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Combined Software Questions Thread (Merged)

DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
edited February 2022 in The Styx
Lightly indexed:

(ETA Quotes are inevitably taken out of their context for this thread, so if you are quoted - but would prefer to be just identified as shipmate, host or admin - please pm an admin and the edit will be made.)
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Comments

  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    edited December 2021
    1: Missing orange/gold "new" flags

    With the new Ship, I always enter by way of "Recent Discussions." For a while now I've noticed that I don't always get the orange/gold flags when there are new entries on a thread. It's not a big deal now that I'm aware of it -- I know to just check the times of the last posts -- but I've also paid more attention. For the past several days, I never get the flag on the "Oops - your Trump presidency discussion thread." Am I the only one? Is Mr. Trump behind a conspiracy to keep me from reading or posting to this discussion?
  • PendragonPendragon Shipmate
    I think it must be: the one I occasionally miss it from is the Boris Johnson thread. (I use the standard Android browser)
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    I also don't see the "new" flag in the "Oops..." thread.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    edited November 2020
    I get this too but only noticed in the last couple of weeks. The 'new' flag is missing (from some threads) even when there are new, unread posts in that thread. I'm mostly looking at Purg.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    I’m seeing the same phenomenon.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Me too
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    I just checked, and the Boris Johnson thread is flagged. But Trump is still keeping me from seeing a flag on the Oops! thread.
  • mousethiefmousethief Shipmate
    When I go to the "Recent Discussions" page I get little gold boxes that say "1 new" or "7 new" or whatever. Is that what people are talking about?
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Same, re "Oops" thread.

    And yes, mt. Sometimes a thread has new posts, but no flag/box.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    Golden Key wrote: »
    Same, re "Oops" thread.

    And yes, mt. Sometimes a thread has new posts, but no flag/box.

    Yes, the 'Oops' thread.

    MT maybe it's not affecting you or it is and you haven't noticed.
  • mousethiefmousethief Shipmate
    Yeah, I just take the flags at face value and ignore ones that have no flag.
  • W HyattW Hyatt Shipmate
    I've noticed that from time to time, the Ship seems to think I'm all caught up on a thread even when I'm not. Currently, that's true for me for the "Oops" thread and I've wondered if it's just me or if others seem the same behavior, so it's interesting to know it's not just me.

    As far as I can tell (without paying much attention to it), it seems to happen with longer-running threads. However, it might just always be the "Oops" thread when it does happen because I don't remember enough to know for sure if it's ever happened to any other threads. I just know that I've noticed it occasionally for at least several months now.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    @W Hyatt that is the behaviour I think we’re all talking about - threads where we haven’t read the more recent posts, but where the Ship seems to think we have.
  • W HyattW Hyatt Shipmate
    Thanks - I understand that. I was hoping to contribute a vague clue or two about what circumstances might lead to its occurrence.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    Is this data kept in a database table or stored as cookies at my end?
    Something seems to be corrupted and it might just need a table or field in a table for those affected threads reset for all users. Then it should sort itself out. But I'm guessing.
  • mousethiefmousethief Shipmate
    Furtive Gander wrote: »
    Is this data kept in a database table or stored as cookies at my end?
    Something seems to be corrupted and it might just need a table or field in a table for those affected threads reset for all users. Then it should sort itself out. But I'm guessing.

    It's on the ship's end because when I move to a different computer it knows what I've read and not.
  • NOprophet_NØprofitNOprophet_NØprofit Shipmate
    I think this is a bit of server side and user side. I use variously Firefox and derivatives which don't keep cookies (Fireflox-Klar, IceCat), Chrome and the non Google version Chromium. I synch nothing, everything is on auto-delete when I close browsers except if I explicitly don't want to (cookies, history etc). Thus, a desktop will not track completely what a phone does in my experiences, and I see new flags in threads I've visited on other devices.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    edited November 2020
    I can see two Purg threads with no flag when there should be one: 'Oops' and 'Break Glass' both of which are very long: 7.4k posts and 3.2k so maybe that's significant. Could it be that some count limit has been reached? Also 'Coronavirus' has 4.9k posts and no flag but I'm not sure if that's right.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    mousethief wrote: »
    Furtive Gander wrote: »
    Is this data kept in a database table or stored as cookies at my end?
    Something seems to be corrupted and it might just need a table or field in a table for those affected threads reset for all users. Then it should sort itself out. But I'm guessing.

