Seems to be a lot of confusion/complaining about the new "time stamp" function of the AO forum here. As well, I think a lot of new members aren't sure how use some of the very useful functions of a "vBulletin" forum.
So here are a couple of tips on how not to miss any of the good info found on AO:
There are two basic methods of reading your forum. "Browsing" each sub-forum one at a time, and searching for any and all new posts.
When browsing a specific sub-forum:
- When a thread title is BOLDED, it means there are NEW posts in there that you haven't viewed. If the thread title is regular font, then there are NO new posts, and you're all caught up.
- To quickly go to the first UNread post in an updated thread, click on the little brown "down arrow" to left of the thread title.
- To quickly go to the very last post of the thread, click on the little "down arrow" to the right of the member in the "last post" column.
Here's a couple of screenshots with the different aspects highlighted:
When browsing each sub-forum, one at a time:
However, I find the easiest way not to miss anything is to just click on the "New Posts" quick-link at the top. This will pull up ALL posts made since I last logged onto the forum. That way I won't miss anything in any category. Any threads that I've already read, and have NO new posts, won't be bolded. Everything else that's new will be in
Bold text:
Screenshot when you've clicked on the "New Posts" link