How do you browse RC?

[Hell Mike]

I would write something witty to start this up properly but I can't really be arsed, so just gimme yer specs yo.

50 posts/page, latest first, sigs on for me. I always had 50/page, but the latest post first-thing is something I was taught by my lovely girlfriend and it rox yo. THat way I don't have to scroll through lots and lots of already read posts or figure out what page I was on, just click and read the latest three-four posts (which are usually the unread ones) and then you're done. Sometimes when there's lots of action this method isn't stellar as you don't want to read the last post before others, but it's still better than starting from the first page of a ten-page thread and working your way backwards or however you might tackle it else. Also, this way it's always the last page that has 50 posts if the total amount of posts in the thread surpasses that, and any odd numbers end up in page one which was read when it was new. No risk of annoying discussion-harming page breaks, then. This is one quite big block of text to say quite little. And, one last thing; When I go to the forum, I middle-click all interesting unread threads (Most if not all most of the time) to get new tabs for 'em all to keep track of where I am, and then I work my way through them oldest to newest, refresh the index page to see fi there's anything new and then I'm done. If I am to reply to something, I middle-click the quote-button to get a new tab for that when I'm done reading, or in case I don't need the quote I just use the quick reply box. If I need to quote several posts, I middle-click them all and steal the parts I need. I also usually remove large pictures and such when quoting.

Now it's your turn.

 

[Reign in Acai]

25 posts per thread in chronological order. Sigs/Avatar on at home, off at work if my sig is something offensive.

I usually browse the threads from bottom up. "Usually"

 

[Johanna]

50 posts/page, latest first, sigs on for me. ... And, one last thing; When I go to the forum, I middle-click all interesting unread threads (Most if not all most of the time) to get new tabs for 'em all to keep track of where I am, and then I work my way through them oldest to newest, refresh the index page to see fi there's anything new and then I'm done...

Like this except no sigs cause sigs are usually annoying .

 

[Hell Mike]

I usually browse the threads from bottom up. "Usually"

Why not switch the order, then? Saves you loads of scrolling, which leaves more time for spreading the hate!

 

[J.]

no sigs, 25 threads per page, usually open only music related threads with a new tab. read. make a post or none. leave.

 

[Reign in Acai]

Mike, I mean that I browse the main thread page from bottom up. If I were to come in here for the first time in a while, the first thread I'd click would be "How do you you're going to die?", as opposed to "Cravings".

 

[Ars Magna]

Naked.

 

[Matt]

Default settings. Usually scroll down and gaze into the mists of the music threads and then the ot threads. I don't post often but have browsed RC for a fucking long time.

 

[skyrefuge]

Wow, thanks for this!

Even though I've used it for years now, I still pretty much think this type of message board really sucks. I much prefer threaded message board systems (http://pmx2.krose.org for an example). It's so much faster to keep up with everything in a threaded format. There, if people start going off topic, it's visually separated, so I can easily ignore entire subthreads, but in this format, every tangent gets mixed in together. Also, in a threaded system, you can instantly see every post/poster from the main index. Here, I might see "oh, there was new activity in this topic. Let me check it out". So I click on the topic, and 20 seconds later after everyone's pictures and avatars and all that bullshit loads, I'm finally able to scroll down to the bottom of the page, and all that's there is "". FUCK!

So yeah, anything I can do to help myself navigate through this place is great. I had no idea about the "newest first" option. I'm not sure if it will really be helpful at all, but I'm trying it out. I can say that I've already completely confused myself about 5 times already by reading posts in the "wrong" order! But hopefully I'll get used to it soon. So does anyone use the "new posts since last visit" arrows on the left side? It seems like those would sort of negate the need to go "newest first", because it takes you straight to the newest.

Meanwhile, I discovered that I can "upgrade" the posting box to put buttons on it, which is a great help for quoting (I'm a quoting fiend, and that was a huge complaint I was going to whine about in this topic until I just discovered the solution). Oh yeah, and of course I turn the signatures off. And I still have the posts per page at the default (25?) because those can already take long enough to load. Although, now that I think of it, that might something that "newest first" is helpful with, because I can be reading the latest posts while the other junk is still loading.

Neil

 

[skeptik]

I hate threaded systems. :zombie:

 

[Chromatose]

So does anyone use the "new posts since last visit" arrows on the left side? It seems like those would sort of negate the need to go "newest first", because it takes you straight to the newest.

This.

I load up the forum, and then ctrl+click on all the "new posts" arrow things so they open in an array of tabs, and then I go one by one reading from the point it gives me until the end of the thread, then close the tab. After they're all closed and I'm back to the main forum page, I rinse and repeat.

As long as I check the forum often enough that newly posted in threads don't go past page 1 I'm in the clear.

 

[lurch70]

"upgrade" the posting box to put buttons on it

how does this work?

So does anyone use the "new posts since last visit" arrows on the left side?

... never paid attention to them, but thanks! really useful.

 

[Hell Mike]

Naked.