    It's on the ship's end because when I move to a different computer it knows what I've read and not.

    Yes I reached that conclusion after I posted for the same reason.

    Thanks mt and Np_Np
  • MarsupialMarsupial Shipmate
    One thing I’ve noticed on several threads is that if a number of posts get split off and sent to another thread, the system still thinks the thread has the original number of posts. So you don’t seem to get new post indicators until the thread has accumulated enough new posts to bring it back to the original number of posts.
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate
    Marsupial wrote: »
    One thing I’ve noticed on several threads is that if a number of posts get split off and sent to another thread, the system still thinks the thread has the original number of posts. So you don’t seem to get new post indicators until the thread has accumulated enough new posts to bring it back to the original number of posts.

    This is the source of the phenomenon as far as I can see.
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    My orange flag has reappeared on the "Oops" thread!
    :smile:
  • PigwidgeonPigwidgeon Shipmate
    Today the flag has been missing from the "Break Glass" discussion.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    Mine for 'oops' (or was it break glass'?) came back, went and returned more than once.

    On a likely related issue I've often noticed that when a gold flag shows new posts if I visit the thread it takes me past the first unread postand I have scroll back and find the last one I remember and read on for myself. Anyone else find this?
  • W HyattW Hyatt Shipmate
    I'm seeing the same behavior now on the Coronavirus - Global and National trends thread. Was it recently split?
  • Soror MagnaSoror Magna Shipmate
    I'm here after a few days off, I had to long back in, and I see flags in Purg but not in Styx. Weird.
  • Autenrieth RoadAutenrieth Road Shipmate
    edited December 2021
    2: Sometimes I can’t stay logged in

    Every once in a while I come to the Ship and discover I’ve been logged out. So I login. But then as soon as I try to open a forum or discussion, it turns out I’ve been logged out again. Usually I’m going through Categories view.

    The fix seems to be finding a way to navigate into discussions in a different way from how I normally do.

    For example, I normally never go through Recent Discussions but tonight after logging in for the umpteenth time in a row, I used to menu to go to Discussions, and this time I stayed logged in, even when I went back to Categories which had been misbehaving only shortly before.

    Any idea why this happens? Ways to prevent it? Others who have experienced it?
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    AIUI the software logs you out from time to time as a security feature.

    When you log back in, it sometimes seems to take a while to reset across the different views.

    My usual experience is the opposite to yours: I log back in, go to Recent Discussions, and find myself not logged in and having to go through Categories for a few moments before it recognises me.
  • mousethiefmousethief Shipmate
    I find I get logged out once per calendar month.
  • Autenrieth RoadAutenrieth Road Shipmate
    @Eutychus is your normal way of viewing the Ship through Discussions?

    Maybe what our experiences have in common is that Our Usual Ways are cached and slow updating, while Our Unusual Ways are not cached, and so are delivered up fresh and correctly logged in.
  • EutychusEutychus Shipmate
    @Autenrieth Road I invariably use "Recent Discussions". And I agree with your explanation, inasmuch as I understand these things, which is not very much.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    mousethief wrote: »
    I find I get logged out once per calendar month.
    Yes, the cookie times out after 30d. When you log back in the cookie is re-set and you have another 30d before the cookie expires and you need to log in again.
  • finelinefineline Kerygmania Host
    I don't know if this is the same thing that is happening to you, but I find this seems to happen to me - that I've logged in, but when I then click on 'most recent', it's showing that I'm logged out again, But I'm not actually logged out - if I refresh the page, I'm logged in again. This happens on my iPhone and iPad.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    These flags are still a bit hit-and-miss for me. The system often works correctly, taking me to the newest unread post in a thread I've read part of but in several long, popular threads (may not be only those) it takes me to the newest post and I have to scroll up to work out which ones I haven't seen before. Often that's easy eg if it's my first look today, any late evening or overnight ones will have been unread. Sometimes it takes me a little while as some seem familiar and I scroll down, then realise I'm reading a quote which I've seen.

    If someone is looking into this and needs more detailed info I can make more detailed observations and give notes; if not we can all manage with imperfections in forum software which mostly works well !

  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    Yes. This happens to me too. I think the device caches the page, and when you go back it uses what it has cached until you refresh the page.
  • NicoleMRNicoleMR Shipmate
    It happens to me on my laptop too.
  • NOprophet_NØprofitNOprophet_NØprofit Shipmate
    Notwithstanding that some like me consider that always needing to login is a feature, not a bug, logins are stored in cookie the site puts into your browser on your computer or phone. The cookie may be deleted by browser settings (close browser, cookies get deleted), by what the cookie has in it (expires on a particular date). I'd suspect that the browser deletes via a setting if you're always getting logged out.

