Feature request: new activity link on Recent Activity page November 25, 2007 3:52 PM   Subscribe

I wanna pony: Could the Recent Activity page include a link to the new activity in a thread?

I use the Recent Activity page to follow the threads in which I have posted. But a fast-moving thread (like this one) will quickly leapfrog way past the 10 active posts shown on the Recent Activity page. To get to the posts I haven't seen, I have to go to the main page, find the thread which might be buried several pages deep, then click on the (x new) link. Hardly impossible, but it takes an extra few clicks, and some thinking, which I know full well the web was invented to help us avoid having to do.

So: would it be possible to add on the Recent Activity page (perhaps over on the left, under or next to "posted by so-and-so"?) a copy of the "x comments / y new" links that on the main MeFi, AskMe, etc pages come right after the time stamp?
posted by Forktine to Feature Requests at 3:52 PM (5 comments total)

I'd add it, except that the (x new) isn't exact enough to work in the way you want. It's a rough measure based on your last visit, and frequently doesn't reset itself if you hit the site more than a couple times an hour.

So I'd hesitate to add something that isn't reliable since I think it'd annoy more than it'd help in the end.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:18 PM on November 25, 2007


What I tend to do is click through to the first comment listed among the more-than-ten-new comments on the Recent Activity page, and then scroll back up from there to about where I left off. Saves you the trip to the front page and the search, and (usually) it's faster to work up to where you left off from the bottom than to work down from the top.

That's based on fairly frequent (but just not frequent enough) checking in on threads, though—if you only look at the RA tab once a day or whatever, that might not hold.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:45 PM on November 25, 2007


What I tend to do is click through to the first comment listed among the more-than-ten-new comments on the Recent Activity page, and then scroll back up from there to about where I left off.

Yeah, I do that, too -- but with the really fast-moving ones (like the one I linked) that isn't easy. And really, I'm lazy, and having a one-click solution is easier than clicking and scrolling and scanning for a memorable post.

I'd add it, except that the (x new) isn't exact enough to work in the way you want. It's a rough measure based on your last visit, and frequently doesn't reset itself if you hit the site more than a couple times an hour.

For me, with the (in)frequency of my visits, the (x new) link on the main pages works great, so having it on the Recent Activity page would be helpful. But if my usage isn't typical, then I totally understand how this could create a lot more complaining users than it would happy people like me.

Another possibility: could the (x new) be added to the top of a thread page (like the one I linked), maybe right after the "x comments total" and before the "add to favorites link"? Then all I would have to do is click on the thread title in the Recent Activity page, click on (x new), and ta-dah I'm down where I want to be.
posted by Forktine at 4:57 PM on November 25, 2007


I hate the Recent Activity page just for the reason you've mentioned. But what'd you do for a catching a up with a thread?
I just bookmark the last comment I've read in the browser and come back to that bookmark when I'm ready. It's a little awkward but useful for determining my own stop and start points in long threads.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:14 PM on November 25, 2007


Yea, with that long one I started just favoriting the last comment I read, then I'd unfavorite and continue reading when I came back. It's like using favorites as...bookmarks!
posted by jacalata at 9:06 PM on November 25, 2007


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