New message indicator

You've probably noticed that the new message indicator (the orange text that highlights categories containing new posts) here in the forums hasn't been very reliable. That is my biggest gripe with the forum package used here, and it surprises me that it seems like a lower priority item for the forum developers (but hey, it's a free package, so I can't complain).

That being said, I think you should see some improvement. There is a hack (not developed by me) that I've applied to the forum, that is based on session cookies. I think it should have the following effect:

1) The new message indicator will work properly so long as you use the same browser on the same computer.

2) Since the indicator is tied to cookies in your browser, it won't work properly when you switch computers (unless you browse with Firefox and use one of the extensions which automatically syncs cookies across computers). However, when you use a new browser, only messages that are 6 hours or newer will show up as "new."


A database solution, as opposed to a cookies solution, will be needed to get this working 100% properly, and that will need to come from the developer.

If you're wondering why we don't just use different forums, this forum package is the only one that integrates natively with the CMS the site uses. Any other forum package would require a "bridge" to avoid needing you to login to the site and forums separately.