Forum marked as having new content, but it doesn't

[Barbara]

It's taken me a while to figure this out: A forum will be marked in bold, indicating there's a new post, but when I open the forum, there's nothing new, so I close it, but the forum is still in bold. It finally dawned on me that a change has been made, and it's that if someone gets a new kudos, the forum is marked as having new content. But it doesn't have new content, and it's a fool's errand to try to figure out who gave kudos to whom in which post.

Am I the only one encountering this time-waster?

Colorwash's Home

[BKMuir]

Barbara - I get very irritated when I have to page past all of the bolded topics to find recent content. I haven't noticed your "new kudos" reasoning for things requiring a hunt.

I originally commented on the IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS thread that doesn't really have a NEW comments sort. I have to page through (the other day to page 40 something of 64 pages). The last few days all of the general threads are also starting to show this problem (these have no page numbers to jump to, just the MORE arrow at the bottom). For someone who reads all "new" postings nearly every day, it seems ridiculous to have to page to Pg 30 under NEWEST.

[Cat]

I've given up on trying to browse individual forums, so I just use this link: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/Explore

It give you all of the new posts, but it doesn't show new comments. So, if there's a thread I'm particularly interested in, I make sure to either comment on it or follow it so that new comments show up in my notifications.

I'm sure I still miss some things this way, but it's the least cumbersome system I've been able to come up with.

[Barbara]

My method is to check out only about a quarter of the forums. Unfortunately, one of them is General because you never know who might say what in there. This is where I've noticed the bolded title when there's absolutely nothing new inside. It makes me wholeheartedly miss the old forum software, which I always thought needed updating until I saw this new platform.

Colorwash's Home

[Cat]

Yeah. I totally miss the main page on the old forum. It was super easy to follow everything in one place. This system has a lot of nice features, but the fact that there's no easy way to see existing conversations unless you happen to be following them invites a TON of duplicate posts, which makes it even more difficult to stay on top of what's happening.

[ColsCreations]

Please know I mean no disrespect but I've seen this same sentiment posted since Day 1 of the "new" forum and I truly do not understand it. I feel like I must be missing something or not remembering correctly as I just don't understand where people are coming from?

This is a screenshot (greatly reduced to fit an all-in-one grab) of the main forum list:

Just like the old forum format, it is a list of all the different forum sections. (Ones with new activity are listed in bold w/ note on # of new messages in that forum since your last visit). Clicking a forum to view it, you then see all the individual threads/topics within it. Just like the old forum format. And then you can click to view a particular thread/topic within that forum. Just like the old format. This "new" forum has lots more bells & whistles and setting you can customize but the basic navigational format is the same so I truly have never understood why people have issue with it.

There is this "Latest Conversations" feed which I had to hunt to find.  If THAT is the only way people know to view the forums, then yeah, I totally understand the confusion. But if people are using the main forum page, it's not any different than the old forum format - you click a specific forum to view it and then scroll & click the threads within.

[Cat]

Ha! No offense taken! I think for me the separate forums all just feel like an extra and unnecessary step. I realize that they're probably helpful for the Zazzle mods so they can pick and choose which ones to monitor in different ways, but for me, I don't really care which forum the thread is on, so having to go to this main page and then drill down through each individual forum and wade through each one individually feels like an extra and annoying step. The old forum had a main page that featured the threads in the order of the most recent activity (either when the thread was created or when it was replied to.) and that's the functionality that I miss. I want to be able to see the threads on the main page, not the forums. 

[ColsCreations]

The old forum had a main page that featured the threads in the order of the most recent activity (either when the thread was created or when it was replied to.) and that's the functionality that I miss.

Huh. I don't remember that. But I wasn't aware of the Latest Conversation feed either until you mentioned it once.
I used the old forums same as I do this "new" one. I open the main page that lists the different sub-forums. That shows me which ones have new activity. Then I right-click to open a sub-forum in a new tab. I read what interests me, use "mark all as read" to deal with the rest, and close the tab. Rinse & repeat. Some forums, like Show Me and Affiliate Requests, I just skip and then once in a while I will open just to click "mark all as read" so they temp stop showing as bold in the main forum list. 

[Cat]

I think if the latest conversations feed could be ordered by latest activity (ie including latest comments rather than just the newest threads) it would probably solve the majority of my issues. As it is my system works OK, but I tend to miss active conversations on older threads that I don't happen to be following, but alas, it's an imperfect universe!

I didn't know there was a feature to mark all as read - that might make the forums page a bit more useful to me. As it is, it's just a jumble of chaotic info that I can't really make heads or tails out of. 

