Is there a way to list only threads I want to keep up with?

As far as I have been able to figure, I have the main page which display games and forums (but not threads), and then there is a sticky list which shows the exact same stuff but in a more confusing format.

Am I missing something, or is there no way to see a quick list of threads I want to follow.

I ask cause I find it annoying to have to sort out which threads I posted in, because I forget sometimes which thread I posted or read, and sometimes the thread just gets lost in all the other threads I don't care about.

Best way is to make your own list somewhere, listing the links to the threads you want to follow. There is no easy way RPOL wise to only look at certain threads. I would mention that you can sort by group but if the threads are all in different groups that doesn't really solve the problem.

You can also try to work something out with the GM, I have had someone do that before wanting only stuff they were in being put into one group. But I wasn't willing to do that, as it would complicate the set up we have going group wise and really if you cannot handle not clicking every time it turns red then you might need to do a solo game yourself.

The worst part of an idea like that is missing any new threads that might come up for you to participate in.

The sticky list simply mirrors the main page, but in a way which is less obtrusive, for those who might not want people around them to know they are monitoring RPoL.

As prophacyks said, the only information which is available to either list is is

The last time you checked the game.
The last time there was a post in the game.

If the latter is more recent than the former, then the indicator is triggered.

Checking individual threads requires the system to keep track of additional information, such as whether or not you are part of a group that can see the thread, when you last checked that thread, and whether there have been new messages in the thread.  All of that information is stored inside the game, which means the system needs to open every game on your list and check it.  And still it has no way to tell whether you're interested in thread A, or thread B.

I am not talking about games though, only threads in the forums, as in the open public areas, like community chat, players/gms wanted, etc. The public stuff which gets a bazillion threads I don't care about for every thread I actually want to see.

Games don't need this much as any post in a game is likely something I want to see regardless of which thread it may be in.

It is a pain to slog through the public forums looking for particular threads, not so much a game (usually).

While it may be fun to explore the threads in the public forums, I generally want to see the ones I'm participating/watching first, particularly if I don't much time to look around.

(I am not debating the sticky list thing. Makes no sense to me, no even the "doesn't look like rpol" argument, but in any case it still doesn't help.)
This message was last edited by the user at 14:06, Sun 06 July 2014.

If you can remember what the thread was called (even just a single word), or who started it, you can use the Search function at the bottom left of every page in a forum to find it.

Two things,

First, that means remembering each and every thread I want to check.

Second, that means having to check each thread individually just to see if it is updated, rather then seeing a list and checking just the ones that have responses.

Or you could just look at the right hand column in the search results, which will tell you when the most recent post was made.  No need to open any threads at all.

Unfortunately the forums run into the same issue as the games - information on which threads you have, and haven't, read since their last post is stored only inside the forums, which means a massive (and unacceptable) increase in server load as the site would need to open and check the threads in every forum, for every user, every time they refreshed the main page.

So your only recourse is opening the forum to check the first few threads for the ones you want when you notice that the indicator is on, or use the Search function.

Edit: If you think you might want to track a thread, you can also put a link to it in a game Scratchpad.  View the Scratchpad as a game message, and you can just click on the links to go straight to the threads.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:59, Sun 06 July 2014.

Why check every thread?

A user can simply have list of threads they desire to follow, and only those threads would need to be checked.

Additionally, if that list has the last time it was checked, then the server only needs to compare that timestamp to the current final post time for that thread. It doesn't even have to check how many new posts or which posts are new until the user actually clicks on new posts link.

The system still has to open the forums up and check the selected threads for new posts every time the list is refreshed.  That information is not stored anywhere outside the forum.

And that still increases the load on the server dramatically over, for example, the user checking the forum manually and looking at any threads with a new post indicator, then clicking the "Mark All as Read" button if none of them are of interest.  And, generally, the threads with new posts are on the first page.  So there isn't really any need for the system to be checking some thread twenty pages back every few minutes - if it gets a new post, it moves to the front page.

It only needs to check when I hit refresh, and it only needs to check threads that have updated since the last check. This spot can be easily quickened by looking only at the most recent update times.

The server has to do more work just to show up all the pages involved. When it shows the list of threads it a forum it is doing one of two things,

A, it is checking every thread, ordering them based on last post time, then displaying selected segment of list,

Or, B, the server maintains a list for each forum and reorders the list when a thread is updated (this is of course the smart way)

So either way, checking a small set of specific threads takes a smaller toll on the server then checking each forum and pulling up all the info on each of them.

Assuming method B, checking the list of each forum only needs to go back until the checker hits threads that are older then the most recent check done by the user, the rest of the list remains unchecked. This ia usually faster, because the info to display threads isn't be grabbed for every thread checked, and often times, the number of threads checked will be fewer then need to be checked just to display the first page of the forum.

Sorry, didn't realise that you would be the only person using this feature.  Multiply the server load by however many other people are using it.


And it can only find that information by opening up the forum.  The information about thread updates is stored in the forum, and is not accessible without looking inside.


No, it only has to check one page at a time.  And usually threads with new posts are on the first page.

Note that B works pretty much the way the system works now.  You open the forum (allowing the server to check the threads) and it puts a new message indicator on any thread that has been updated since you last checked.

The difference is that your method requires the forum to be opened every time the user updates his list of threads, then again when he wants to actually read the threads.

The current method requires the forum to be opened once, when the user wants to look at the threads, and performs the check for new posts at the same time.

You make it sound like simply opening a new forum is a big server load, but I don't see why that should be. Even if forum is a different database, I don't see why it would be much of problem.

Besides, I seem to have mistyped. What I meant was when loading a page that displays threads from a forum, the server has to check a bunch of threads (25 I think), but for my method it would almost always be fewer than that, thus it would take less then opening the whole page, additionally, it takes even less than that because it doesn't have to load all the additional information (such as author, name, last post author, etc) except for the specific threads it is looking for, where-as the normal forum page has to load all that info for all 25 threads on the main page regardless of whether they are relevant or not.

Opening one forum, once, isn't much of a problem.  Opening all of them, every time a list of threads is refreshed, would be.

Edit: Incidentally, as well of the suggestions given above, such as keeping links to the threads, you can use your User Preferences to set up feeds and email notifications.
This message was last edited by the user at 05:09, Tue 08 July 2014.

Doesn't need to open all of them, only the ones containing threads on the user's list.

Alternatively, each thread can keep a list of followers, then can update the sticky list of those followers whenever the thread is updated. Would be faster (and without any thread checking to produce the sticky list) but would take a bit more memory.

As for feeds, I have never heard of them and have no idea what those are, so I'll do research on them.