I'm about to roll out new code for how read messages are tracked. The code will initially be used by those with Sysop, or higher, flags. Other users will see no change. If the test works out ok for Sysops then I'll roll out for everyone.

What the new code does is allow you to ReadAllNew messages and only the messages you read are updated as read. No more reliance on the the old high message counter system.

So, if you go to a forum and there are 50 new messages waiting and you use the ReadAllNew link to read them, you can stop reading after the the first message or the fifth message or the 49th message, close the browser, reopen the browser and all the messages you did not read before closing the browser will be in the display for all new messages when you return.

You will probably be surprised initially after roll out to see that you have 200 unread messages on the ReadAllNew Link. Can't be avoided on the initial visit after the rollout. Regular users probably won't encounter this if I wait a week or so to turn on the new feature for them because even though they don't see the new feature I'm populating the database with the numbers of messages they read.

If you see the 200 new messages initially, I suggest you read new messages via the individual sections and when done click on the mark all as read link.

The old code had a limit of showing only the most recent 500 new messages as new. If a user didn't visit a forum for a period of time and 1000 new messages were posted, the user would see only 500 of those 1000 as new when returning to the forum.

The new code works in a similar way, except I've set the number to 200 for testing. Thus a sysop should check into the message board frequently, once a day or once every other day should be sufficient to not miss messages.

However, the discussion home page has a drop-down for reading all messages posted in all sections or a specific section in the last x days. The drop-down allows reading all posted from 1 to 30 days. This way of reading insures you have a quick way to read all posts, even if you are away from the forum for up to a month.