Forum Suggestion: Go to First Unread Post

[Shpaget]

Currently, to go to the first unread post requires a click to the little small circle or star next to the thread title and the title itself leads to the first post in the thread. That is a usual, standard and expected behavior of the internet forums.

That being said, I'm a member of one forum which uses XenForo software and it has a very neat little tweak to this functionality. The title of the thread links to the first unread post in the thread, which means you don't have to aim the mouse (or your big fat thumb on mobile devices) to hit the small circle. I find that rather nice.

Yeah, I know, third world problems and all that, but would it be possible to make this change on this forum?

[Kerbart]

To be really pedantic, third world problems are things like access to clean water, having electricity and whatnot. This would be more of a first world problem.

Aside from that, yeah, great suggestion, especially for the popular mission reports!

Edited May 30, 2017 by Kerbart

[Shpaget]

Ooops, you're absolutely right.

[ZooNamedGames]

Click the time stamp below a thread title to do that. I asked @Red Iron Crown that a while back and he was pretty quick to tell me that .

[Red Iron Crown]

Clicking the timestamp brings you to the most recent post, a different thing. 

Unfortunately the software doesn't support the functionality of swapping which thing links to what, so I'm afraid there's not much to be done on this one. 

[Shpaget]

Digging a bit and I found what looks like two solutions:

https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/topic/374755-new-unread-post-behavior/

https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/topic/409413-go-to-first-unread-from-topic-title-possible/

[Red Iron Crown]

Hm, looks like it is possible (not a direct setting though, which is where I was looking). Thanks for doing that legwork. 

Now the question becomes: Is it desirable to do so? While I understand the convenience factor, we must consider the broader picture. The specific case I am concerned about is mod threads: Do we really want the most prominent link to a thread to go anywhere other than the OP? It's hard enough to get people to read them in the first place, anything that makes people click once more to get to them might not be the best idea. 

I'd like to hear some feedback about this. 

[Shpaget]

No problem, my pleasure :).

This would still take the user to the OP if they have never visited the thread, and also every time they click the link but there are no new posts.

What you say certainly is a consideration, but a poll should clear that up. If there are mixed responses we stick to current system, if the poll is in favor for the change, we can try it, give it a week to see if it works in practice. If it doesn't we F9.

In any case, this seems like a global change and not applicable to individual forum sections.

[XLjedi]

Think I was looking for something similar a short-while back...  I wouldn't find it so annoying if "mega-threads" weren't as popular as they seem to be on this forum.  I more often want to visit the first unread post of these megathreads and work from there, as opposed to start at OP, goto last post, and then start working back.  ...an easier way (or is there a way at all? LOL) to find MY posts in these threads would also be a godsend!  

Did I mention that I kinda hate mega-threads?

Edited May 30, 2017 by XLjedi