"My Threads" feature request?

jfriend

I know that this site is based on some commonly available forum software, but I'm wondering if there is a chance of ever getting a "My Threads" feature like dpreview has. That single feature drastically improves your productivity in tracking threads that you have participated in, particularly when they are spread across multiple different forums.


Any chance of getting anything like that here? The ONLY two things that dpreview does better than dgrin is "My Threads" and their search, while dgrin does many other things better than dpreview.

Mike Lane

jfriend wrote:

I know that this site is based on some commonly available forum software, but I'm wondering if there is a chance of ever getting a "My Threads" feature like dpreview has. That single feature drastically improves your productivity in tracking threads that you have participated in, particularly when they are spread across multiple different forums.


Any chance of getting anything like that here? The ONLY two things that dpreview does better than dgrin is "My Threads" and their search, while dgrin does many other things better than dpreview.

I can get to every thread that I've contributed to by going to the "quick links" dropdown at the top right and then going to "subscribed threads". Of course this requires me to also select the box that automatically subscribe me to all the threads that I participate in. I used to have it email me whenever a thread was updated. Now I'm involved way too much for that. My whole inbox was stuffed with dgrin response emails.

Anyhow, I'm thinking you already have that capability on dgrin... Then again, I'm not very familiar with the way that dpreview works.

jfriend

Here's what dpreview "my threads" looks like

Mike Lane wrote:

I can get to every thread that I've contributed to by going to the "quick links" dropdown at the top right and then going to "subscribed threads". Of course this requires me to also select the box that automatically subscribe me to all the threads that I participate in. I used to have it email me whenever a thread was updated. Now I'm involved way too much for that. My whole inbox was stuffed with dgrin response emails.

Anyhow, I'm thinking you already have that capability on dgrin... Then again, I'm not very familiar with the way that dpreview works.

I have not been able to figure out how to accomplish this functionality in dgrin. I want to be able to bookmark a page that shows me a list of all the theads I've posted in across all dgrin forums sorted by time/date of recent posting with the ones that have unread activity in them highlighted differently somehow. I don't want to have to get emails. I don't want to have to remember to subscribe to every thread I post in. I get all this functionality at dpreview and I've included a screenshot below.

I've been trying to figure out if a dgrin search can do this and can be bookmarked, but haven't been able to figure it out or if there is some other undiscovered feature that can do this?

The idea is that any thread you post to automatically appears in this view and they are sorted by recent activity. You don't have to remember to subscribe to anything. You don't have to get any emails. It's a single view of your active threads across all of their forums. When I want to check dpreview, the first thing I do is just hit a bookmark to "my threads" and this view comes up. It immediately tells me if there has been any activity in any of the threads I've participated in. I don't need to have any emails filling up my inbox. It scales nicely even when you participate in hundreds of threads. It makes it trivial to make sure you don't miss activity in a thread you are involved in. It makes it so you don't have to get any emails to keep on top of things. It makes it so you don't have to check multiple forums (like I do here). It makes it so you don't miss things you're involved in, even if you've been gone for a couple days or hundreds of other posts have happened in the interim. It works equally well even when you read from different computers. It is the single best thing about the dpreview forum software and it's the most obvious thing that is better than the dgrin software.

DavidTO

I don't see how that's much different than subscriptions. You don't need to get emails for your subscribed threads, just turn it off. I've got a bookmark for my subscribed threads, and they come up sorted by recent activity. It's so close, really to be virtually the same, as far as I can see.

DoctorIt

Pssst....

view public profile >

public forum info >

view all posts by user
or
view all threads started by user


check it out

DoctorIt

BTW, the view public profile option is most easily accessed by mousing over anybody's username over there on the left. So yes, you can get the post history for any user.

jfriend

Maybe this can be done in dgrin

DavidTO wrote:

I don't see how that's much different than subscriptions. You don't need to get emails for your subscribed threads, just turn it off. I've got a bookmark for my subscribed threads, and they come up sorted by recent activity. It's so close, really to be virtually the same, as far as I can see.

I hadn't thought of using subscriptions and bookmarking your subscription list, but not using email. So, it looks like the one thing that's different is in dgrin, you have to remember to subscribe to every thread you post in. In dpreview, it's just automatic. Now, upon further exploration I see that in the control panel, you can set a default subscription mode that looks like it will automatically subscribe you to anything you post to. Maybe this can be done in dgrin. I'll give it a whirl.

DoctorIt

jfriend wrote:

I hadn't thought of using subscriptions and bookmarking your subscription list, but not using email. So, it looks like the one thing that's different is in dgrin, you have to remember to subscribe to every thread you post in. In dpreview, it's just automatic. Now, upon further exploration I see that in the control panel, you can set a default subscription mode that looks like it will automatically subscribe you to anything you post to. Maybe this can be done in dgrin. I'll give it a whirl.

