[besson3c]

Hello,

I don't know if a plug-in that does this exists yet, but if not what do you think about having an onload event handler attached to each thread that spawns an AJAX request every 5 minutes (or however often) to see if there are new posts, and then automatically appends these posts to the end of the thread you have loaded?

I'm sick of constantly refreshing pages, and I would bet that what I'm describing would help keep your loads down a little...

[Big Mac]

Wouldn't that disturb and possibly erase the text written by people creating new posts?

[besson3c]

Nope. Each post has an auto-incrementing unique ID that is assigned when the database table is written to. There won't be any conflicts.

[zro]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I'm sick of constantly refreshing pages, and I would bet that what I'm describing would help keep your loads down a little...

Then stop constantly refreshing pages. Dilemma solved.

Although there are plug-ins for other BBS packages that will interrupt a post to show you any others that were made after the last post you saw. Kinda handy, but (I think) more so for those who like to argue a lot.

[besson3c]

Well, I like to argue a lot, you're wrong.

[zro]

I'm not the only one seeing this, am I?


edit: You could have taken this one, too! Now I sound like a lunatic.

[Maflynn]

I think this type of plug-in offers no benefits and more headaches. While I may go through spurts of activity, I don't see a need to have the browser refresh every 5 minutes to see a new post. If I needed to post every 5 minutes then I'd say I have a problem with the forum taking over my life and I'd need to walk away.

besson, if you need to to see activity that much and are addicted to the forum, its a simple process of clicking the refresh button as opposed adding more complexity to the forum and possibly impacting the stability which at times is already shaky. Besides this request smacks of insincerity, i.e., just asking something to generate a debate/argument.

[Simon]

There's email notification. No need for any extras.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Maflynn 

I think this type of plug-in offers no benefits and more headaches. While I may go through spurts of activity, I don't see a need to have the browser refresh every 5 minutes to see a new post. If I needed to post every 5 minutes then I'd say I have a problem with the forum taking over my life and I'd need to walk away.

besson, if you need to to see activity that much and are addicted to the forum, its a simple process of clicking the refresh button as opposed adding more complexity to the forum and possibly impacting the stability which at times is already shaky. Besides this request smacks of insincerity, i.e., just asking something to generate a debate/argument.

You're missing the point. Say you're typing up a post in the quick-reply box. It's well thought-out, concise, and beautiful. You hit the "submit" button, only to suddenly see that in the time you were typing that reply, four other people posted, and now your post just looks dumb.

Or maybe you're reading the last page of a super long thread. Many of the posts are rather lengthy, so it takes a while. You get to the end and want to type a quick reply, except when you submit, you find you've missed 14 posts and the thread is about a different topic entirely.

Gmail has this sort of feature, I believe. If a conversation is open, and I'm replying to it, it lets me know if someone has replied and asks if I'd like to see it, all using AJAX.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

You're missing the point. Say you're typing up a post in the quick-reply box. It's well thought-out, concise, and beautiful. You hit the "submit" button, only to suddenly see that in the time you were typing that reply, four other people posted, and now your post just looks dumb.

Or maybe you're reading the last page of a super long thread. Many of the posts are rather lengthy, so it takes a while. You get to the end and want to type a quick reply, except when you submit, you find you've missed 14 posts and the thread is about a different topic entirely.

Easy. Don't use the quick reply if you're responding to someone else's post - actually quote the post you're responding to.

This ain't IRC.

Oh, and think of the poor hampstor. He's already run off his feet - auto refresh would kill him.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Easy. Don't use the quick reply if you're responding to someone else's post - actually quote the post you're responding to.

Okay, so what happens when 12 people post while you take 20 minutes to write a long-winded reply to a specific portion you're quoting? Not so easy.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Okay, so what happens when 12 people post while you take 20 minutes to write a long-winded reply to a specific portion you're quoting? Not so easy.

Well since your long-winded reply is directly replying to whoever it is you're quoting, any other posts after that don't matter. If you feel the need to reply to one of those 12 new posts then you hit quote and reply to that.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Easy. Don't use the quick reply if you're responding to someone else's post - actually quote the post you're responding to.

This ain't IRC.

Oh, and think of the poor hampstor. He's already run off his feet - auto refresh would kill him.

Actually, the quick DB check and injection of the new posts is lighter than having several people refresh the entire page in their browsers. Of course, this is thrown out the window if people *still* manually refresh their browser, but perhaps after we get used to it this will minimize that.

Simon: email is not real-time and never can be counted on to be so. It is nearly pointless for an active back-and-forth conversation. It is best suited for keeping track of which threads have received responses after you walk away from your computer for a while.

[Simon]

Well this isn't IRC and I don't want to see it become that either. So anything that isn't perfectly real-time is just right IMHO. IOW the current solution.

If you quote a post and write an intelligent reply it will not become invalid just because somebody else replied in between. And if your post is moot just because somebody else replied before you, chances are your post wasn't worth that much in the first place.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Actually, the quick DB check and injection of the new posts is lighter than having several people refresh the entire page in their browsers.

Sorry but I don't see how having the new posts refresh all the time for all members is lighter than having a very few people who refresh the entire page every few minutes.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Sorry but I don't see how having the new posts refresh all the time for all members is lighter than having a very few people who refresh the entire page every few minutes.

It depends on how many people are refreshing pages constantly. We could test how this scales by implementing this where there is a checkbox for each thread that is disabled by default, and where checking it triggers the auto-updates.

I'd be willing to bet that with events such as big Mac announcements and Abe's epic threads, a *lot* of page refreshing goes on.

[Railroader]

I just want to go on record as stating that I am NOT one of those goofy "page refreshers".

[Cold Warrior]

I suppose you could create an Automator action to run every five minutes to open this 'file' (drag the link to your Mac):

http://forums.macnn.com/search.php?do=getnew

Personally I keep it in the Dock and just click it whenever I want.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

http://forums.macnn.com/search.php?do=getnew

Sure that's that the same list you get when you go to your User CP. It's a big fat link right up there. Has been there for as long as I can remember. No need for any auto-refreshing.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Easy. Don't use the quick reply if you're responding to someone else's post - actually quote the post you're responding to.

This ain't IRC.

SO RITE lol

poop

omfg split milk on kbd brb

[Railroader]

k thx by

[Spheric Harlot]

lol!

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I'd be willing to bet that with events such as big Mac announcements and Abe's epic threads, a *lot* of page refreshing goes on.

I didn't know I was credited with having such an impact around here.