Inconsistency in Forum View post count -v- Unread Posts

[#1]

I may have found a clue.

I just looked at the forum page https://community.plus.net/t5/Forum/ct-p/Forum, which showed "Introductions" as having 2 unread posts. However when going in there, there were none.

This was to be expected as they had been no unread topics shown at https://community.plus.net/t5/forums/unreadpostspage/tab/thread both before and after looking at the forum list pages.

But the latest 2 topics in that forum were threads that Mav and dvorak had moved to another forum, just leaving a locked message behind pointing to the new location. 

The threads were

https://community.plus.net/t5/Introductions/Upload-speeds-down-from-16Mb-to-1-6-Only-the-last-2-Week...

https://community.plus.net/t5/Introductions/Hows-the-reliability-on-this-network-for-fibre/m-p/13399...

Could this be behind the inconsistent unread counts ?

[#2]

Sounds like you could be on to something.

[#3]

To summarize, when an unread post(s) is moved from 1 forum to another, the starting forum unread count is not being decremented by however many unread posts have been moved.

[#4]

There is however an "Unread" 'Move post' replacing them, which should show up as Unread when you look at the board.

[#5]

Although there is technically an unread move post when a thread is moved. The place holder thread isn't actually a new thread (As I found when replying to a thread that was being moved the other day.

My response got left on the place holder and not moved with the initial post I was replying to)

If you've read a thread, and it then gets moved, you will have technically already read the place-holder message, but not the new thread that is created on the board it is moved to.

[#6]

@Anotherone

No I had already read both the moved post in their new locations and read Mav/Dvorak's posts too via the Unread Topics page.

So I had zero unread threads/posts which I checked via the unread topic screen but the forum page states that I have 2 unread in "Introductions" which I don't.

It is still stating now that I have 2 unread post in that forum but I have clicked on these 2 topics in the Introductions forum several times and the unread count is still 2.

[#7]

Odd & Wierd. I'll stop and think about this a bit more later. I had one Unread post on that board showing in the Forum and Board lists. It was Dvorak's 'Moved post'. That took me to the Fibre board where Dvorak's post said it had been moved but it was another 'Moved post' from Strat taking me to the correct post on the same board   Anyway when I'd read Dvorka's post, the count went back to zero.

@SpendLessTime How long ago did you last read the posts on that board? In my case it was a while ago, a week or two maybe - don't recall precisely, but my count there was previously zero.

I haven't yet been bothered to dig out and quote the relevant posts, but what I'd said previously may still be connected to all this. Your new thoughts may well be the source of some of the count at times.

[#8]

Odd & weird is a fair description.

Around midnight last night this board showed me 10648 posts with 2 I couldn't identify unread. Since then 7 new replies have been added. However the post count shows 10654 with just 1 mysterious unread. So one of the unread posts has disappeared.

I wonder if what we are seeing is posts flagged as deleted still being in place and counted in totals but omitted from the lists? Being in a deleted state means the space can be reused, and when it is the count is corrected.

[#9]

---

@Anotherone wrote:

@SpendLessTime How long ago did you last read the posts on that board? In my case it was a while ago, a week or two maybe - don't recall precisely, but my count there was previously zero.

---

Every time I log out, I perform this check

1. Check https://community.plus.net/t5/forums/unreadpostspage/tab/thread is empty

2. Check all unread counts are 0 here https://community.plus.net/t5/Forum/ct-p/Forum

3. Do step 1 again

4. Log out

I perform this task probably 12 times a day. (Sad I know) but everything is marked as read when I log out or I have zeroed the counts at the board options level if necessary.

So my unread counts were all zero in  step 2 and in steps 1 and 3 the list was empty, nothing was unread when I logged off.

I logged on, repeated step 1 until I had read all posts clicking from the unread thread page at all times to get to each thread. Went to step 2 and saw 2 unread in Introductions. Went into that forum as I was puzzled as step 1 showed nothing to read. The forum itself had no unread posts/threads either. Went into the 2 locked links again, (done that several times) and still step 2 says 2 unread in Introductions.

At that point I added to this thread with 2 posts about the moved post causing issues with the unread count.

Logged off and now back on again later.

I still have 2 unread in Introductions at the step 2 level, but that board shows no threads with unread messages. I haven't marked the board as read to clear down the 2 erroneous unread makers yet.

Edit to add:-

I would have last visited that board when it had unread posts, so the 2 "we have moved" messages today which were read via the unread topic page (step 1)

[#10]

You mention the Introductions board having two unread items. Recently a user got banned and marked their posts marked as spam (it was a spammer but was acting like a normal person so at first we gave benefit of doubt). They had posted twice in that board so it could be those two posts..

After making sure you have read what you wanted to read, have you tried marking all posts in the community as read in the options menu for the unread page? I do this a few times a day myself as after reading everything within this board and a couple of others I am interested in, I am not going to go through and individually click each unread thread as I don't read the other boards.

Edit: I do realise that the above does not resolve this issue of having phantom unread items so I will need to get Lithium to tell me why this would occur. The information you guys have provided has been very helpful for myself in trying to understand what is going on but I feel that we should get answers from the product vendor about those discrepencies as it has happened to me recently and I couldn't find this single unread item anywhere.

[#11]

It won't be spam on this occasion Jack, otherwise I would have had 2 unread posts as well and I haven't.

[#12]

I think we need to get an official statement as to why some of us are getting phantom unread items. It's rather annoying as on the forum page I see a number under the 'new' column.. and then I can't find it with no threads showing as being unread. Very annoying.

[#13]

@jaread83

Was recent lunchtime today? This issue occurred between 12:21 and 13:29.

When I logged out at 12:21, there were zero unread posts via either the unread topics page or the forums main page. Logged back on at 13:24 and read all unread threads. At 13:29 there were no unread threads but there was a count of 2 Unread appearing only on the Forum page for the Introductions board, and that board had no unread posts when I went in.

Hence the post at 13:36 where I asked if the 2 posts moved where the cause of the unread counter mismatch?

I only mark the whole board or community read if there are none zero counts at the forum level and I do not have any unread threads/post. I will do that now, but I thought I might have come across an avenue for Lithium to investigate as this unread count being incorrect is a pain in the rear.

[#14]

It will differ between users. I had the phantom posts this morning at around 9 when I logged in. It doesn't bother me as much though as I always use the 'mark all as read' option which clears everything. I will see if we can get a definitive reason as to why this would happen though.

[#15]

The thing that is very very very odd here is that the other post was moved on the 02-06-2016 it says and had two replies on the same date, so somehow I don't think this explains it.

Were there any posts that appeared in the Spam trap for that board today between 1221 and 1329? or since, because I now have 4 Unread ones on that board