And in terms of the font - on closer inspection it isn't really the font size that's the issue - it's all of the unnecessary white space between threads and between the title and the first few lines of text. I actually have my browser set to 125% for all Zazzle screens, and at that setting I can only see 4 threads before I have to start scrolling. It's OK, it just means that I can't see very much at a glance and I have to be committed enough to scroll down and click through pages in order to gather much meaningful info. 

It's all sort of a moot point though, because I sincerely doubt that they'll be changing any of this.

[Barbara]

@Cat @ColsCreations 

I'll be darned if I didn't miss what I'd first noticed back when these forums were new: all the white space! It's as if a page had been taken from food bloggers, but they're apparently doing it to make it appear all their inane blabber is vital. We, on the other hand, have no shame. LOL

Also, I had no idea that, though a forum might appear to have nothing new, by clicking to the second or third page, one might find an active thread. What the devil is that about?

The only place I have to enlarge the screen is when using MS Word. Oh, and whenever and wherever gray type is used on a white page. I guess it can depend on the size of our screen and its resolution.

Colorwash's Home

[Barbara]

@ColsCreations 

One of the differences is that this setup uses a font that's too large, which leads to not seeing as much at one time as I'd like, but there's something else that, when the change was first made, I had trouble with...or did it all come from the font problem? A lesser problem (for me, anyway) is the need to go over to HTML to post a product rather than the much simpler bulletin board method.

Like you, if I don't see the new post at the top, or if it isn't near enough to spot it, I mark everything as having been read and move on.

Colorwash's Home

[Cat]

I agree about the type size. I really liked being able to tell at a glance what was new without a bunch of clicking and scrolling around.

So, if I had my druthers, I'd love to have a page that uses the compact format/type size/layout of this page: Creators | Zazzle Community only with the info from the forum pages: General Zazzle Discussion | Zazzle Community - but not an individual forum, I'd like to have that info from all of the forums combined (or maybe a customizable compilation so I wouldn't have to look at all the show me and promotional stuff.) What I dislike is having to click through to 17 different forums just to see if there's anything I'm interested in.  

@ColsCreations Don't know if that makes sense, but that's what my complaint is - and that's why I use the Latest Conversations Feed rather than the community main page.

[ColsCreations]

I have been experiencing this off & on for weeks now. New posts, or posts with new comments on them, are not always rising to the top as they should. For example, it told me tonight that there were two new comments in the Tips & Tricks forum. Opening that forum, there was nothing bolded/at the top to indicate new comments. Had to click "More" twice - the equiv of three page scrolls down - to find the thread re Wben forms bolded w/ 2 new comments. Most times when the main forum list says there is something new and then I click into that forum and don't see anything at  the top bolded as being new / having new comments, I just click to 'mark all as read' and carry on. 🤔

The Ideas forum has always been weird like this but now it's spreading randomly to other forums where sometimes unread stuff is at the top as it should be but other times it's nowhere to be seen. Not sure, but I think it has to do with the age of the orig post? So like, the Wben thread in the Tips & Tricks forum was started back in 2022. That thread did indeed have 2 new comments on 1-21-25- which is what viewing the forum list showed --> 2 new messages in Tips & Tricks. But since that thread didn't rise to the top there is no way to know that is was that thread that had the two new comments unless you keep clicking 'More" until you spot the bolded thread title. And for me personally I don't usually do that; if there is nothing showing at the top as new despite it saying there is something new,  I just do 'mark all as read' and move on.

[ColsCreations]

I do think it has to do with age of the thread.  Perhaps there's a new timing factor at play to discourage old threads from resurfacing? On 1/11 I added a new comment to an old thread I started myself back in August in the Pro forum. After, that thread never rose to the top of the page as having newest activity, it was still buried several "More" clicks down. After one other person replied to that new comment, now it's up near the top of the page again as sorted by Most Recent.

I know it's not Kudos being given as I often get those on very old posts people have just found and they never turn up as bolded topics. If kudos were registering as new activity, the forum would be awash with bolded topics with no actual new comments. And that's not the problem (at least not the one I am having) - the problem is threads with actual new comments - and thus bolded - are not always floating to the top as they should. Which makes it appear like there are no new comments, unless one takes the time to keep clicking More until the bolded one turns up.

[ColsCreations]

That's so odd with you both commenting about the font size being too large. When this forum first launched, font size was my only complaint and I posted about it several times, I remember a Mod even asking what system/browser I was using etc. The font size, for me, was and is, too small. At normal 100% screen size, it's tiny. So I view it at 133% (and thankfully Firefox remembers the zoom level I set for sites so I don't have to adjust it every visit) and sometimes I use my touch screen to temporarily blow it up even larger.