I have tracked the problem to the fact that the visitors' most recent visit date is no longer being stored as it should. Initially, the visit date was stored in a cookie on the visitor's computer, but browsers (all of them) have been updated several times since the forum software was written, and cookies are considered more of a privacy issue now than they were originally. Consequently, many of your users are probably limiting the types of cookies they accept without even knowing it due to the default settings of most browsers.
Fortunately, your registered members' last login date is also stored in the database entry associated with each member. So I was able to rewrite the code and cause it to look in the database instead of looking for the non-existent cookie value. What this means, however, is that only registered members who are logged in will be able to see the new post indicators, and the new postings that will be so marked will be the postings that have appeared since they last logged it, not since they last anonymously viewed the page.
For non-logged in viewers, their time of last visit will be established when they visit the page currently. Only new postings that occur during their actual visit session will be marked as new.
There's really no who or what to point to - this is just evolution of the web. As more personal information has become available on the web, more people became concerned that their privacy was being violated. Cookies are a way to track a user’s presence on the web; consequently they have been targeted for moderation. The browser producers have responded to pressure from "privacy advocates" and have added default security settings that have impacted the effectiveness of cookies.
That's it in a nutsh*ll. I think the changes I made today are for the best. It might be a good idea to post a message to the forum explaining the changes, and emphasizing the privacy issue. That might head off any further questions from the membership.
Tom
When I scroll down to the bottom of the page it shows the current date & time as my last visit,,,,
Bob
"it's only original once""
This message was edited by BERTHA on 8-5-14 @ 4:59 PM
But what about flags within the body of posts - the reply's?
Although my user name and PW are in the proper fields I still have to 'click' in.
If the red flags can't be fixed, an email for subscribed threads may be a better fix.
8/15/14 3:41pm Hosanna!!!! the little red flags have returned
Bob
"it's only original once""
This message was edited by Bertha on 8-22-14 @ 6:59 AM
"it's only original once""
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