Forum Feedback

[Allen_K]

 [edit: This post and its replies originally appeared in the sandbox thread, moving it to a new thread of its own for better exposure.]

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floplot wrote:

Hi

Page 4 is from post 31 to 40 for me.

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"Pages" of a thread can be a confusing issue because of the features that EACH USER can set for themselves on their own profiles.  

Click "My Profile" (two lines above the search box in the top left) and then select the preferences tab.

[Most users have the forum default of 'Linear Format' selected, so here I will limit the discussion to Linear Format (as opposed to threaded format), however linear vs threaded can also be changed in the "Display Settings" section on the same page.]

Locate the section called "Linear Format Settings":

Linear Format Message Sorting Order within Threads ---  The default here is Oldest to Newest / Date Ascending which makes the Oldest message in a thread appear on the page first followed by replies.  This is most logical for new users that are unfamiliar, however many of the seasoned veterans will want to switch to Newest to Oldest / Date Descending which is what I call "Email mode" (and is my personal favorite as a regular) in this mode the latest message is on the top and as you scroll down things get older with the original message found at the very end.   (hint: if you quickly recognize threads based just on the title then Newest to Oldest / Date Descending  is the one for you!)  This one messes up the "pages" AS WELL AS the "post 5 of XX" numbering system, because it reverses the display order of the thread.

Messages Per Thread Page in Linear Format --- this one defaults to 10, but I have mine set at 50 because I have a really speedy connection.  This one messes up the "pages" because my "pages" have 50 posts on them, so a thread with 100 posts will actually only be 2 pages to me, but to most users still on 10 per thread that same 100 post thread will be 10 pages.

The absolute BEST way to refer to a specific post in a thread is to use the Options menu in the upper right hand corner of the specific message you want to refer to and pick "Highlight this message".  This will cause the page to be re-loaded but TWO important things happen:  First the message in question receives 'Focus' which means it will get a gray background in the screen.  Second (and more importantly) the URL in the browser bar will change.  If you copy and paste THAT URL as a link then eveyone clicking it will be clicking into a thread EXACTLY as you are seeing it... with the same post highlighted.  For example, click here (which is really this long URL http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=forum_feedback&message.id=3117#M3117 consolidated down into a nice tidy hyperlink) and you will be back in this thread, but with floplot's post highlighted.

Hope that helps!

[edit: typos.]

Message Edited by Allen_K on 11-01-2009 08:41 PM

[reese_anschultz]

And referring to post number can be confusing because people can choose the order to see them. I frequent see comments referring to, say, post number 5 but because I view newest first I have to figure out the reverse count.

[Allen_K]

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reese_anschultz wrote:
And referring to post number can be confusing because people can choose the order to see them. I frequent see comments referring to, say, post number 5 but because I view newest first I have to figure out the reverse count.

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Excellent point, I meant to say that as well.... I just edited into my message.

Perhaps the sandbox thread isn't the best place for this...  should we move this sub-thread off to a thread of its own?  or do alot of people read this thread?

[Yaso_Kuuhl Norton Fighter]

Allen_K:

I think it would be a great idea to move this to a thread of its own, because I only discovered about linking directly to a message via using the "highlight this message" feature now, when reading your post after all these months :-) Before, I would type, "please read post # soandso in this thread (link to said thread)" until I realised how confusing this could be because of the thread settings :-)

[dbrisendine Norton Fighter]

If you right click on the link of the message# of so many messages (each message has this on the left beside the message post) and select "copy shortcut", you can paste that in a reply and it always links directly to that message no matter how the view is.

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&view=by_date_ascending&messag...

[Yaso_Kuuhl Norton Fighter]

dbrisendine:

I saw that, but with the "highlight this message" feature, there is no "view=by_date_ascending" chunk like with the link of the message number you have indicated; does that make a difference? 

[dbrisendine Norton Fighter]

Messgae.id is message.id is message.id .  The rest doesn't make any difference as long as the Forum database software does not reindex the messages.  If I highlight the message (Allen's instructions) the id is M84203.  If I right click on the link and copy the shortcut the message id is still M84203.  The shortcut link is tied to the actual message; the rest of the URL is just some descriptions thrown in after the location address.  The end result is the message id which remains constant.

[Yaso_Kuuhl Norton Fighter]

Okay, thanks - was just wondering.

Message Edited by Yaso_Kuuhl on 10-31-2009 11:55 PM

[Allen_K]

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dbrisendine wrote:

If you right click on the link of the message# of so many messages (each message has this on the left beside the message post) and select "copy shortcut", you can paste that in a reply and it always links directly to that message no matter how the view is.

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&view=by_date_ascending&messag...

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Yes and No.... 

You are correct that the message.id is the message.id but there are differences between the way the message X of Y links are formed and the way "Highlight this Message" links are formed.   The problem comes from the fact that the link included there causes the clicker of the link to inherit the sort order of the person that copied and pasted that link....(also message.id will never change or be re-indexed, it would break links posted both inside and outside this community)

For example using message 4 of x link here in this thread when I paste the link it is:

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=forum_feedback&view=by_date_descending&mes...

by contrast if I use Highlight this message link:

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=forum_feedback&message.id=3292#M3292

The first link would confuse users that don't even know they can reverse the sort order of a thread, because when you click it the thread it is sorted in Date Decending which is my sort order.  The second link will inherit the sort order of the link clicker.

Bottom line: The "Highlight this Message" method is "The absolute BEST way to refer to a specific post in a thread" because it respects the sort order that both the link poster and the link clicker have set.

Message Edited by Allen_K on 11-01-2009 09:02 PM

[floplot Norton Fighter]

Hi

Thanks for making this thread. I am trying to understand this. I have been offline for like a week because of a failed hard drive and just got back online on the night this thread was started. I've been trying to catch up with things since late on Friday night. I only have this one computer. I just saw this thread now. I may have to print out those instructions and explanations so I can try and understand it when I'm not at the puter.  Maybe it would be a good idea that when people register for the forum and they get their first email after registering, that these instructions come with that email so that all new members of the forum will know how to do these things if they don't know already. That quote of mine sure did cause me some difficulties that night when it happened in that thread.

floplot

[edit: Updated subject.]

Message Edited by Allen_K on 11-01-2009 09:02 PM