Revamp the watched threads...

[7SiN]

I hope you guys aren't sick of hearing us old vB users ask for things we loved in vB :/ I honestly feel one of the best features with vbulletin (and most under appreciated until lost) is their thread subscriptions, similar to the watched topics for IPB. Maybe it's just my board or the options I have, but I have made it so that all the topics I post in are watched. It never shows up that there's a new post in one of my watched threads view the side bar unless it's an old topic that was subscribed years ago (for some reason). So like I said, maybe it's just my board.

But I think a page to show ONLY the topics which have new posts in it would be phenomenal. All of my users (literally, all of them) are complaining about not having a page like this like we had for vB. It helps keep track of threads you've been posting in...especially when you have such a busy site like mine. I no longer can keep track of everything going on even with the watched topics...but again, it could be b/c my side bar is broken and the fact that there's like 5-6 clicks just to get to the watched topics option in the setting/user cp, where vB had it in front of you once you clicked settings.

I wouldn't be bringing up anything to ask for you guys to add an option similar to vB unless I knew that it would make functionality of your software much much greater. I love everything you guys have done and are doing with your software! I just hope little tweaks like this can make it through into production (asap).

Thanks,

Justin

[shought]

Doesn't the 'View New Content' page kind of provide this 'a page to show ONLY the topics which have new posts in it'-effect? (Or do you mean 'ONLY show the new posts in topics in which I have posted'?)

I do agree that IPB does get a little 'unclear' when you get a bigger and more active board and there should be easier ways of tracking topics in which you've participated (or which you've picked to be tracked). I also don't really like the IPB 3 search system (I still think the IPB 2 search is better).

I don't know how much coding this would require but my suggestion would be: a page (obviously with page 1, page 2, page 3 and so on) which lists all the topics you've picked IF there are any new (since last visit) OR unread replies. The same layout as the 'display results as forum'-search could be used with the addition of the ability to display more than one post (either total or a snippet, but it shouldn't be as short as the snippets in the 'regular search' (if you ask me)) 'below' the topic title. The first page should then obviously be limited to the first .. posts but shouldn't be cut off 'in the middle' of a topic (so if 19 posts already, set to cut off at 20, next topic has 3 posts then I think it should display these posts on the first page (otherwise there could be an issue with a topic which has more new replies than the 'cut off'-limit)).

[7SiN]

I was talking about showing new posts from threads in which I've posted in. I already know about the "view new content" link.

For those that haven't used vBulletin's subscribed threads, this is what I'm talking about:


Notice how you can click the down arrow icon, that is the link for "view first unread", which is my favorite features. Secondly, look at the bottom right "View all subscribed threads". This will list every thread you've subscribed to (or in IPB's terms, threads you are watching).

My members continue to bring up this as a suggestion in my suggestion forum. There is just too much to the watched threads features. This has to be my number 1 missed feature in vBulletin....and seems it is for all my members as well. If you want to have a more active community, I feel this feature is a MUST to implement.

[OwnedTom]

This is a very good idea. The Vb system is a lot better. A lot of my members have been complaining of not being able to see whether their posts have been replied to.

[yoyodunno]

I agree, it would be better to show the threads that you most recently posted in. It can get pretty confusing to have all the categories of threads, and is so much easier to navigate when you can see what threads you recently posted in.

[Pieceman]

+Rep to the OP for bringing this up.

I converted my forum over to IPB back in December of last year and if I could pick one thing to bring over from vB, it would have been the subscription feature. With an active forum, it gets extremely tiresome to look through every single new post, in order to find a reply in one of my threads. In comparison, it was so simple with vB. As soon as I replied in, or created a thread, it was automatically added to my "watched" list. And all I had to do was click my profile link and a listing of my subscriptions with new posts was listed by date(most recent at the top). It makes it so easy to keep track of the threads you are active in, and from an administrators point of view, it is essential for handling my members' concerns.

Please take this issue seriously, as it would make a huge difference on my forum.

Thanks,
Lucas

[7SiN]

I had another complaint by several different users yesterday about this. Any staffers wanna comment? If this isn't considered for IPB, please let me know...that way I can hire someone to code it and I will take the brunt of the cost so that we can have a useful "watched topics/subscribed topics" system in IPB because this is just not working for me.

[bfarber]

It's possible that we will enhance watched content further than we already have in a future version.

[kilcher]

Just to throw in my 2 cents, I converted a "big board" from vBulletin about a week ago and this is by far my users biggest complaint.

[TCWT]

Yep, +100. Vb owns IPB in this category. This will definitely make the forums more active.

I wish IPB would also add a link to unsubscribe from the thread with the emails. Many have been asking for this!!

[Clickfinity]

+1 for the "new posts" link in the watched threads list ... :thumbsup:

[7SiN]

The new "My Content" in the drop down is much easier to use than Watched Threads. I can never get watched threads to work right. I just really wish they would look and see how the "subscribed threads" worked in vB and just adopt it. It's by far the best thing vB has and should be incorporated.