Recent post shows oldest post first

[Kendo]

When I click on "Recent Posts" it shows the oldest posts first and then I have to scroll forever to find the "most recent post" in that topic. I tried to find some "preferences" to edit and change that but I found none.

Is there a secret switch that I missed?

[keyplyr]

Are you in the Southern Hemisphere?

[not2easy]

There are system preferences in your Control Panel. You should see a note at the top of the Recent Posts List that says "Displaying Topics 1 - 50 (37 total) Sorted by: Date-Last-Post, Direction: reverse" and if not, you can edit your preferences from the Control Panel which is found in your Sticky Mail account menu to the left of the folders. You may find your preferences listed under the Resources dropdown menu at the top of the page. I don't see a place to reverse the sort order of the Active List though. It might be under the setting where you choose the number of posts to show in multi-page threads.

[Kendo]

"Displaying Topics 1 - 50" only applies to the list of recent topics. It is when I click on one of those topics that it shows the oldest post first (and the latest post last).

Yes, I am in the southern hemisphere... should I rotate my screen?

[tangor]

When you click into a THREAD the posts are in posted order. If you want to see the LAST POST, hit the END key and jump to the bottom, or click (for multipage threads) the last page number and then do the same.

The reverse order by date only applies to the RECENT POSTS master listing.

[not2easy]

Sorry, I thought we were talking about the "Recent Posts" page, I misunderstood. If the newest post was first people would need to scroll to the bottom to follow the discussion. If you've already gone through the discussion and are only interested in what's new, the arrows (lower far right) are supposed to get you quickly to the bottom. My own experience tells me to click in the scroll gutter next to those arrows or you may need to scroll back up to see the newest post. Different screens, different browsers make that setting a little iffy.

[tangor]

Another option is to collapse (close) individual posts as you read them. Less to scroll through and lets you hide what you've already read.

That, however, would make it more difficult to find a message in the future!

[robzilla]

Note that the first (i.e. initial) post is always pinned to the top, regardless of which page of a thread you're on.

[Kendo]

Clicking from "Recent Posts" should take one to the most recent post, and not to the oldest.

Feature request: Please fix.

[tangor]

I wouldn't mind a "last read" jump, but jumping to the last post on high volume threads would require scrolling UP from the end to find where you left off....

[Kendo]

Just need to change sort order to DESC instead of ASC, sort by ID. Only the last 15-20 posts will be shown as usual... no increase of load on the server at all.

People following a topic are only interested in the last post. In fact I am surprised it wasn't done ages ago with all the "webmasters" here.

[Leosghost]

People following a topic are only interested in the last post.

Nope..untrue..for example ..one can be following a thread, work IRL, sleep or do something else for a few hours or half a day, if when one comes back to the thread and in the intervening time there have been multiple posts, one wants to read them sequentially, in chronological order, if not, the last post ( which will probably be referring to at least one of the previous ones ) will be likely to be out of context, and thus make less sense.If I had not quoted you at the start of this post, anyone ( except you ) who posted prior to me, would not know what I was referring to :)

[Leosghost]

Unless they had previously read your post ( which may not have been there when they last read the thread ) ..same thing applies to this post, which is now currently the last one, on needs to read the preceding ones for context.

[Kendo]

Very few topics are that busy. Everywhere else that I read they post the latest first (except for the first pinned post)... wonder why?

[tangor]

Very few topics that aren't that busy rarely intrigue me. :)

Different strokes, different folks...

A last read pointer, on the other hand, would be very useful, for anybody.

[robzilla]

Everywhere else that I read they post the latest first (except for the first pinned post)... wonder why?

We must inhabit separate sections of the Web. I can't recall ever seeing a message board where that was the default.

[keyplyr]

I can't recall ever seeing a message board [post the latest first] where that was the default.

I agree

[tangor]

I've actually seen a few like that and avoid them like the plague since the discussions rarely have value: the newest stuff is based on the topic drift that ALWAYS happens.

[Kendo]

You guys must be in the northern hemisphere where drain holes run backwards.

[tangor]

North or South, drains run down, but due to axial spin might circle left or right. I just like to start at the beginning and go to the end.

[keyplyr]

Tangor knows about axial spin.

[tangor]

'deed I do! Nice to be recognized by a fellow spinner!

[Kendo]

On a forum that is not busy or one that is not visited very often it may nice to catch up by walking though the post from the beginning, but on forums that are checked a few times a day it is a RPIA to walk though what has already read and sifted through many times.

I have written and managed forums and jumping to the last post is invaluable. Otherwise can a moderator keep an eye on things or anybody for that matter, follow a discussion without tedious effort.

In fact I don't recall seeing any forum that has it reversed like this one. I have just come from one support forum and they would laugh at what is practiced here.

All I am saying, can we have the option in our settings?

[tangor]

Ha! One man's reverse is another man's commonsense.

What is missing is a session cookie that keeps track of what you HAVE read and takes you to what you have NOT read.

Either method takes work and frankly, these WW folks are working overtime, FOR FREE, and there's that last bit of common wisdom:

IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!

Next thing you know, requests for all dancing all singing ads, too. Sigh.

[tangor]

I do have to ask ... what's wrong with hitting the END key to get to the last message? Works a treat!

If multi-page, click/tap last page THEN hit the END and there we are!

If on a phone, that finger flick works just as well.

The messages are presented in a time lime... and reverse order is not very nice way to see how threads DEVELOP.

[keyplyr]

. I have just come from one support forum and they would laugh at what is practiced here.

At least someone gets my humor.

[engine]

Just to clarify, the oldest post in a thread is shown with the aim of retaining on topic. There will always be topic drift.

On recent post, there's an active link on "Date" where you reverse the posts.

Also, we added the jump facility to help people get the the bottom, or return to the top of a long thread.

In "system preferences", there's the capability of adjusting the number of posts on a thread, see "Messages per thread?"

We tried to offer a range of solution to meet differing needs.

[lawman]

Ahh, nice to see everyone getting along so well. I guess It WAS me.

[Leosghost]

Very few topics are that busy.

Once upon a time most of the board was "that busy"..and "down here" ( to quote a poster of that time ) we'd sit surrounded by shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, sidling around on the bench, talking 'bout spammin' Google*, and water closets, and 0 to 60 times..lawman ( 'twas he, then, and another, gone from these parts, long ago ) remembers such times.

And..we 'ah do do our spammin' in't rain, up'ill, both ways, in clogs ..'n Cutts would whip us with his rapier wit ( he thought it was ) and we never new owt dif'rint.

Kids terday..

the BBC runs its comments latest first, bliddy mess it makes of knowing who replied to who it does..and then when you "allow scripts" ( which I haven't done for years in most places that are not mine ) one sees that 99.9% of the posts there are made by eejits..so no loss in blocking all the scripts and seeing no comments at all, likewise at "le point"..