The default should be that you are automatically subscribed to all threads you post in.


That's how I keep track of threads I want to... usually just post in them.

Andy

Hi John,

this is not the first time that this has come up.

I agree, the DPR "my threads" feature is sweet. I've logged a few posts there, over the years, and I've gotten used to that, too.

We get nearly the same functionality here. usercp>edit options and subscribe to every thread you play in, with *no* email notification. Then, you simply click "quick links">subscribed threads and voila, you've got a reasonable facsimile of "my threads."

I hope this helps,

Mike Lane

jfriend wrote:

I hadn't thought of using subscriptions and bookmarking your subscription list, but not using email. So, it looks like the one thing that's different is in dgrin, you have to remember to subscribe to every thread you post in.

:nah There is a function in dgrin that subscribes you to threads automatically and gives you the option to receive emails to those threads or not. The way I see it, this is the exact feature that you're looking for.

jfriend wrote:

In dpreview, it's just automatic. Now, upon further exploration I see that in the control panel, you can set a default subscription mode that looks like it will automatically subscribe you to anything you post to. Maybe this can be done in dgrin. I'll give it a whirl.

It can, that's how I have it set up.

jfriend

Not the default, but can be configured that way

DoctorIt wrote:

The default should be that you are automatically subscribed to all threads you post in.


That's how I keep track of threads I want to... usually just post in them.

I don't think it's the default to subscribe you to all threads you post in, but it looks like it can be configured that way.

DavidTO

Mike Lane wrote:

:nah There is a function in dgrin that subscribes you to threads automatically and gives you the option to receive emails to those threads or not. The way I see it, this is the exact feature that you're looking for.

It can, that's how I have it set up.

Me, too.

DoctorIt

jfriend wrote:

I don't think it's the default to subscribe you to all threads you post in, but it looks like it can be configured that way.

it doesn't just look that way, it is that way.

really, thats how I keep track of whats going on around here.

And thats what the User CP link gets you to - your subscribed threads with new posts in them. Damn, without the User CP and New Posts links up there in the main nav bar, I'd be lost!

DavidTO

DoctorIt wrote:

it doesn't just look that way, it is that way.

really, thats how I keep track of whats going on around here.

And thats what the User CP link gets you to - your subscribed threads with new posts in them. Damn, without the User CP and New Posts links up there in the main nav bar, I'd be lost!

You can also use the Quick Links link, or bookmark the URL.

jfriend

More forum questions

DoctorIt wrote:

it doesn't just look that way, it is that way.

really, thats how I keep track of whats going on around here.

And thats what the User CP link gets you to - your subscribed threads with new posts in them. Damn, without the User CP and New Posts links up there in the main nav bar, I'd be lost!

So, I'm very successfully using the subscribed threads and auto-subscribe to anything I post configuration. It's now roughly comparable to dpreview.

While I'm at it and since this forum software seems to have lots of goodies I haven't yet discovered, I thought I'd ask about three more things I'd love to have:

1) I've started using the "New Posts" or "New Stuff" link lately. But, I'd like a New Posts link that was confined to a set of subscribed forums rather than all forums at dgrin. In other words, there are a bunch of forums here that I want to see all new posts in and a bunch that I don't. Right now I have to just see all new posts. Since that's often too much to see the forest through the trees, I'm left to open each of the forums I'm interested in to see what's new in just them. Ideally, I'd be able to pick 4-5 forums here at dgrin and see just the new posts in those forums. Is that possible?

2) Is there a way to mark a post as "unread". Sometimes I want to come back to a post later and the easiest way I can think of to do that is to mark it unread so I'll see it later.

3) Is there anyway to subscribe to a thread without posting to it (I think this is often called "watch" in usenet parlance). I'd love it if I could tag the threads I want to follow so they'd be in my subscribed threads listing without having to post in it. This would probably save some worthless posts too as some people post just to get it into their subscribed threads listing.

DJ-S1

jfriend wrote:

3) Is there anyway to subscribe to a thread without posting to it (I think this is often called "watch" in usenet parlance). I'd love it if I could tag the threads I want to follow so they'd be in my subscribed threads listing without having to post in it. This would probably save some worthless posts too as some people post just to get it into their subscribed threads listing.

On the nav bar -> Thread Tools -> Subscribe to this thread. Easy-squeezy!

Andy

jfriend wrote:

So, I'm very successfully using the subscribed threads and auto-subscribe to anything I post configuration. It's now roughly comparable to dpreview.

