Still getting used to the new format. Can someone explain the difference between Latest, New, and Unread? I think I know but when I think I got it, I see stuff that makes me question my understanding of it. Thanks!
@rovster -some day weâre going to meet and Iâm going to buy you a beer. This is about the 15th time youâve posted a question that I was trying to work through myself.
Iâve been scratching my head over this too. What I HAVE figured out is that:
- New - youâve never read or responded to the thread at all
- Unread - of the threads youâve responded to, these have posts you havenât read
- Latest - I assumed these are the latest threads with responses, whether or not youâve responded to them . . .but that doesnât seem to be the case.
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LOL Iâll gladly accept the offer! As they say there no such thing as a stupid question.
Thatâs kind of how I understand it but for some reason with all the overlap it getâs confusing. Currently using all 3 wish there was a way to filter them. Itâs a little busy for my ADD.
Maybe this is something that can be refined over time. I know this place is new and I really appreciate all the effort that has gone into making it and I donât want to sound like Iâm complaining about anything but for some reason Iâm having trouble âgetting itâ. Itâs also possible Iâm dumber than I think I amđ¤Ł
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Latest
Definition:
Shows all topics ordered by their most recent activityâreplies, edits, likes, etc.
How it works:
- Displays the freshest activity across all categories you have access to.
- Includes both topics youâve read and unread ones.
- Stickied topics (if any) are usually pinned to the top.
Use case:
Good for getting a broad snapshot of everything happening right now across the forum.
Unread (1)
Definition:
Shows topics that have new replies in discussions youâre either:
- Tracking
- Watching
- Participated in
âŚand havenât caught up on yet.
How it works:
- The number in parentheses (e.g., Unread (1)) indicates how many tracked topics have new activity.
- A topic appears here only if:
- You previously opened it
- Youâre tracking or watching it (automatically or manually)
- Once you read all new replies in a topic, it disappears from this view.
Use case:
Ideal for continuing conversations youâre invested inâlike replies to your posts or threads youâve bookmarked or followed.
Hot
Definition:
Displays topics that are currently trending, based on multiple activity signals.
How it works:
- âHotnessâ is calculated by a combination of:
- Number of replies
- Speed and frequency of replies
- Likes, bookmarks, and views
- How recently it was created
- Some forums might call this Top, Trending, or have a custom âHotâ tab enabled via plugins.
Use case:
Great for surfacing buzzy, high-engagement topics even if youâre not tracking or watching them.
Bookmarks
Definition:
Shows all the topics (or even individual posts) youâve explicitly bookmarked.
How it works:
- You can bookmark any post by clicking the bookmark icon.
- Optionally, you can set reminders or notes for each bookmark.
- These remain listed here until you remove them manually.
- Bookmarks are private to your account.
Use case:
Use this to organize important references, follow up on threads, or save something for later.
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Left out âNewâ. Whatâs the official
Definition of that one?
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Sorry, correct I did⌠DOH!
New
Definition:
New topics are ones you havenât opened yet and were created recentlyâsince your last visit or in a user-defined time window.
How it works:
- By default, a topic appears in the New tab if:
- It was created in the last two days or
- You havenât opened it before and itâs within the time window you set under
User Preferences â Tracking.
- This tab filters out all previously viewed topics.
Use case:
Perfect for staying on top of brand-new discussions that you might want to jump into early.
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@rovster Iâve been trying to understand it myself..lol
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Iâm totally confused 
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Youâre not the only one trying to figure out new format. (Not a complaint at all, Iâm more than tickled every time I log in that a bunch of like minded folks moved in short order to a format that was stood up in record time to give a new home from a site run by a bunch of Asxxoles).
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Thanks for the feedback and absolutely ask questions! Weâre all learning this together.
Imagine learning not only the UX/UI but also all the backend to stand this place up in 5 days⌠LOL 
I spent no joke almost 18 hours the first day â just ask my wife â reading and researching every forum software solution I could find out there. In the end with all its good points and some warts, I found this software, discourse.org, to be the best package for our community.
I knew it would be a departure from what the olâ MS crew were use to, this was partially done on purpose but also because discourse has a massive open source community with tons of support and help. Also because it gives SkiffHQ control of what is installed, or better yet NOT installed on it.
Weâll all get use to this new UX and I know itâll flourish and grow, not because of what we @Zika @DBStoots @Smackdaddy53 @JCDesigns did, but because of YOU!
Cheers!
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We like it @iMacattack , just trying to figure it out! Nice work and we all appreciate the effort!
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I think you guys are doing an outstanding jobđ
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Yeah appreciate you guys just getting used to new format thatâs all.
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This is where I am seeing inconsistencies. I have found two posts now that I never knew existed by stumbling upon them.
They did not show up in New or Hot.
One topic about âBucket list destinationsâ had over 300 views and 59 replies that never showed up for me. I check New and Hot each time when I visit the site. It appeared at the bottom of another post as a related topic, but not in my New or Hot list.
So I went back to Hot to see if it was there. It was not. I had to search on âBucketâ to find it.
And I scrolled through the topics in these sections and scan - I see more of the same stuff that has less activity than that post.
There is definitely inconsistencies with how posts are showing up.
Another piece of feedback related to this - I did not want to combine this into my previous comment since they are separate, but related.
I understand Unread, although I do have an issue that if you reply, or go to reply and decide not to, it automatically puts the topic as Tracked. I change this Normal to only be notified of direct replies or mentions. Iâd prefer to have a preference where I can set my default - I donât want to track everything I respond to. Tracked by default is more like âFollow this threadâ from the older site. Normal should be a choice, or the default.
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Awesome, thank you. I looked around and guess I missed it. Hopefully this post is helpful for others.
The first preference on the screenshot âConsider topics new whenâ could also be helpful for some people. Maybe that is how I am missing some topics pass by.
I changed this to âCreated since I was here lastâ and see how that works.
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Awesome, absolutely give us some feedback on if this fixes your experience! Thanks. Cheers
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