Alicornutopia

This was apropos of a conversation I had with Throne on Discord a couple weeks ago.

And no, it always seems to go to the first reply on the page, even if I've (a) hit an anchor already or (b) loaded it with a Next link so there shouldn't be any anchor involved.

Edit: maybe not, no longer sure

Tangentially, is there a reason for the special unread URLs instead of the unread page generating links to the specific page? I would mildly prefer the latter.

Yes, it's so people can just refresh the page and automatically be looking at the most recent unread.

It's also a significant performance improvement - means I don't have to calculate where unread is until you actually try to go there, unlike trying to load it for every single post in the list at once.

Yes, it's so people can just refresh the page and automatically be looking at the most recent unread.

That's exactly the part I don't want. I want refreshing to give me "updated view of this page" not "the next page! surprise!"

But, yes, the other way is … reasonable.

It's also a significant performance improvement - means I don't have to calculate where unread is until you actually try to go there, unlike trying to load it for every single post in the list at once.

The unread list is already displaying the number of posts and the number of unread posts. That implies you already have all the necessary information and don't need any additional queries, no?

The unread list isn't the only place with unread links, iirc, they show up in a bunch of places. And even if it's not more database queries to calculate all those links, it's still more computation.

Also you do in fact need additional queries because a given reply's number isn't a function of how many posts a thread has, it's a unique universal number across all replies of all threads.

I have the information but I'm mostly doing COUNT(x) queries to the database; so I know the number but I haven't actually loaded the objects themselves. (See also: memory concerns.)

If I have a page on unread and want to refresh it for more replies I just click a tag permalink.

MaggieoftheOwls wrote:If I have a page on unread and want to refresh it for more replies I just click a tag permalink.

I really do object to having to use a workaround because a website has decided to co-opt the button that's supposed to do the thing I want to do something else instead, though. Like, I'll live with it, see how I haven't been complaining, but.