Is "New Posts" Broken? Also, Can We Get Rid of "Profile Posts"?

[balkisobrains]

-Is "New Posts" Broken?

If I set "New Posts" as a bookmark & open it, I seem to end up missing new posts &/or newly-posted threads. I'm not exactly sure what's going on there. This happens on mobile & desktop, & I've seen it happen pretty much any time I test it out.

But, if I set "Whats New" as a bookmark & open it, I can definitely see all new threads, & new posts to threads, chronologically as they happen, as listed under "Latest Posts", which is what I want to see.

-Can we get rid of "Profile Posts"?
However, by setting "What's New" as my bookmark, I also have to see "New Profile Posts", which I do not want to see. What's the point of "Profile Posts"? It seems redundant & to undermine the idea of a forum to have threads and profile posts, especially when the profile posts end up being more prominent than the forum threads themselves. If you don't think that Profile Posts are more prominent than forum threads, well, I know by now without looking at the forum that kola is interested in penz & SH from highplainsdrifter, & that AlabamaDan is looking for tobacco samplers at shipping cost from some other guy, & adui's been stowed away on the black frigate for almost a couple weeks now. I know all of this because I've read it every time I check my bookmark for the sites' "Whats New" section, & I scroll through the "Latest Posts" to see what's happening, & eventually I hit that "New Profile Posts" section. Now one guy's trying to sell medicine or something in a foreign language, complete with dodgy links to presumably his web-store. I don't care about any information listed in peoples "Profile Posts". I don't want to see people's Profile Posts. But there they are every time I check the forum, the same ones oftentimes visible for weeks & weeks.

Profile Posts don't seem to make much sense to me, but more importantly, they have also proven to be a security issue , where people have been mistaking Profile Posts for the Personal Messages, & posting personal info for everyone to see. I've seen more than a few Profile Posts which were obviously meant to be Personal Messages, complete with names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, etc.

I'd argue to save "Profile Posts" for whoever thinks they need to use it, but the mistaking of the Profile Posts for Personal Messages, which I have seen happen on more than a few occasions, makes me think that Profile Posts just need to go entirely.

Feel free to comment.
Please vote "yes" in the poll at the top of this post, if you think Profile Posts should be done away with.

 

[balkisobrains]

Read above, & feel free to comment & vote.
P.S. they did remove the profile post with links to the offshore pharmacy. Progress!

 

[balkisobrains]

More spam with dodgy links in the "Profile Posts", & every time I check "What's New", I see "New Profile Posts" that are nearly a month old & probably should have been PMs or regular posts in the forum to begin with.
Read above & vote! Feel free to comment!

 

[python]

Instead of complaining about it here, why don't you report the spam so we can delete it? We can't catch everything immediately.

 

[python]

Also, just and FYI, all of the moderation staff are volunteers. We do not get paid and we have jobs that are our priority. Sometimes it take some time before we have a chance to get on.

 

[perdurabo]

Also, just and FYI, all of the moderation staff are volunteers. We do not get paid and we have jobs that are our priority. Sometimes it take some time before we have a chance to get on.

Currently using algorithm, watching for Mod changeover, gonna post a zinger! Just kidding. ?

 

[balkisobrains]

Instead of complaining about it here, why don't you report the spam so we can delete it? We can't catch everything immediately.

I have no issues with the mods. I think Profile Posts should be gotten rid of entirely, & I'm wondering who else agrees. The spam is only part of the reason, see my first post.

Plus, I'm also wondering why it seems that not everything new actually shows up under "New Posts", vs "Whats New"/ "Latest Posts", when opened from bookmarks.

 

[python]

Sometimes when you bookmark pages (anywhere, not just here), it saves it as the actual page you are viewing. So when you click on that bookmark, it just brings you to the old page that you bookmarked.

Put the main forum page into your bookmarks and just click on new posts when it loads and it will show you all new posts.

 

[Casual]

Plus, I'm also wondering why it seems that not everything new actually shows up under "New Posts", vs "Whats New"/ "Latest Posts", when opened from bookmarks.

I have seen similar behaviour. I think if the browser has a cached copy, it just gets a refreshed copy of the page with the same threads, but updated information about them. When I access the bookmark on a new tab with no cached copy, I get the fully new set of new posts. Not sure of the mechanism for that.

I haven’t run any debugging on it though, as this is supposed to be my fun time, not work.

 

[balkisobrains]

Sometimes when you bookmark pages (anywhere, not just here), it saves it as the actual page you are viewing. So when you click on that bookmark, it just brings you to the old page that you bookmarked.

Yeah, it's weird that the "New Posts" bookmark has issues, but not the "Whats New" one. When I've noticed it, it wasn't loading all of the newest posts or threads, & sometimes things seemed to be listed out of chronological order, so I didn't worry about it any further, & went with "What's New" for a bookmark instead. Usually I scroll into the "New Profile Posts" & get tricked into reading them.

Put the main forum page into your bookmarks and just click on new posts when it loads and it will show you all new posts.

"Forums List" might work to replace my "Whats New" bookmark, & I'll compare it to a "What's New" bookmark to see if it keeps up. Looks like I can collapse the "Main Category" menu in "Forums List" now, which I don't think I could do before, so it's easy enough to get to what I want to see. That would solve the problem of me having to look at "New Profile Posts", but I still think you should get rid of the "Profile Posts" feature entirely. You're still going to have spammers using it, & users are still going to have a security issue when it's treated as the PM system & personal info gets posted for everyone to see. If your suggestion works, I probably won't be checking there to see it, but I've seen it. Trying to make your job easier, man. Plus a minor point is that it makes the forum look stale to have those old "New Profile Posts" there, & if the answer is to encourage more "Profile Posts", then why have a forum? Just have everyone post in "Profile Posts". =)

 

[peteguy]

I have yet to see one of my threads show up under new posts.

 

[adui]

I have yet to see one of my threads show up under new posts.

At all, or after you post but before anyone replies?

If the latter its because that post is not new to you. You wrote it, you've seen it, so the forum hides it when you look for "new" posts.

Mods correct me if I am wrong

 

[python]

At all, or after you post but before anyone replies?

If the latter its because that post is not new to you. You wrote it, you've seen it, so the forum hides it when you look for "new" posts.

Mods correct me if I am wrong

Correct.

 

[peteguy]

Thanks adui, I believe it is the latter.

 

[balkisobrains]

I dunno, I just avoid "New Posts". Bookmarking the "Forums" & collapsing the "Main Category" list to get to the "Latest Discussions" seems to be showing me everything new, without having to see "New Profile Posts".

I still think "Profile Posts" should be taken out. I don't see the benefit, & in addition to the other issues that I see with them, it's already been a problem where people think Profile Posts are the PMs, & post personal info.

 

[balkisobrains]

Vote to get rid of "Profile Posts"!
I see more spam & P.M.-type convos going on there. Now someone is spamming their pipe club across other peoples 'Profile Posts", & so naturally that's all you see in "Newest Profile Posts".

 

[python]

Vote to get rid of "Profile Posts"!
I see more spam & P.M.-type convos going on there. Now someone is spamming their pipe club across other peoples 'Profile Posts", & so naturally that's all you see in "Newest Profile Posts".

It's being looked into. It's not as simple as "turning it off".

When you see those type of posts, please use the report feature so that we get notified and can do something about them.

 

[balkisobrains]

No more "Profile Posts"! Thank you!
(At the time if this writing, 83.4% of the voters agreed with your decision!)
I'm going back to using "Whats New" as my bookmark, thank you again!