How come threads say they have new posts when they don't?

I don’t know if anyone else has this problem, but threads have the “new posts” icon when often times they shouldn’t. It seems that the only way it changes to the “no new posts” icon is if a certain amount of time has passed (how much time I don’t know.) I can read the whole thread, even make my own reply, and it says there are new posts. I’ll go back and read it again, even hit the “go to first unread post” link, and it still says there are new posts.

Is this a board-wide bug, or am I the only one affected?

Edit: I even refresh a forum listing with ctrl+F5 and it still says new posts, so it doesn’t appear to be a browser issue.

I have the opposite problem - even when there are pages of new posts since I last read a thread, the new posts icon often fails to display.

It’s not just you, I also get the “new posts” icon when there aren’t any.

That’s been my experience as well. One time I posted to a thread and assumed I’d forgotten to hit ‘Submit Reply’ because the post didn’t appear. When I opened the thread again, my post was at the bottom of the list, as expected but it still didn’t show up when I returned to the board.

I have this issue too. If i check too quickly it seems (w/in 10-15 mins). It’ll show me new posts, and take me back to where I had already read them though.

i don’t ever look at the forum indexes (indices?) directly, only the “new posts” page - and it seems to be accurate:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?do=getnew

I occasionally have both problems. Sometimes one, sometimes the other.

The problem isn’t with the index. It’s with the threads themselves. The tiny blue icon that takes you to the newest post- it doesn’t always update AFTER you finish reading a thread and refresh the page. If I read a new post in a thread, then close the screen and come back (like 10 to 20 mins later), I’ll notice that there’s a new post in the topic by the blue icon, but if I click it it takes me back to the first new post that I had already read earlier and that there wasn’t a new post in the meanwhile.

Me too. Or if it does show up it takes me to several posts after the actual newest post since my last visit.

Is it poll threads where a new vote (but not post) has been done?

I have the same problem and it’s been happening from well before polls were enabled.

As an example. My previous post was the last post to this thread yet when I reloaded the ATMB forum it shows as having a new post with me being the last poster. I click the new post button, which takes me to my post and then I click to go to the ATMB forum again (I don’t use the back button, but click the link directly) and it still shows as having new posts even though I have read all posts in the thread, twice.

I’ve been noticing this too, the last few days. It’s kind of weird when it (correctly) lists your post as the last post in a thread, but shows the “new posts” symbol as well.

It seems to be taking longer for the board to update itself these days, that’s true. We don’t know why that happens.

I do note that updating threads and thread counts is the last thing the system does and that’s why there’s often a lag of some sort. The lag time has increased quite a bit of late and I’ve heard reports that the system sometimes takes as long as 90 minutes to show posts so I’m not surprised to hear that posts are also not being reported quickly or accurately and that the situation is not as it appears to be. It’s the other side of the same problem reported earlier.

I don’t know what causes this. I don’t know how to fix it. I do not have any technical information to share with you on this. I don’t have any other information for you. I hope this clears up soon. We ask you to bear with us in these trying times.

:dubious: With all due respect, lines like this start to get a little old after about the first five years.

If we said nothing at all you’d be aggravated about that too. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, I believe that’s called “a no-win situation.”

I said what I know. If I knew better or could do better you would have heard that.

You, and the other admins and mods have my sympathy. It must be like being constantly hit on the head with a hammer. But, might not the solution be to change the system so that when issues arise, a response from those that can do something about them is forthcoming fairly quickly. I appreciate the irony that this probably has to be elevated to Ed before you could respond…

Yes, the board issues are annoying, but that annoyance is compounded hugely by the wall of silence.

I guess I think of the mods and administrators as being like the ushers at the movie theatre: we’re here to clean up, keep out the drunks, and to prevent audience rowdiness. We have no control over building maintenance, over the choice of popcorn supplier, or purchase of new projectors. When we hear such comments, all we can do is pass them upstairs to the managers. In some cases, the managers have told us NOT to talk about some specific topics, and we’re sorry that we’re obliged to be silent, but that’s what the bosses say to do.

Yes, I do appreciate your situation, and I don’t think anyone here is having a go at you lot personally. Unfortunately for you, you are the ones that are visible, and therefore bear the brunt of our ire.

Now, if only Ed, who I understand is where the buck stops, would decide to poke his head above the parapet, you’d be off the hook, and we’d be happy (or happier, depending on what he says).

I have always had this problem - it even thinks a thread has new posts when the last post is mine.