Threads with Broken "New" Links

[vdeane]

I figured I'd start a thread to collect all the threads that have the problem where the "new" link doesn't go to the first new post but to a couple posts after.  "Minor Things that Bother You" was fixed when Scott split off a bunch of posts from it, but there are a few others that have that issue.  I figured I'd list the ones I can think of below.

Google Maps just fucking SUCKS now
Indiana Notes
USA Toll Transponder Interoperability - 2025 Edition (I think...)

Maybe if we can compile a list of all the affected threads we can finally get this fixed.

[hotdogPi]

I just got a blank page 193 on Random Thoughts.

[Rothman]

I just got a blank page 193 on Random Thoughts.

Yep.  Missed marking the bottom post on 192 as new for me.

[kphoger]

A weird one I had the other day:  one thread got stuck in the list of "unread posts" threads.  No new posts had been made since I last visited, but it still showed up in the list (the list of one).  So I clicked to mark all messages as read, and it was still there.  Did it again, and it was still there.  Did it again, and it was still there.  Now it's not.

[vdeane]

A weird one I had the other day:  one thread got stuck in the list of "unread posts" threads.  No new posts had been made since I last visited, but it still showed up in the list (the list of one).  So I clicked to mark all messages as read, and it was still there.  Did it again, and it was still there.  Did it again, and it was still there.  Now it's not.

I wonder if "creative snipping" was involved.  When Scott split the Minor Things that Bother You thread, I had an indicator showing couple of alerts even though I had no unread alerts.  Getting that notice to go away required vising the alerts page.

[vdeane]

Got a few more:
Corridor H
______ is/are overrated
I-14 in Texas

[Molandfreak]

Could also be posts which were deleted by the user who made them due to factual inaccuracies or other reasons.

[Scott5114]

I-14 in Texas

As far as I can tell, the last time we split posts in that thread was in 2020, so we can probably rule that out as a cause of these. For what it's worth, the new link works perfectly fine for me in that thread.

Could also be posts which were deleted by the user who made them due to factual inaccuracies or other reasons.

This is what I'm leaning toward.

[vdeane]

I-14 in Texas

As far as I can tell, the last time we split posts in that thread was in 2020, so we can probably rule that out as a cause of these. For what it's worth, the new link works perfectly fine for me in that thread.

I'm actually arguing the opposite - that splitting posts fixed the "minor things that bother you" thread.  I'm guessing it forces the forum to recalculate the number of posts in the thread or something.  My theory as for the cause of this is the mass post deletions concerning you know who in the Great Forum Incident.

[Rothman]

I-14 in Texas

As far as I can tell, the last time we split posts in that thread was in 2020, so we can probably rule that out as a cause of these. For what it's worth, the new link works perfectly fine for me in that thread.

I'm actually arguing the opposite - that splitting posts fixed the "minor things that bother you" thread.  I'm guessing it forces the forum to recalculate the number of posts in the thread or something.  My theory as for the cause of this is the mass post deletions concerning you know who in the Great Forum Incident.

If that's the incident I'm thinking of, isn't it too far in the past?

[vdeane]

I-14 in Texas

As far as I can tell, the last time we split posts in that thread was in 2020, so we can probably rule that out as a cause of these. For what it's worth, the new link works perfectly fine for me in that thread.

I'm actually arguing the opposite - that splitting posts fixed the "minor things that bother you" thread.  I'm guessing it forces the forum to recalculate the number of posts in the thread or something.  My theory as for the cause of this is the mass post deletions concerning you know who in the Great Forum Incident.

If that's the incident I'm thinking of, isn't it too far in the past?

I forget - how far back was it?  In any case, most of the affected threads have been around for a while.

One interesting thing I've noticed is that the bug doesn't appear if there's only one new post unless it goes to a non-existent page.

[Voyager]

I-14 in Texas

As far as I can tell, the last time we split posts in that thread was in 2020, so we can probably rule that out as a cause of these. For what it's worth, the new link works perfectly fine for me in that thread.

