MyBB Community Forums

I recently made a suggestion on one of the biggest (if not the biggest) MyBB forums, and received good response. I was told to suggest it on here as well, and as a huge MyBB supporter and user (especially '08 - '10), I really wanted to put this forward.

(2013-04-22, 10:55 PM)SkullTraill Wrote: [ -> ]When browsing the forum list (index.php), we're able to click on the latest post in a particular forum. This takes us to the last post on that thread.

I think most people would rather be taken to the first page of the thread so they can actually see what the thread is about before they check other posts/reply.

So I propose changing it to latest thread instead of latest post, and take the user to the first page.

What do you think?
Will update with images and concept art when I have time.

Original Thread:

http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=3429031

Thanks.

Some notable responses from original thread:

(2013-04-24, 12:02 AM)Operate Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with this. It gets very annoying, especially when I am on my iPhone.

(2013-04-24, 01:46 AM)Cody8295 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm sure a plugin could accomplish this easily, just remove the "&action=lastpost" from the url.

(2013-04-23, 07:08 AM)Snorlax Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah I agree. I have one of xerotic's userscripts that takes me to the latest UNREAD post.

But yes, I agree. It's pretty annoying, but look here:


It says "Last Post", so that would have to be changed to something else.

(2013-04-23, 06:23 AM)BaussHacker Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with this. Only time I want to go to the last posts is after I have posted in a thread.

(2013-04-24, 09:13 AM)Mr Kewl Wrote: [ -> ]I'd also recommend you to suggest this on MyBB.com to change it by default or add that last unread post symbol next to it.

I think the best implementation would be to take the user to the first unread post in the thread.

This is a good suggestion, and I would love to see it happen.
Please.

You're taking the post out of context. That column is the true last post of the latest thread - to link it to the first unread post or the first post would mean the data displayed is incorrect.

So you could change the link but the user may end up on a different post, from a different user at a completely different time than displayed depending on when they last read the thread.

^ I just want to say that I noticed that and get that. Language aside, that functionality/behavior (unread) makes the most sense to *me*.

(2013-04-24, 03:24 PM)Tomm M Wrote: [ -> ]You're taking the post out of context. That column is the true last post of the latest thread - to link it to the first unread post or the first post would mean the data displayed is incorrect.

So you could change the link but the user may end up on a different post, from a different user at a completely different time than displayed depending on when they last read the thread.

I fully understand this, and sorry for not making it clearer.

What I was suggesting was completely changing it from "Last Post" to something like "Latest Thread". I understand this might be somewhat of an abrupt change, but to me it makes more sense to go to the start of the thread than to the end.

I might change my mind if you could enlighten me with a few examples of when it might actually make more sense to go to the last post of a thread instead of the thread home? If you are instantly taken to the last post, you wouldn't really be able to make head or tails of the whole topic until you went to the first page anyway, am I right?

Let me know what you think.

Traditionally the link in the forum bit is always the 'latest content'. That, in itself, is the last post made. So, if we switch to 'latest thread', how would that work? If a thread was created an hour ago and another 3 days ago - and I post in the 3 day old thread to make it have the last post - technically latest thread should still be the newest thread created and not the one I updated.

Working from Josh's idea would be ideal; the column should be 'Last Update' which links to the thread with the newest update. However, if visited, it is linked to the first post that hasn't been read by the user - in MyBB, if the user has never read the thread before, it goes to the first post automatically.

But herein lies the problem I described; without excessive processing power to track your last read of the thread and gather the data for it the content we show in the column (thread title, last post date, last post author) would be incorrect - we've just fed you data for the last update which may be totally different to the thread content we display to the user (as you may be several pages behind the last post).

It is a delicate balance. In the forumdisplay we do provide a green arrow which will link you to the last unread post of that thread; perhaps this has a better place in the last post column too.

(2013-04-25, 08:39 AM)Tomm M Wrote: [ -> ]Traditionally the link in the forum bit is always the 'latest content'. That, in itself, is the last post made. So, if we switch to 'latest thread', how would that work? If a thread was created an hour ago and another 3 days ago - and I post in the 3 day old thread to make it have the last post - technically latest thread should still be the newest thread created and not the one I updated.

Working from Josh's idea would be ideal; the column should be 'Last Update' which links to the thread with the newest update. However, if visited, it is linked to the first post that hasn't been read by the user - in MyBB, if the user has never read the thread before, it goes to the first post automatically.

But herein lies the problem I described; without excessive processing power to track your last read of the thread and gather the data for it the content we show in the column (thread title, last post date, last post author) would be incorrect - we've just fed you data for the last update which may be totally different to the thread content we display to the user (as you may be several pages behind the last post).

It is a delicate balance. In the forumdisplay we do provide a green arrow which will link you to the last unread post of that thread; perhaps this has a better place in the last post column too.

Exactly, the "Latest Update" and "Last Unread Post Arrow" were both suggested as possible solutions. I'm game for a hybrid solution.

1. Change column name to "Latest Update"
   
2. Link to the last post in the latest thread, same as it is now
   
3. Have a small icon next to it that takes you to the last unread post in that thread (which would be the first in most cases)
   

That could be really useful.

You've basically explained exactly what me and my fellow MyBBers wanted, even better than I have. Sorry about the lack of explanatory skills

Do people actually use this on the front page as a navigational tool? I always thought most people used it to get a sense of when the forum was last active. Why not view latest posts or go to the forum directly?

(2013-04-25, 01:58 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]Do people actually use this on the front page as a navigational tool? I always thought most people used it to get a sense of when the forum was last active. Why not view latest posts or go to the forum directly?

I use it all the time.