While I'm at it and since this forum software seems to have lots of goodies I haven't yet discovered, I thought I'd ask about three more things I'd love to have:

1) I've started using the "New Posts" or "New Stuff" link lately. But, I'd like a New Posts link that was confined to a set of subscribed forums rather than all forums at dgrin. In other words, there are a bunch of forums here that I want to see all new posts in and a bunch that I don't. Right now I have to just see all new posts. Since that's often too much to see the forest through the trees, I'm left to open each of the forums I'm interested in to see what's new in just them. Ideally, I'd be able to pick 4-5 forums here at dgrin and see just the new posts in those forums. Is that possible?

I don't think so, but you can subscribe to forums. Click on the forum name then forum tools.

jfriend wrote:

2) Is there a way to mark a post as "unread". Sometimes I want to come back to a post later and the easiest way I can think of to do that is to mark it unread so I'll see it later.

Not that I'm aware of.

jfriend wrote:

3) Is there anyway to subscribe to a thread without posting to it (I think this is often called "watch" in usenet parlance). I'd love it if I could tag the threads I want to follow so they'd be in my subscribed threads listing without having to post in it. This would probably save some worthless posts too as some people post just to get it into their subscribed threads listing.

Yes, it's always been here: Navbar>Thread Tools>subscribe to this thread.

jfriend

Good Info - thanks

Andy wrote:

I don't think so, but you can subscribe to forums. Click on the forum name then forum tools.

So, what does subscrinbe to a forum do? Does it put all threads from the forum into your subscription list? That would not be what I want because I still want to be able to see a view of just the threads I've subscribed to.

Andy wrote:

Yes, it's always been here: Navbar>Thread Tools>subscribe to this thread.

Great, thanks. I'll be using that one now.

Andy

jfriend wrote:

So, what does subscrinbe to a forum do? Does it put all threads from the forum into your subscription list? That would not be what I want because I still want to be able to see a view of just the threads I've subscribed to.

Hi John,

Why not just try it? You can always undo it - no harm no foul. Honestly I don't know becuase I don't subscribe in the way you're thinking. Let us know

jfriend

Might not be reversible

Andy wrote:

Hi John,

Why not just try it? You can always undo it - no harm no foul. Honestly I don't know becuase I don't subscribe in the way you're thinking. Let us know

It depends upon what it does on whether it's easy to undo. If it automatically subscribes me to all new threads in a forum, I can imagine a scenario where when you turn it off, you are still subscribed to a whole bunch of threads that you don't want to be and it's not reversible. If you don't know how it works, I'll poke around in Google as I'm sure it's described somewhere.

fotoeffects

what is DPR and usercp>edit?

Andy wrote:

Hi John,

this is not the first time that this has come up.

I agree, the DPR "my threads" feature is sweet. I've logged a few posts there, over the years, and I've gotten used to that, too.

We get nearly the same functionality here. usercp>edit options and subscribe to every thread you play in, with *no* email notification. Then, you simply click "quick links">subscribed threads and voila, you've got a reasonable facsimile of "my threads."

I hope this helps,

What do these things mean and how do you access them?

Andy

learnin wrote:

What do these things mean and how do you access them?

Click on "You!" Upper left corner of Dgrin

excusme

What??

Andy wrote: »

Hi John,

this is not the first time that this has come up.

I agree, the DPR "my threads" feature is sweet. I've logged a few posts there, over the years, and I've gotten used to that, too.

We get nearly the same functionality here. usercp>edit options and subscribe to every thread you play in, with *no* email notification. Then, you simply click "quick links">subscribed threads and voilà, you've got a reasonable facsimile of "my threads."

I hope this helps,

Where do I put usurp>edit options and subscribe to every thread you play in, with *no* email notification with email notification?? I need it step by step. If you do not want to reply please say so, I'll understand.
Thanks

DavidTO

excusme wrote: »

Where do I put usurp>edit options and subscribe to every thread you play in, with *no* email notification with email notification?? I need it step by step. If you do not want to reply please say so, I'll understand.
Thanks

Here specifically post#5 in that thread.

WinsomeWorks

Andy wrote: »

Click on "You!" Upper left corner of Dgrin

I never knew how to keep track of anything on here either until someone pointed me to "You"... after a couple years. Imho, it should simply have a different name. Like "My Threads" ! It seems to do just about what John was asking for, I think... but I just think so many people don't notice or find it because it's a tiny little, non-descriptive heading, and yet it's so very handy once you find it. It needs a heading obvious enough that you don't have to point people to it who've been here for years.

SamirD

WinsomeWorks wrote: »

I never knew how to keep track of anything on here either until someone pointed me to "You"... after a couple years. Imho, it should simply have a different name. Like "My Threads" ! It seems to do just about what John was asking for, I think... but I just think so many people don't notice or find it because it's a tiny little, non-descriptive heading, and yet it's so very handy once you find it. It needs a heading obvious enough that you don't have to point people to it who've been here for years.

By default, this is called 'UserCP' in vbulletin, but even that is a good title as most people don't know it stands for 'User Control Panel'.