Forum quirks

[EVRider-FL]

I started using these forums recently, when Tesla booted us from their forums. I'm still learning my way around, but I've seen a couple of quirks that I reported in a different thread. That didn't go anywhere, so I'm reporting them again here.

First quirk:

I'm using the "New posts" view with some filters to browse the forum. Sometimes I use my Mac to browse, other times I use my iPad. Depending on which device I use, I see different content, even though I'm logged in and using the same settings in both places. I refreshed the browser on both devices to make sure I'm looking at the latest content.

When I first reported the issue, I attached the following screenshots to show what I'm talking about -- the first from the Mac, the second from the iPad, taken at the same time. I've changed my filters since then, but the problem remains.

Second quirk:

In the screenshot below, there’s a separator that says the following threads have not been updated since my last visit. However, for some of those threads, the most recent post was definitely after my last visit. For example, my previous visit was the day before this screenshot was taken, but some of those threads were updated earlier the same day. Is this a bug or am I misunderstanding how this feature works?

Thanks for your help!

 

[danny]

Thanks for letting us know. Anyone else having these types of issues?

 

[EVRider-FL]

I noticed something else that might explain the first problem. I usually keep a browser tab open on the New Posts view. If I touch the 1 to go to the first page, it doesn’t appear to completely refresh the page, even if refresh the browser. The list of topics appears in more of less the same order, but the the latest reply times are updated. Now if select New Posts from the What’s New menu, I see a completely different list of topics on page 1.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Another unrelated quirk, this one on iOS only. As I'm typing text in a forum post (on an iPad), iOS lists possible words that I might be typing, so I can select one rather than typing it out. This is normal iOS behavior.

What often happens when I select a word from the list is that iOS truncates the word when putting it in the text box. For example, contractions with an apostrophe might be truncated after the apostrophe. Other words lose their last letter or two. I would expect that text handling and substitution is a standard iOS service that works the same everywhere, but this truncation issue only occurs when I'm using TMC forums. Anyone else seeing this?

 

[HankLloydRight]

wasn’t don’t they’re can’t won’t isn’t

that’s working for me on iOS.

 

[EVRider-FL]

wasn’t don’t they’re can’t won’t isn’t

that’s working for me on iOS.

Thanks for checking. It doesn't happen to me all the time, which makes it more puzzling, but it does happen often. I'm running iOS 14.4.2 on an iPad pro. I always type in landscape mode, which might make a difference.

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm using the "New posts" view with some filters to browse the forum. Sometimes I use my Mac to browse, other times I use my iPad. Depending on which device I use, I see different content, even though I'm logged in and using the same settings in both places. I refreshed the browser on both devices to make sure I'm looking at the latest content.

I noticed something else that might explain the first problem. I usually keep a browser tab open on the New Posts view. If I touch the 1 to go to the first page, it doesn’t appear to completely refresh the page, even if refresh the browser. The list of topics appears in more of less the same order, but the the latest reply times are updated. Now if select New Posts from the What’s New menu, I see a completely different list of topics on page 1.

Yeah, when you go to the "New Posts" page it creates a snapshot of the new posts at that point so that you can page through them and the list doesn't change. Just clicking refresh just updates the status on those posts.

So if you want to see the same posts in two different browsers you have to actually click the "New Posts" link at the same time. Which creates a new, current, snapshot. (You will notice that the URL includes the snapshot ID.)

Second quirk:

In the screenshot below, there’s a separator that says the following threads have not been updated since my last visit. However, for some of those threads, the most recent post was definitely after my last visit. For example, my previous visit was the day before this screenshot was taken, but some of those threads were updated earlier the same day. Is this a bug or am I misunderstanding how this feature works?

This is probably the same issue. Are you refreshing the page to get a current list? If so, then that just updates the status of the posts in the snapshot. (But maintains the same order even if posts are updated.) If you click "New Posts" you should get a complete updated list that is re-sorted.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Thanks, that explains both issues. That's not how I would expect a browser refresh to work, but now I know.

 

[MP3Mike]

Thanks, that explains both issues. That's not how I would expect a browser refresh to work, but now I know.

Maybe it helps to think of clicking on the "New Posts" as a running a query. It returns a set of results that you can then page through, and those results, and their order, won't change until you run a new query. If it didn't do that you would likely miss things, as when you go to page 2 the threads that would have been on that page may have been updated and moved to page 1. (There would be no way to go through the pages without threads moving around.)

 

[EVRider-FL]

Maybe it helps to think of clicking on the "New Posts" as a running a query. It returns a set of results that you can then page through, and those results, and their order, won't change until you run a new query. If it didn't do that you would likely miss things, as when you go to page 2 the threads that would have been on that page may have been updated and moved to page 1. (There would be no way to go through the pages without threads moving around.)

I'm coming from the Tesla forums, which behaved differently. Doing a browser refresh there would refresh all the content on a page, and topics would move from one page to another as they were updated, but that's the behavior I expected. I can see the value in how TMC does it, it's just something I have to get used to.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Another unrelated quirk, this one on iOS only. As I'm typing text in a forum post (on an iPad), iOS lists possible words that I might be typing, so I can select one rather than typing it out. This is normal iOS behavior.

What often happens when I select a word from the list is that iOS truncates the word when putting it in the text box. For example, contractions with an apostrophe might be truncated after the apostrophe. Other words lose their last letter or two. I would expect that text handling and substitution is a standard iOS service that works the same everywhere, but this truncation issue only occurs when I'm using TMC forums. Anyone else seeing this?

I posted the above a year ago, and it’s still happening today. I’ve had many iOS updates in that time, and TMC has had some design changes, but the problem persists. It’s very annoying, and it only happens on this site. Am I really the only one seeing this behavior?