New Feature: My Topics

Da Nag

Da Nag

Administrator
Staff member
It's been a while since we've had a site enhancement around here. Dan on Flat Iron mentioned something the other day that's quite true; we get so dang many messages here, that conversations you want to follow can get hard to find. This is particularly true if you're not a site addict, and only check in occasionally.

Enter "My Topics". Here's how it works.

When you're reading posts in a topic that you would like to follow, scroll to the bottom of the page. Right below the "Page x of x" text is a link titled "Watch this topic for replies". Just click it to follow the topic.

You'll also notice a new link at the top left of all pages titled "My Topics". When you click this link, it will bring up a list of all topics you are watching, from which you can navigate directly to them. You can also stop watching topics from this page.

Give it a try - should make keeping track of your favorite topics much easier.
 
The addition of this modification was causing pages to be wider than 800 pixels, which for many folks forced them to scroll left/right to read things.

I changed the layout of things a bit, and renamed "Watched Topics" to "My Topics" to reduce the amount of space the links took up.

If any of you are still being forced to scroll, drop me a PM.
 
Just a reminder on this feature...plenty of new folks have come on board since this was announced.

While we can and do make popular topics into "Stickies" so they can be found more easily, the method documented above works better for managing your own personal list of favorite topics.
 
Bill,

Does this "Watch My Topic" negate the email notification of replies to a thread that we have been getting?

Wow, I looked at the dates for your entries and can't belive I have not been aware of this feature.

Thanks for all your hard work here, :thup :thup

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
How else do those topics get picked to be "My Topics"? I just clicked on the current LED Cabin light thread, to chose it, went away from the thread, found the "My Topics" at the top of the page clicked there and got a list of about 20 pages of topics, of which I had participated in.

Just curious, because this is the first time I have used that feature.

Thanks again.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
hardee":25s8w2gt said:
How else do those topics get picked to be "My Topics"?
Click to expand...

Sheesh...there's a troublemaker in every crowd. :mrgreen:

As described above, the list gets built whenever you click the "Watch this topic for replies" link. However, there's a user selectable option in your profile that throws a monkey wrench into this.

One of your profile options, is "Always notify me of replies." When selected, you'll receive an email any time a thread you post in, receives a followup post.

Problem is, this is the same mechanism as is used for the "My Topics" list.

By default, that profile options is set to "no" - in which case, the instructions provided above work just fine. In your case Harvey (and anyone else who changed the profile setting in question), the feature being discussed here is of lesser value, as the My Topics list will contain every thread you've posted in.

Make sense? Well...perhaps I should rephrase that, as the shortcoming above doesn't make sense.

Understand? :lol:
 
I find that My Topics works about half the time, so I am now in the habit of going live to the site and using "View Posts Since Last Visit". Even then I occasionally find a topic that has slipped through the cracks.

Warren
 
Doryman":3f6qry9k said:
I find that My Topics works about half the time, so I am now in the habit of going live to the site and using "View Posts Since Last Visit". Even then I occasionally find a topic that has slipped through the cracks.

Warren
Click to expand...

Warren, that's the way I usually do it too. Works pretty well except that, on the odd occasion when I miss a few days, the list is pretty long!

Charlie
 
Hi...

I'm Casey, and (according to 'daNag), I'm a C-Brat "site addict."

"Hi Casey ..."

...I mean, just because I don't mow the grass any more, or have Any Interest in golf or politics, and check-in w/ C-Brat's 1-6 times a day, don't talk to my wife or kid's anymore, and wish they'd install an instant-chat feature for online C-Brat's, doesn't mean I'm Addicted.

So for Me, the new feature isn't necessary Since I'm living my Life on this site!

But thanks anyway!

Best
Casey
 
One of your profile options, is "Always notify me of replies." When selected, you'll receive an email any time a thread you post in, receives a followup post.
Click to expand...

Bill, If I go to the profile and change that e-mail notification, are there any adverse repercussions that may happen? Yes, No, maybe?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
hardee":6kxkxc5n said:
Bill, If I go to the profile and change that e-mail notification, are there any adverse repercussions that may happen? Yes, No, maybe?
Click to expand...

A definite "maybe." Depends on the behavior you want.

With it on, you should receive an email notification every time a topic you posted in gets a reply. This can be a tad annoying, particularly on popular threads - which is why this setting is not "on" by default.

With the default setting ("off"), you'll only receive email notifications for threads in which you've clicked the "Watch this topic for replies" link at the bottom of the page.
 
Back
Top