Unread Message Tags
 

John -

I used to be that when you entered the General Forum section, only those folders with messages that were unread showed up as bright yellow. Also, once you were in a forum, unread folders were pink. For about a week or so this feature has not been working. Will this go back to "normal" - it makes checking for new posts much easier.

Thanks,
Barb

Barb,

Everything has been showing up on my computer correctly.

Mikki

Mikki -

I deleted my cookies once again and had to go through all kinds of perambulations, but now it seems that the tags are working correctly on the main page.

Don't know why this was a problem - weird, huh?

Barb http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/confused.gif

Well, i've come back after a couple hours and you know what? Everything is different colors now. Everything is pink and maroon! Is this a change for everyone or am I just on crack?

Hi Barb & Mikki,

About 2 weeks ago I installed an updated version of the software that runs these forums. This upgrade may have included some changes to how cookies are used/stored with the forums.

Below the "post new topic" / "post reply" icons near the top right of the forum pages is a "preferences" link. Go to the preferences page and click on the very first link to delete all cookies set by this forum. This will reset the cookies and *should* fix the problems you are describing.

Part of the upgrade changed a few of the icons used for indicating new & "hot" topics - now any topics with over 15 messages will have a folder icon that is on fire to indicate a hot topic. Threads with new messages will have folders with a light maroon color & those with 15+ replies will be maroon along with being on fire.

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

[This message has been edited by John Hammell (edited February 02, 2000).]

Everything is back to normal now. No more weird colors. By the way, i have no idea what cookies are. You might need to explain this to me. Thanks,

Mikki

The Netscape website user manual describes cookies as "a piece of limited, internal information transmitted between server software and the Netscape application."

It'll probably make more sense to describe cookies in terms of what they are generally used for. Cookies are used by MANY websites for a variety of reasons: to set timestamps of when you last visited, counting the number of visitors to a website, storing configuration information of sites that you can personalize, to keep you from having to view the same advertising banner with certain ad systems, etc.

GreekChat.com uses cookies to set a timestamp of when you last visited so the website can highlight new messages when you return to the site. As an option, greekchat.com can also save your username/password so you do not need to type it in every time you visit - this is done through the preferences link and is NOT turned on by default (saving passwords/usernames is NOT recommended unless you are on your personal computer).

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

I have been having the same problem except when I delete the cookie and start over things are fine for that visit, but when I come back to the page it is like the cookie is bypassed. What do you think could be the problem and the solution?

DST897,

I believe some of that has to do with the cache-ing. If you reload the page, the tags normally will reset as appropriate - or atleast that seems to be the case for me

John-
have i just never noticed it or is teh "topic review" new? That feature is rather nice. I used to load two browsers for posting.

That didn't work for me. I have the forum that I am the moderator of bookmarked. And as I go to the GreekChat.com Forums link to come and see all of the day's post the link is: http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...assCookie=true

If you notices it doesn't check the cookie.

John, under what condition is the cookie bypassed? What should be done to correct this?

I updated the software used for these forums a few weeks ago - topic review was one of the newly added features.



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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

DST897,

Try using the following url (with the bypass cookie string removed) for your bookmark:
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...tro&category=1

Bookmark this link as soon as you load it. I noticed that if you load the page then switch to another browser window & back again, the cookie bypass code is added to the url. Not sure why this is.

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

John,

I wasn't saying that was my bookmarked link. The link that I have bookmarked is:
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...heta&number=53

That takes me to the fourm page of DST. When I am through posting/viewing, I then go the the TOP link of the tree to get to the other fourms. (that link with the bypassed cookie on the end of it) I usually go to the general fourms from there and to the active topics for the day.

Is going to the link that you provided, then working my way to my fourm the only way that things will work right?

I'm not sure how long the cookie stays in effect after you enter the site. By leaving & coming back you may be resetting the cookie to the current time - this will cause the forums to only highlight the new messages between the time you left & came back.

So, if you enter greekchat.com & only read a few of the highlighted messages - leave for a few minutes then come back, the other previously highlighted messages may no longer be highlighted.

Do you think this may be what is going on?

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

DST897,

What web browser software (including version number) are you using? Netscape or IE?

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com

[This message has been edited by John Hammell (edited February 04, 2000).]

I am using IE 5

I don't tink the cookie ever resets because the "your last visit" info is the date and time that I delete and reset the cookie. After that, the date and time never changes regardless of how many times I have visited.

And for the highlights, all of the fourms that have posts are lit even if I know that I have read all of the post there.

That is what happens if I use the link http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...heta&number=53

But I did enter through http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...tro&category=1

and navigated to fourms and it worked correctly. (The date & time last visited was correct and the new post categories were the only ones lit) So, I guess that is what I will do instead of going straight to DST, if I really want to see things right.

Thanks John!

Let me know if you think that entering through the link you gave me is the only way it will work http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...tro&category=1

I've been doing some research on this and it seems as though cookies are handled a bit differently when the forums are entered through a specific forum link rather than the through the main url.

I'm not sure if this will work, but try accessing the DST forum directly using the url you have bookmarked along with &Start=here added to the end of it:
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...=53&Start=here

If this does not work, you will probably have to enter the forums through the main forums url or one of the forum categories. The general forum category is at
http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...tro&category=1

And the Alpha listings category is at http://www.greekchat.com/forums/cgi-...tro&category=2

It this option works best for you, it may save you a bit of time by using the link for the Alpha listings category so you do not have to click through as many pages to get to your forum.

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John Hammell
Network Administrator, GreekChat.com