order of posts- Is this a common problem

Posted by: jay2

order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 02:57 AM

I'm a somewhat new poster, watching for a couple of years. And I have been frustrated by the seeming randomness of replies to different postings. Is it just my computer, or are all of the posts out of order? Is there an easy fix that I am not aware of, and if not, is there anything that can be done to put the replies in order of there posting, date and time wise? I think it would be helpful to read the posts in chronilogical order?

I really love this sight, just think I'm doing something wrong?
Posted by: Nicodemus

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 03:17 AM

The posts are listed chronologically from top (newest) to bottom (older) by the time stamp of the last post in the thread. The exception to this are the "Sticky Threads" that are stuck at the top by moderators for informational purposes. By doing this, it keeps "live threads" at the top and lets "dead threads" fall back to successive pages. It seems to be the most logical way to do it, if not, active threads would go further back page-wise as new threads are created, and it would be harder to find active topics. Not to mention that some folks are still on dial-up and it would be a great pain for them to load successive pages, one after the other, in search of active posts.

Posted by: Ponce

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 03:30 AM

Nicodemus/ you are lucky, I can find yesterdays posting in the middle of today's posting and all over the place as with jay 2.
Posted by: OldBaldGuy

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 03:43 AM

What works for me, and it took me a while to figure this out, is go to "My Stuff" at the top of the page, then "My Preferences," then go down to Default Watch Sort and select "Reply Time." Then go to "Topic Display Mode" and select "Threaded Mode." See if that helps...
Posted by: Chisel

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 04:29 AM

Go to

My stuff

My Preferences

Topic Display Mode:

>>> Choose "FLAT mode"

The confusion is most likely because of the "THREADED" mode


Posted by: Nicodemus

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 06:21 AM

As chisel mentioned above, I am also currently running in "Flat Mode" as well, so that posted replies, no matter to whom they are made, appear at the bottom of the thread instead of under the person being responded to directly, and only are shown once I open the thread.

Sorry, I misunderstood the problem. blush

Posted by: el_diabl0

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 12:36 PM

On many forums, you can see the original post and all replies on the same page, in chronological order, without having to click each individual reply. Much easier to handle.
Posted by: ducktapeguy

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 04:03 PM

I agree. I kinda wonder why this particular forum is default to threaded mode, seems like almost every other forum is flat mode. Is there a reason for this? I know I can log in and set my own preferences, but most of the time I just surf and don't want to have to always change each topic to flat mode to read it.
Posted by: lukus

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/15/07 05:33 PM

Thanks. I didn't realize changing to flat mode would fix it. Threaded mode was always my biggest gripe about this site.
Posted by: Susan

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/16/07 04:16 AM

el_diabl0, just do what Chisel suggested above, and every time you visit, it should already be in the flat mode, so you don't have to change it every time, which is certainly a nuisance.

Sue
Posted by: Eugene

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/16/07 11:45 AM

Even in flat mode the "past xx hours" active topics doesn't work as expected, it still only displays the most recent post.
I see why all the threads are getting out of order now since everyone is using the flat mode, people are replying to one part of a thread under another part.
Posted by: jay2

Re: order of posts- Is this a common problem - 05/16/07 02:59 PM

I just switched my stuff settings to flat mode, and in just a few minutes of browsing I can see a huge difference. Thanks all of you, I think that solves my only gripe about this sight!