I know the reason you've changed it but its all wrong and not user friendly. Since 4.6.8 clicking this link no longer goes to the latest post, but to the start of the topic. That couldn't be any less user friendly, especially for those that use those links to get to the latest post often.

Edited November 8, 20213 yr by marklcfc

We already released a patch to fix this for clients - just haven't applied it here yet 🙂 

I've got the same issue but I'm on a self hosted.

I have just updated, works as intended when logged in, but for guests it goes to the first page in the topic again. 

 

I have just updated, works as intended when logged in, but for guests it goes to the first page in the topic again. 

Yes, the same here. 

 

but for guests it goes to the first page in the topic again. 

because it is supposed to be there in order not to create unnecessary 301 redirects for guests 😉 

 

because it is supposed to be there in order not to create unnecessary 301 redirects for guests 😉 

That sounds like a really bad idea from a UX perspective. I can only assume it's for SEO, but there's no need to sacrifice ux for that, whats wrong with just nofollowing those links?

 

That sounds like a really bad idea from a UX perspective. I can only assume it's for SEO, but there's no need to sacrifice ux for that, whats wrong with just nofollowing those links?

If we nofollow these links, then we reduce the routes into the content and increase the crawl depth, which is also bad.

Once you are logged in, the link works as expected. If your guests are complaining, just get them to sign up. It takes just a few clicks with the available sign up options.

 

If we nofollow these links, then we reduce the routes into the content and increase the crawl depth, which is also bad.

Once you are logged in, the link works as expected. If your guests are complaining, just get them to sign up. It takes just a few clicks with the available sign up options.

Honestly, that makes no sense. Giving a guest a sub-par experience of a community is not a smart way to attempt to entice them to join.

There is already a link on the forum index page to the thread (eg the one linked from the thread title), so the link with the time on it is basically a duplicate in any case. Therefore there's no SEO or crawlability upside to having it like that, and no SEO downside to treating it the same as for logged in users, but with a nofollow. 

 

This entire column is just a relic from the early days of forums where all activity started on the forum index. Wherever the link leads now, it makes little sense (given that Activity Feeds are now far superior to see new posts). There could be 20 new posts in 10 active topics in any given forum. What good is ONE link? Why would anyone see that one topic out of the hundreds in that forum and not – for example – the one posted shortly before the last one? And why would a guest start reading that topic backwards from the last post? Apart from the “that’s how it’s always been” argument, none of it makes any sense. 

The only potential purpose is as an indicator of forum activity, but there would be much better ways to show that than with the latest post. For example, something like “15 posts in the last 24 hours”.  

 

Once you are logged in, the link works as expected. If your guests are complaining, just get them to sign up. It takes just a few clicks with the available sign up options.

So would you recommend that we place a banner for guests that says:

Links work as they used to if you sign up and login, so sign up today!