I'm actually arguing the opposite - that splitting posts fixed the "minor things that bother you" thread.  I'm guessing it forces the forum to recalculate the number of posts in the thread or something.  My theory as for the cause of this is the mass post deletions concerning you know who in the Great Forum Incident.

If that's the incident I'm thinking of, isn't it too far in the past?

I wonder if it is *that* incident, I know Alex had to mess with some backend stuff to revive me, which may have caused some of those issues.

[vdeane]

I-14 in Texas

As far as I can tell, the last time we split posts in that thread was in 2020, so we can probably rule that out as a cause of these. For what it's worth, the new link works perfectly fine for me in that thread.

I'm actually arguing the opposite - that splitting posts fixed the "minor things that bother you" thread.  I'm guessing it forces the forum to recalculate the number of posts in the thread or something.  My theory as for the cause of this is the mass post deletions concerning you know who in the Great Forum Incident.

If that's the incident I'm thinking of, isn't it too far in the past?

I wonder if it is *that* incident, I know Alex had to mess with some backend stuff to revive me, which may have caused some of those issues.

Maybe, though I was thinking of the one where a user (IIRC a banned one) requested that all their posts be deleted, and when that was denied, claimed copyright protection and filed a DMCA takedown notice with the web host.  That resulted in a manual deletion via the database, which broke the forum and required several days of repair work before the staff could get things operational again.

[hotdogPi]

The XY Challenge thread has a backward jump, and I believe it was created after the incident mentioned above.

[vdeane]

I just had something weird happen; while I normally don't worry about this glitch when clicking posts directly on the "recent posts" view, today I clicked on one from the Random Thoughts thread and it still took me to a blank page.  Checking again, it's bringing me to the most recent post if I click on any of the last three.  So this glitch doesn't just affect the "new" button - it affects everything where you're going to a specific post.  I definitely think these threads have some kind of issue where the forum database thinks they have more posts than they actually do.

[kendancy66]

My issue that occurs when I right click and select open new tab.  In the new tab I always see the first post of the page on the "new" tab.  Then about (20 seconds?) later the focus then goes to the first "new post" on that page.  I am attributing that to slow internet, and believe only be corrected with a faster connection

[CoreySamson]

I got the blank page too:



Interestingly, if I click off the page without going to page 26, the thread still shows up in my Updated Topics.

[vdeane]

Interestingly, if I click off the page without going to page 26, the thread still shows up in my Updated Topics.

I presume because you haven't seen any new post(s) when you get stuck on the blank page.

[hotdogPi]

I got a "new" button to https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=36876.msg3026499;topicseen#new, which was only created a few days ago. 3026499 isn't even in that thread.

[1995hoo]

I got a "new" button for the Random Thoughts thread, which the forum was showing as 99 pages. I tapped the button and got a blank page. Went back to page 98 and saw several new posts there. Then I tapped the link to go back to the "Off-Topic" board and now it shows the thread as having 98 pages. Weird.

[Rothman]

I got a "new" button for the Random Thoughts thread, which the forum was showing as 99 pages. I tapped the button and got a blank page. Went back to page 98 and saw several new posts there. Then I tapped the link to go back to the "Off-Topic" board and now it shows the thread as having 98 pages. Weird.

That's been happening quite often.  If the last new message is on the very bottom of the page, you get sent to a blank page of the next page.

[vdeane]

Minor Things that Bother You has started acting up again.  And Most pretensious highway designations also exhibits the problem.

[kphoger]

I've started noticing that the [New] button takes me to either an older or a newer post than the actual newest unread post.  Just occasionally, but often enough for me to have taken notice.  A couple of times, it's been off by three or four posts.

[Scott5114]

I've started noticing that the [New] button takes me to either an older or a newer post than the actual newest unread post.  Just occasionally, but often enough for me to have taken notice.  A couple of times, it's been off by three or four posts.

Presumably, what's happening when the "new" link brings you to a blank page is that it's bringing you to a post that is so new it hasn't been made yet.

[hotdogPi]

It seems like the post number it tries to bring you to is always one that isn't in the thread, so it just gives you the closest post to that number.