# How often does the board update the read/unread tags? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 16, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275 "2007-06-16T19:04:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/1 "2007-06-16T19:04:20Z")
My subjective sense tells me that the board updates the tags once every half-hour, but I’m not sure if it is a half-hour starting at the moment you visit TSDMB or every half hour according to the time (3:00 3:30 4:00). Point is that often I am reading the board but also bouncing around to other sites as well, and by the time I get down to MPSIMS or the Pit the tags have reset and I have to remember where the last unread post was in the threads I was following. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/2 "2007-06-17T23:04:05Z")
No admins know then huh? Yeah it’s pretty much a minor bit of trivia was just curious… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/3 "2007-06-17T23:21:41Z")
My WAG is the read/unread status is a function of each user’s access, not a batch update process. There’s no way the software can actually know if you are reading anything, just if you have downloaded the thread up to message X. It probably equates “downloaded” = “read”. If you read to the end of each thread (or page?) you download, it will be accurate. If you don’t, it won’t. Seems to work pretty well for me. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/4 "2007-06-18T15:20:54Z")
It seems to me that the read/unread status of posts are keyed off of the “Last visited” time (at least for prior sessions). If I’m browsing the board, I can mark threads / forums as read. But if I close out all the SDMB windows (or if the board times out and I have to refresh), any thread with a latest post before my “Last visited” time gets marked as read. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/5 "2007-06-18T15:45:58Z")
[QUOTE=sciguy] It seems to me that the read/unread status of posts are keyed off of the “Last visited” time (at least for prior sessions). If I’m browsing the board, I can mark threads / forums as read. But if I close out all the SDMB windows (or if the board times out and I have to refresh), any thread with a latest post before my “Last visited” time gets marked as read. [/QUOTE] This is correct. The last visited time will reset if you have no SDMB activity for (IIRC) 20 minutes. If you visit the SDMB and keep reading/viewing pages, your last visited time will not change and your unread posts will be the same as when you entered. However, if you open a long thread and spend 25 minutes reading all the posts, your last visited time will be reset to the time you last logged on (25 minutes ago) and the unread posts will display accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/6 "2007-06-18T22:49:29Z")
Ah. Now things make sense; the times when it reset I was indeed intently involved in say a Red Sox game and lost track of time. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-does-the-board-update-the-read-unread-tags/408275/7 "2007-06-19T18:33:41Z")
I think the setting for timeout is 30 minutes. That seemed sufficient and there’s never really been any reason to change it.