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Preview should count as being read RRS feed

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    Currently, a thread is only marked as read if I go to the single thread view. But often, I just preview a thread, and I am surprised to see later that it is not marked as read. This is confusing, since for me Preview is just a more convenient way of reading a thread.

    I am generally of the opinion that all the features of the single thread view should be migrated to the preview. Right now, I am sure that many users are not going to the single thread view, and so they never have an opportunity to Quote, Edit, Delete, Vote, Mark/Propose as answer, or any of that "good" stuff. In fact they may not even be aware of these features; just recently, in fact, I saw a poster complain that he was not able to Edit his post.

    Having opened the door with Reply on the preview, I feel it is necessary to open it all the way.


    David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP
    Friday, July 11, 2008 12:02 PM

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    Actually, previewing a thread does count as it being read. We don't update immediately, since that would mean if you're using the unread filter, the thread might disappear prematurely. If you find a case where preview is not updating the read status, post the steps/thread to the bugs forum. I just tried on this thread and it seems to work as expected.

    We'll keep thinking about what to add to thread preview. It should stay light weight, but you're right, as more people use it, we do run the risk that they may be missing functionality.

    -Andrew
    Forums Product Planner, Andrew.Brenner at Microsoft.com
    Friday, July 11, 2008 2:24 PM
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    Andrew:

    Thanks. You are right -- previewed posts are marked as read, but not immediately.

    Please consider moving all the posting features to the preview. As more people discover the convenience of replying form the preview, the more likely it is that the other features will be missed. It would be almost like ... NNTP.

    David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP
    Friday, July 11, 2008 8:44 PM
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    David,
    Can you give me your list in priority order of what actions you'd like to see in the preview mode?

    We'll probably never put them all here so it would be a good idea to see the most useful ones that our users would like.
    Sam Jarawan Social Platform Forums - Senior Development Lead
    Monday, July 14, 2008 5:24 PM
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    Hi Sam:

    1. Quote
    2. Edit
    3. Mark as answer
    4. Vote as helpful

    I don't have much use for the other "features", and I think they should be completely removed from the forum interface.

    <aside>
    I also have reservations about Edit, and think it should not be available (anywhere) after the post (or maybe the thread) has been replied to. I could also do without the whole point system, but I know that is here to stay.
    </aside>

    I strongly feel that all the features available in the single thread view should be available in preview (or none of them). Otherwise there will develop a whole subset of users who do not use all the features. And if a feature is not important, it shouldn't be in the interface at all.

    If you are not going to put all the available features in preview, then I think it was a mistake to "open this door" with Reply.

    David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP
    Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:48 AM
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    Thanks Dave for the info.

    We'll investigate putting some of those features on the preview page in future releases.
    Sam Jarawan Social Platform Forums - Senior Development Lead
    Thursday, July 17, 2008 6:06 PM
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    Sam:

    Another thing that I think should be on the preview is the information about who has marked as answer, etc.

    David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP
    Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:31 AM
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    Thanks Dave,

    It appears your wanting pretty much everything moved to preview mode that is available on the thread page.  As I can understand that, we want to keep preview mode light weight so it comes up fast and also not be cluttered with every available option. 

    We'll never get rid of the thread page entirely since that's the page search engines index and usually the main content page users come to from them. 

    The goal is to keep the preview small and fast.  Features like "edit" that don't get used as often are good candidates to stay on the thread page only. 

    I do think the others you have on your list like "Quote", "Mark As Answer" and "Helpful vote" could be useful on the preview page.  We'll probably also add "Expand all" in preview mode as well as it's been asked for in a couple of threads.

    Sam Jarawan Social Platform Forums - Senior Development Lead
    Tuesday, July 22, 2008 5:12 PM
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    Sam:

    OK, I see why you cannot get rid of the thread page. But is there any reason why the preview and thread page should be formatted differently? Duplication of effort.

    [One thing we do not need in either view is the medals...]

    David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP
    Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:27 PM