Timeout for Cookie option help

**MCpeaK** · Sat 26 May '01, 1:14am

i have had an logout problem some time ago, maybe it is fixed in the final

**Vinnie** · Sat 26 May '01, 6:17am

Yes, problem

I had the same problem.

Developers - correct me if I'm wrong here.

My understanding of how the read/unread messages work is that it is tied to both the 'session' entry in the database, and a timestamp of the last read message in the user record.

Unfortunately, the "Currently Active" user display is tied into the session record, so changing the timeout on the cookie also affects how long a user has to remain inactive to disappear from the "Currently Active" display.

The scheme that vBulletin uses for read/unread messages has some serious shortcomings with respect to new message management, however the trade-off is one of speed (I think). In other words it should be very fast and scale well.

**blade** · Sat 26 May '01, 7:01am

I tried various changes and like Vinnie said it effects the users online showing or not.

That's too bad. There should be a way to keep read threads and links the changed color without losing that after one is logged out. This way defeats the benefits when one comes back looking for their old threads they posted in.

Is there anyway to correct this and make it work like in the other versions of vb, you vb guys?

**Vinnie** · Sat 26 May '01, 7:08am

What?

You mean older versions had a better scheme?

**blade** · Sat 26 May '01, 7:41am

v2 is far better overall but there are a few things I wish they incorporated into this version from the older ones. And yes, the older versions kept read threads and links the color you chose for that no matter if you came back the next day or week. This one changes them all back to default and that really defeats the purpose, imo.

I hope there is a way to correct this.

Also you can't change individual forum logos as easy as you could before. Weird that option was also taken away.

But again, v2 is far far better overall. The admin panel in 10x better. Just more complicated.

**Vinnie** · Sat 26 May '01, 8:08am

vB Developers? Anyone?

If versions prior to 2.0 had better management for read/unread threads, that implies that the database structure is (or was) equipped to handle it.

Is this not the case anymore?

How hard would it be to incoporate vB 1.x unread message handling scheme?

This is a major issue for me and my users. I put up with it only because I have no choice, and the rich robust feature set of vB ALMOST makes up for it (but not quite).

I would imagine everyone else feels the same way - thoughts?

**Mike Sullivan** · Sat 26 May '01, 8:43am

The system is exactly how it worked in 1.1.x.

The fact that visited threads had a different color has nothing to do with vB -- it's the HTML vlink attribute in the <body> tag.

**blade** · Sat 26 May '01, 8:49am

How exactly would that be corrected then? Right now if one is logged out or not active for a while all links go back to the default color. What would we change to correct this please, or what are we doing wrong?

I have it(vlink) set to the color I want visited links to be but then after one isn't active it goes back to the default link color. thanks

**Wayne Luke** · Sat 26 May '01, 9:39am

Originally posted by blade
How exactly would that be corrected then? Right now if one is logged out or not active for a while all links go back to the default color. What would we change to correct this please, or what are we doing wrong?

I have it(vlink) set to the color I want visited links to be but then after one isn't active it goes back to the default link color. thanks

Make sure the "Browse with Cookies" option is set to yes so that the sessionhash variable is not inserted into the URL.

Every time you visit a vBulletin forum you will be assigned a new sessionhash. If this is in the URL, then you have never visited that link before as far as the end-user's browser is concerned.

The browser is what controls the color of the links, not the server.

**jookido** · Sat 26 May '01, 1:32pm

Originally posted by Ed Sullivan
The system is exactly how it worked in 1.1.x.

The fact that visited threads had a different color has nothing to do with vB -- it's the HTML vlink attribute in the <body> tag.

I think the issue here is that the "New" status of the message disappears (i.e. the icon changes) when the cookie times out even though the visitor never read the message.

Let's say I visit the board and there are 10 new threads/posts. I start reading and only make it to the 2nd thread before I have to leave. Now when I come back later that day, those 8 "new" threads that I didn't get a chance to read are now no longer "New" and I'm stuck sifting through the post to see what's new to me.

Project that scenario to a large board, and you have no idea what's new to you or not - you only see what's new since your last visit even if you spent 5 seconds on the board during that visit.

IMHO, ideally the "new" indicator would remain indefinitely if the visitor has not read the thread (or there is a new post in the thread). Users can then click on "Mark all messages read" when they're done reading to reset the "new" indicators.

I would be nice to have the choice between the current method and the method described.

**tubedogg** · Sat 26 May '01, 1:46pm

The method described would be impossible. It would create a new record for every thread created for every user.

So let's say you have 50000 threads and 2500 users. 50000*2500 is 125,000,000 (125 million). The strain on your server would fry it in a second.

Trust me, it's not going to happen.

**blade** · Sat 26 May '01, 1:47pm

wluke, thanks.

That seems to be working keeping the links the vlink color. But now this is real weird. When enabling that option it then doesn't show my logo at top. I tried it on another name and had some more try it to and eith all when enabling that option it gets doesn't show the main logo. Huh!!!??

Log out then the logo is back. The logo isn't linked to anything so I am clueless why this is happening. Any ideas?

**Vinnie** · Sat 26 May '01, 2:13pm

Another way

Originally posted by tubedogg
The method described would be impossible. It would create a new record for every thread created for every user.

Not necessarily. There could be one row per forum per user, with a single timestamp value indicating the date of the most recent post viewed in that forum by the user.

This would solve the problem of persistence of the unread status being dependent on the session.

But what do I know!

**tubedogg** · Sat 26 May '01, 2:20pm

This wouldn't work for a number of reasons.

First, what if the user skips around while reading? Maybe they don't read in any particular order, so the date cutoff wouldn't work.
Second, if the user starts at the top of the list and works down (as most do), the first post they read sets the date cutoff - any posts that are older than that wouldn't be kept as unread.
Third, what if there are like 200 forums (as there are at some boards)? That's 200*number of users, which if there are 200 forums you can imagine is a large number of users. Let's say 30000 users - 200*30000 is 6,000,000 (6 million) records.

Timeout for Cookie option help

Timeout for Cookie option help

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