add a way to mark individual formus as read? I know it's a bit more work, but it would make things a lot simpler than just a "mark all" for those times when I can only catch up on a forum or two...

While I'd love an individual message tracking feature (kinda like a news reader), I understand the impracticalities of doint that server-based. And I'd hate to think of the size of the cookies if it was done that way... *shudder*

Offsides

#include <stdsig.h>

>>a timestamp per forum per user isn't too bad.
>
>OK, so can we add a way to mark individual formus as read? I know
>it's a bit more work, but it would make things a lot simpler than just
>a "mark all" for those times when I can only catch up on a forum or
>two...

That feature already exists. When you first enter a forum one of the buttons across the top is "Mark" this will mark all threads/posts in that single forum as read.

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Whoa! What IS it?!

>That feature already exists. When you first enter a forum one of the
>buttons across the top is "Mark" this will mark all threads/posts in
>that single forum as read.

Ahhh... but I almost never go directly into a forum - I just click "Read New", and there's no "Mark" button listed there... now I know :)

Offsides

#include <gijoe.h>

>Ahhh... but I almost never go directly into a forum - I just click
>"Read New", and there's no "Mark" button listed there... now I know
>:)

I had trouble keeping up with the context of a message from the read new button. Now I have the threads expanded inside of each forum. It takes up alot of space, but I can generally keep in mind what was going on 2 or 3 messages before the new one that way.

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Whoa! What IS it?!