# Read/Unread timer resetting c. 5 minutes into a session **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 8, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423 "2013-01-08T00:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/21 "2013-01-12T19:14:44Z")
> [@Snerky\_Snerk](#): > > Thank you. I’m on a mobile and never get to experience all the [del]bugs[/del] wonderful board features you proper computer users get. > > I’ve gone through the steps you mentioned, but everything works fine for me. Dammit! > > I guess it’s not such a big issue that TPTB would consult with a tech? In addition to what **runner pat** has pointed out, any suggestions you offer need to take into account that it is an intermittent problem. It doesn’t happen consistently (at least not for me, and I think the other victims would agree), but has been happening **much** more frequently recently. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/22 "2013-01-13T02:34:22Z")
It’s happened to me probably three times this week. Log in, check one forum, go to the next and everything is marked as not new. Just a matter of 5 minutes or less. It used to happen maybe once a month. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/23 "2013-01-13T02:36:45Z")
When it happens to me, it’s usually while I’m not even logged in. For example, I’ll sign out, then come back a day or two later, and all posts that have been made in subscribed threads since then are all already marked as read. And no, no one is logging in for me, as the time shown for last log-in matches mine. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/24 "2013-01-13T14:02:03Z")
It was happening to me every day for a while. Then I posted in here about it. Hasn’t happened since. Huh. I love magic. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/25 "2013-01-15T02:37:46Z")
Just now…logged in at 9:30. It shows my last time on as…9:30. (Actual last time on: yesterday at 10:20pm) So everything has already been read. I did have enough time to open a few windows. I have four forums open to their main page and they show the unread threads. But as soon as I jump to one of the threads, I’m at the end because it’s all been read. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/26 "2013-01-17T02:58:19Z")
And it just happened again. Logged off early yesterday afternoon, logged on just now maybe 20 hours later, and every post made since then in every Subscribed thread is marked as Read. Very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/27 "2013-01-18T00:43:17Z")
And again for me. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/28 "2013-01-18T01:31:25Z")
Can we just upgrade the whole read/unread thing to a newer version of vBulletin? This is seriously the only forum on the internet that can’t get this right. Every other forum - I can look at the site from my PC, then a tablet, then a different brower on my PC, and they’ll all track what I’ve actually read and correctly place me up to my last read post, but this forum is just random. Sometimes it resets for no reason, sometimes it puts in a random part of the thread that isn’t even close to where I last left off, and it all resets every time you access it with another browser/device. The whole feature is substantially broken, which always confuses me since every other forum out there, including other vbulletin forums, gets it right. ---
**Author:** ![Tllaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@Tllaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tllaya)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/29 "2013-01-18T05:02:24Z")
I am a new user, so perhaps I’m just not going through the mechanics correctly, but I’m chiming in to say that I’m having essentially the same problem w/this board via tapatalk. I don’t read any other sites through that app yet, so I couldn’t tell you if it’s the board or the app. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/30 "2013-01-18T16:29:07Z")
Oh, that’s a good question – is it only happening to people reading on Tapatalk? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/31 "2013-01-18T16:30:57Z")
I don’t even know what Tapatalk is, but I have an inkling it has something to do with smartphones. But no, I’m on a home PC. Is okay today though. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/32 "2013-01-18T17:24:01Z")
Nope, standard desktop computer here. Hasn’t happened to me in a couple of days, though. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/33 "2013-01-18T18:58:27Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Oh, that’s a good question – is it only happening to people reading on Tapatalk? Nope. I’m not even quite sure what in ---- Tapatalk is. I haven’t been able to see a pattern as to when it happens, other than I think I agree with everyone else that IF it happens, it happens fairly soon after you connect (I was [and am] a little uncertain because if I stay on one page I may not notice it until I refresh or go to another page). ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/34 "2013-01-18T21:13:19Z")
I went through my subscribed posts, and clicked on New Posts (without walking away from the computer or going to another tab or anything like that) and in the time it took for the page to load, the timer reset. I don’t think it’s been quite that bad for me before. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/35 "2013-01-18T21:39:37Z")
I thought it was cured but just now happened again. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/36 "2013-01-19T00:35:31Z")
I’m on a Windows XP laptop, running Chrome, and as mentioned above, it happens to me. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/37 "2013-01-19T03:09:10Z")
While it hasn’t happened in a few days for me, I’m using W7. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/38 "2013-01-19T12:40:36Z")
I’m about overdue for this annoyance to happen again. I use Windows 7 and Mac and it occurs on both. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/39 "2013-01-19T15:25:11Z")
Happened again: in the twentieth of a second it took to get new posts, the timer reset. But it managed to retrieve the threads posted to in the 12 hours since I was here last (with the message “The threads below have not been updated since your last visit but still contain unread posts.”) ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423/40 "2013-01-19T15:32:01Z")
Just for the record (I’ve already reported my occurences of this glitch in previous messages) I am running Firefox 18, mostly on Ubuntu Linux. I sometimes use Firefox on Windows 7 and it’s happened on both systems. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/read-unread-timer-resetting-c-5-minutes-into-a-session/646423.md?page=3)