How to see newest posts

[BeeGee]

Hi mods,

I'm wondering if the forum has a way to see all recent posts (regardless of what thread or subforum it appears in)?

DepressioNet has a great feature where you can click on a "View new content" link at the top of the page to see the latest posts listed, from newest to oldest.

I know we have a "Latest comments" box at the right of the page, but it only shows the titles of the last 5 posts - they can disappear pretty fast, and there's no detail to be able to see if you want to open it to look further.  Here's a screen shot from dNet of what you get if you click on "View new content":

I don't think I've breached any privacy by posting this - there's no post info visible - but it gives you an idea of what this might look like.

On our site this might be accessible by turning the "Latest comments" heading into a link that would open a more comprehensive page like this.

This would help members to keep track of what's been happening since they last logged in - or over any desired time period... very helpful when you're not necessarily following a particular thread but just want to keep up with the chatter.

Do we have anything like this hiding somewhere - and if not, could we get it added?  It would be super useful.

[Fancy_Pants]

Hey @BeeGee

Sorry I am not sure how to answer this but I'll add @NikNik and she will respond when she's in

There would probably be limits to the website but you never know and I like your thinking!

Cheers

[NikNik]

Hi @BeeGee

We currently don't have this function.

We do have subscription options though, which means you can recieve emails when particular topics are commented on or your posts are liked or responded to.

You can find this by going to your username above and then to 'Edit my settings', where you will find a 'subscription and notification' tab. From there you will see some other options.

Also when you're writing a post, you will see to the right hand side a tick box which allows you to choose whether you are notificated when someone replies. 

Our forums aren't bespoke made, so we do have some restictions with the software we use. In saying that though, we do get upgrades and fixes every now & then, so we'll put it on the list of things to explore.

Thanks for your suggestion!

Nik

[BeeGee]

Thanks @NikNik, I do already use the subscriptions feature and it is really handy.  BB did not have this and I'm enjoying having threads I'm following land in my inbox.

The function I'm suggesting is a little different though - you don't have to have subscribed in advance to take advantage of it; it's a great way to get a bird's eye view of activity across the board.

I appreciate that off-the-shelf software always has limitations that one has to work within (I'm from an IT background myself) - this functionality though is quite common (bordering on standard I'd suggest) in different forum software solutions, and I would think your vendor could be interested in adding it to their planned enhancements list for their standard offering.  It would certainly be worth the suggestion.

[NikNik]

Hi @BeeGee

I have passed this on to our internal technology team. I will let you know what they come back with 🙂

[Silenus]

Hi @BeeGee @NikNik

I'd like to second BeeGee's suggestion of this feature. It was invaluable to me on BlueBoard, to be able to pop on and see all of the new posts. This allowed me to be able to roll out the welcome wagon to new members without having to trawl through multiple threads or sub-forums searching for them. It also allowed me to keep abreast of threads that I hadn't necessarily posted in, but was still following avidly.

I do like the subscription option, but I miss the overview that the new posts functionality gave.

Hugs beaming to you all... 🙂

[MoonGal]

@Nik Nik - I would like to be able to subscribe to posts to get notifications (for threads I am interested in but have not necessarily commented on).

[NikNik]

Hi @BeeGee @Silenus & @MoonGal

As promised, I raised this with out internal tech team who have investigated it.

It looks like there might be a "module" where you can see unread posts (regardless whether you have contributed to the discussion or not) that we can incorporated into our current design.

We are doing further investigation into cost and resources. I don't think it's a matter of 'if' more 'when' and 'how'.

I will provide updates as they come to hand.

Take care,

Nik

[BeeGee]

Awesome!  Thanks NikNik, you da man/woman/other... really appreciate you following up and getting back to me.