    Checking SOF in terms of trackers shows no third party cookies are used. Which is great for privacy. Many sites do track this way. And they follow you where ever you browse. Which is why some suspicious people like me auto delete everything when either leaving a website or closing a browser.
  • NOprophet_NØprofitNOprophet_NØprofit Shipmate
    Or is it browser specific?
  • mousethiefmousethief Shipmate
    Alan Cresswell wrote: »
    mousethief wrote: »
    I find I get logged out once per calendar month.
    Yes, the cookie times out after 30d. When you log back in the cookie is re-set and you have another 30d before the cookie expires and you need to log in again.

    I'm content.
  • Autenrieth RoadAutenrieth Road Shipmate
    @fineline, @brojames: ah, refreshing the page! I’ll try that next time this happens... in 29 days per @Alan Cresswell .

    Thank you to everyone who has contributed answers to this puzzle. I feel much less puzzled now.
  • Furtive GanderFurtive Gander Shipmate
    Me? Firefox here - I'm not sure of the version but it's kept up to date.
    The fact that it works mostly is confusing and I can't see a pattern except that it 'fails' on threads I follow daily, not on those I look at and catch up without reading so often.

    I usually go straight to Purg or Hell and rarely via Recent Discussions.
  • RoseofsharonRoseofsharon Shipmate
    edited December 2021
    3: Finding If An Old Thread Still Exists

    Nearly sixteen years ago someone started a "Poetry Chain" on a forum I belong to. She mentioned that she came across the idea from Ship of Fools.
    The thread she started has been running continuously on there ever since, but the forum will be closing down later this year.
    I was just wondering if it is still a functioning thread here on Ship of Fools, in which case I might join in occasionally, otherwise I am thinking of starting it up on yet another forum.

    I imagine that it would have been in the Circus, but I haven't spotted it on the first page. Is it worth me persevering with my search there, or is it no longer an active thread?
  • GwaiGwai Epiphanies Host
    It was less than 16 years ago that we stopped closing threads for being ten pages old and o course that would have been on the previous boards. I'd vote that if you are interested in joining in on a Ship poetry chain, start one.
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    I don't think there's anything that old retained in Limbo on the old boards, and a search didn't reveal an obvious candidate for the original thread (and, yes I know the search function there was always very flaky).

    As @Gwai said, there's no reason why a new poetry chain couldn't be started here.
  • RoseofsharonRoseofsharon Shipmate
    Thanks for trying - I don't think I'm up for starting a new one here at the moment, but would have been interested in taking a look at the 'original' if it had been extant.

    I will concentrate on starting one for the benefit those migrating from the closing one to another, continuing, book forum.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    Roseofsharon--

    If we had a poetry chain, how would it work? Take turns contributing a line, and maybe have certain rules re rhyming, etc.?

    If so, then it sounds like a poetry version of our "Three Word Story" thread in Circus. It has close to 4,000 posts and 78 pages. If we can handle that, we can handle a poetry chain.

    I think it would be fun. :)
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    @Roseofsharon

    I had a wander round Oblivion and found this one - https://tinyurl.com/2n3ktwoc
  • Bill_NobleBill_Noble Shipmate
    edited December 2021
    4: Curious logging in

    Hello, just an FYI.

    If I use the Sign In option in the drop-down menu at the top of the forum, it doesn’t really log me in, but if I scroll down and use the black and white Sign In button - either on that page or within a sub-forum or even individual thread, there’s no problem.

    Quirky, and probably just a combination of me and my browser. It catches me out every now and then 😔
  • ChoristerChorister Shipmate
    Certainly, when I was a Circus host, we recommended very few threads to be kept. The whole point of Circus threads was that they were silly little distractions, to keep our spirits from getting too bogged down in the more serious, and sometimes depressing, deeper issues of life. But, just occasionally, there was a golden thread of wonder, which took on a life of its own. Some of those were kept, so it is always worth a look.
  • ChoristerChorister Shipmate
    If this is permitted to be a general log in query thread, then I would also like to know why it is that - if I don't visit SoF for a few days - it automatically logs me out, even though I say 'keep me logged in'.
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