# What's the little down arrow do? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 17, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667 "2020-03-17T18:22:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/1 "2020-03-17T18:22:10Z")
You know the one when you hover over it that shows the text “_Go to first new post_”. You know the one that when you click on it _sometimes_ takes you to the first new post but other times it takes you to some random post in that thread. Sometimes it takes you to the latest page even though you’ve only read half of the previous page; especially on a fast moving thread. Sometimes, like today, it’s taking me to a previous page even though I’ve posted, _twice_, in the current page. _That_ down arrow; what’s it do? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/2 "2020-03-17T19:03:59Z")
I think you just accurately described what it does. 😉 What it is supposed to do is take you to the first unread thread. However, that feature relies on the system clock, your login status, and some nebulous algorythm for keeping that info straight. It’s never works very well, and with the system as it is now, YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/3 "2020-03-17T20:49:53Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > You know the one when you hover over it that shows the text “_Go to first new post_”. > You know the one that when you click on it _sometimes_ takes you to the first new post but other times it takes you to some random post in that thread. Sometimes it takes you to the latest page even though you’ve only read half of the previous page; especially on a fast moving thread. Sometimes, like today, it’s taking me to a previous page even though I’ve posted, _twice_, in the current page. > > _That_ down arrow; what’s it do? 😕 It goes to what the system thinks is the latest post. It is sometimes in error because: [ul] [li]It doesn’t care if you opened that thread last time you visited. It will give you the last post since that visit.[/li][li]It doesn’t think you really want to read very old posts, like several days old, so it will skip those, even if you haven’t visited for a while.[/li][li]And sometimes it is even more broken and just hasn’t paid attention.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/4 "2020-03-17T22:02:46Z")
> [@naita](#): > > > [@Spiderman](#): > > > > it’s taking me to a previous page even though I’ve posted, _twice_, in the current page. > > It goes to what the system thinks is the latest post. It is sometimes in error because: > [ul] > [li]It doesn’t care if you opened that thread last time you visited. It will give you the last post since that visit.[/ul][/li] Nope. [quote=“naita, post:3, topic:849667”] > [@Spiderman](#): > > Sometimes it takes you to the latest page even though you’ve only read half of the previous page; **especially on a fast moving thread**. [ul][li]It doesn’t think you really want to read very old posts, like several days old, so it will skip those, even if you haven’t visited for a while.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE] Not unless you define haven’t visited in a while as a couple of hours. > [@naita](#): > > [ul][li]And sometimes it is even more broken and just hasn’t paid attention.[/li][/ul] This. & it’s not a new problem; it’s **not** tied to the recent issues we’ve been having. If the DBA changed the label to “Some random post in this thread” then at least it would accurately describe what it’s doing. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/5 "2020-03-17T22:08:45Z")
I thought that little down arrow was designed by the same people that designed the crosswalk push buttons. ---
**Author:** ![Dude111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dude111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dude111)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/6 "2020-03-18T10:55:26Z")
I love the down arrow… Its very useful 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/7 "2020-03-18T13:21:57Z")
It works for me. It takes me to the next post after the last one I have read. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/8 "2020-03-18T15:05:19Z")
It works sometimes, then it will be wonky other times. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/9 "2020-03-18T16:46:41Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > This. & it’s not a new problem; it’s **not** tied to the recent issues we’ve been having. If the DBA changed the label to “Some random post in this thread” then at least it would accurately describe what it’s doing. It generally works for me, so there’s obviously a line in there with ```auto if user == "Spiderman" {do random stuff} ``` ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/10 "2020-03-18T16:49:55Z")
The most common failure mode I see for the first new post button is when I am on the page with the newest post, but there are more new posts continuing on the next page(s). Then when I click it I get taken to the last post in the thread. Skipping over all the newer ones. An obvious error that anyone competent programmer would notice and fix. So it’s been around since day one. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-little-down-arrow-do/849667/11 "2020-03-20T00:50:04Z")
So… you’re not feeling lucky?