That's assumed

Mike, I mean that I browse the main thread page from bottom up. If I were to come in here for the first time in a while, the first thread I'd click would be "How do you you're going to die?", as opposed to "Cravings".

Ah yeah, me too then.

Wow, thanks for this!

Even though I've used it for years now, I still pretty much think this type of message board really sucks. I much prefer threaded message board systems (http://pmx2.krose.org for an example). It's so much faster to keep up with everything in a threaded format. There, if people start going off topic, it's visually separated, so I can easily ignore entire subthreads, but in this format, every tangent gets mixed in together. Also, in a threaded system, you can instantly see every post/poster from the main index. Here, I might see "oh, there was new activity in this topic. Let me check it out". So I click on the topic, and 20 seconds later after everyone's pictures and avatars and all that bullshit loads, I'm finally able to scroll down to the bottom of the page, and all that's there is "". FUCK!

So yeah, anything I can do to help myself navigate through this place is great. I had no idea about the "newest first" option. I'm not sure if it will really be helpful at all, but I'm trying it out. I can say that I've already completely confused myself about 5 times already by reading posts in the "wrong" order! But hopefully I'll get used to it soon. So does anyone use the "new posts since last visit" arrows on the left side? It seems like those would sort of negate the need to go "newest first", because it takes you straight to the newest.

Meanwhile, I discovered that I can "upgrade" the posting box to put buttons on it, which is a great help for quoting (I'm a quoting fiend, and that was a huge complaint I was going to whine about in this topic until I just discovered the solution). Oh yeah, and of course I turn the signatures off. And I still have the posts per page at the default (25?) because those can already take long enough to load. Although, now that I think of it, that might something that "newest first" is helpful with, because I can be reading the latest posts while the other junk is still loading.

Neil

First, I don't think threaded boards are good when there's more than three to four replies per thread or so - gets huge and annoying and weird to keep track of too fast (Imagine a threaded latest purchases or picture thread in this forum, for example)

The loading time of a thread isn't really an issue for me as I have a new kool komputer and a hi-tek interweb konnektion, and for some reason I don't get annoyed by sigs - sometimes there's even something funny in one! Also, my high resolution (always 1600x1200px) kinda negates the space issue.

The newest first-thing is a hassle at first, but you get used to it real fast - for me the problem is a swedish board I visit that doesn't have the function...

New since last and stuff like that doesn't work well enough for me, I think I fuck it up by having 982347 tabs and doing 238974 things at once.

Oh, and one more thing; I write all the bbcode myself (it's just the occasional italics, pixxx and quotes anyway) since I don't like to move my hand to the mouse more than necessary, just like I use lots of keyboard shortcuts for everything. Probably ergonomical as well but I do it because it's faster and more practical.

 

[General Zod]

Where do you see "latest first"? Looked in User CP, didn't see it.

Zod

 

[Hell Mike]

Where do you see "latest first"? Looked in User CP, didn't see it.

Zod

User CP/Edit Options/Thread Display Options/Thread Display Mode

 

[General Zod]

User CP/Edit Options/Thread Display Options/Thread Display Mode

OK. Thanks.

I have most of it set to defaults, with signatures off.

Zod

 

[Dark One]

I have most of it set to defaults, with signatures off.

Yep, this is what generally works for me. Can't stand sigs.

 

[War Ensemble]

User CP/Edit Options/Thread Display Options/Thread Display Mode

Thanks.

I was wondering where the option to turn off signatures was. Not that I looked that hard for it in the first place

 

[skyrefuge]

how does this work?

User CP->Edit Options->Message Editor Interface (near the bottom)->Standard Editor. Mine was set to Basic Editor. I figured the full WYSIWYG Editor would be more than I needed.

First, I don't think threaded boards are good when there's more than three to four replies per thread or so - gets huge and annoying and weird to keep track of too fast (Imagine a threaded latest purchases or picture thread in this forum, for example)

Yeah, there are certainly things that one format does better than the other, and tradeoffs, but for my priorities, threaded wins. On a threaded board, the latest purchases thread simply wouldn't be a single thread. Every purchase would be a new thread. You wouldn't really lose anything, because there really isn't much connection between all the posts in a topic like that anyway. Or, if you really wanted to, you could make a threaded board that hides old replies once the thread reaches a certain size.

The newest first-thing is a hassle at first, but you get used to it real fast - for me the problem is a swedish board I visit that doesn't have the function...

ha, yeah, that must suck. Because yeah, I'm already used to it. I think I might stick with it, it seems pretty nice. But I think it might not quite work right with the search function or something.

Oh, and one more thing; I write all the bbcode myself (it's just the occasional italics, pixxx and quotes anyway) since I don't like to move my hand to the mouse more than necessary

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same way, quoting is the only thing I really wanted. Because I like to split messages into multiple quotes, and then I need to type seven characters at the beginning and eight at the end of each section, which is a real pain. And since I'm working with blocks of text at that point, that means I'm already using the mouse (or, touchscreen) to highlight, so it's nice to have just one extra click to wrap a block in quotes.

Neil

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Vigorously.