Re: Message List
- Posted by Derek Parnell Jul 17, 2008
- 950 views
There was no poll, but on early stages quite a few people complained strongly about the subject list view and why there was no thread view. Further, the thread view is the standard of any forum software I've seen.
I don't think I said that there should not be a threaded view. However, I can see where our experiences might have molded our different points of view. I tend to avoid web-based forums because they (yes, this is an opinion) tend to be more cumbersome to use than simpler lists. Maybe I've had too much exposure to Usenet. 
Currently the very first thing I do when opening the forum is the change it to single message view. That way I can see were I'm up to; what I have read and what I haven't read.
That information is available on the Threaded Message List as well. You have the Star icon. The thing is, you can get more threads shown at one time because there are not 10 messages for 1 thread at the top of the list. I recently ~2 hours made a change to the what happens when you click a subject in the Threaded View. It no longer takes you to the top of the message list, but it now takes you to the first message in the thread that you have not read. So, there may be 5 new posts to the thread. When you click on the thread subject, you are taken to the first one you did not read. You can scroll up to get things more in context if you want.
Thank you for this.
However there might be a bug or two. I current have a 
against "EuWiki - Up" thread, so that means that I haven't read all the messages, right? However, I have read them all. Even reloading the page won't convince the forum that I've read them all. So, sometimes the works. As for going to the message I haven't read, again sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't - I can't predict what it will do.
But assuming all that worked ... here I am ... I started in Thread view, clicked on a thread, takes me to the message I haven't read ... I read it ... then I want to go to the next message I haven't read. Hmmm... there is no button that will do that. I have to press [BACK] or [Message List] button (which btw is really a thread list), then click on the next 'unread' thread.
Whereas what I do now is click on [Subject list] (which, btw is really a message list) then click on the oldest unread message, then after reading it, click on the [Newer] button to get the next message. I find this simple and intuitive. Maybe its because I'm a bit simple, eh?
The Threaded view list seems in no particular sequence, and I can't tell which are new threads or ones I haven't looked at yet. It just seems far too chaotic. I don't think that I'd ever want to use the threaded-list view.
It's ordered by the last post date ...
Thank you, it wasn't terribly clear at first glance.
So, Bernie reads the first unread message, which is Hello World. He has to think about what the original thread was about. Then he switches gears and reads about brand new thread. Decides to follow up. Then he hits the next unread message, now he has to shift gears again and think about Hello World again.
Now, more importantly... He decides to reply to your post about Hello World asking for more information so he can answer your question. However, he has not read the post to Hello World by Someone, because he is in single message view and reading message by message. Well, Someone better understood your question and answered it. Thus, making his post (now newer) not helpful or useful. The thread has already been completed.
Unless of course, "Bernie" isn't as simple as you have portrayed.
I find that "shifting gears" is no effort. I nearly always read all messages before replying.
Also you seem to be talking about Threaded View in which all messages for a given thread are on the same page, but I was initially talking about the Threaded List view, they are not the same.
It is also possible for someone using Threaded View to reply to a message before they read the rest of the messages in the thread, no?
