How to: First unread, Managed Content, and Activity Streams

[lighthousemom]

I always had a list of my threads bookmarked, and the ones with unread messages were at the top in bold. Had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to get to that place with the new boards. So to save you time……

1. Log in to Cruise Critic (duh)

First of all, figure out how you want your notifications. I don’t like getting emails telling me when someone posts, and now you can also have something popup to tell you when someone posts. No thanks!

2. On the right, you’ll see a bell, an envelope and your user name

3. Click on the bell and a new sub-menu will open.  Click on Notification Settings and a new window will open up.

         Under Automatically follow content, I checked off both Automatically follow new content I post, and Automatically follow content I reply to.

         Under Method to use for content I follow automatically, I checked off do not send me notifications.

         Under Notification preferences, I checked off Show popup window when I receive a new personal message.

         Save your selections.

AFTER you click on Save, scroll down and there are a whole bunch of other selections to be made about receiving notifications or email. Seems like doing everything twice, but I still went ahead and turned everything OFF. Then there’s another Save button to hit!

4. The envelope icon is for messaging and is not yet working.

5. Click on your user name and a new sub-menu will open. Click on Manage Followed Content and a new window will open up.

         You can set your preferences for how often you want to be notified by email of new posts (like the old CC) either individually or all of them at once. 

         Under Filter By, I checked All.

         Then I clicked on the little box, and I selected No Notifications.

Easy, right? Wrong! Here comes the hard part, and I don’t know why they did this, but here goes:

1. On the left, you’ll see Forums    Gallery     Activity

         hover over Activity and a new sub-menu will open

2. Click on My Activity Streams and another sub-menu will open

3. At the bottom of the menu, Click on Create New Stream

4. Name your stream - I named mine Like Old Cruise Critic

5. On the right is a blue box that says Sorting. I picked newest activity first so threads with new activity will be at the top.

Now there are a whole bunch of choices you need to make. This is what I did:

         Show Me:   content items only

         Read Status:       Everything

         Following:  Only Content I Follow, and then from the little settings box to the right of that, I selected Content in areas I follow AND Content items I follow

         Clicking Unread Items:Take me to the first unread comment

         Ownership:         Everything

         Time Period:       Any time

         Content Type:     All Content

         Default View:       Condensed

         Now hit Save Changes

You should have a pretty, new list of all the threads you are subscribed to!

You will notice a blue dot or a blue star next to the title of some of the threads. 

         For threads you have already posted in there should be a star. It will be blue if there are any new post since your last visit.

         For threads you've read  but not posted in you will see a dot instead of a star. Again if it is blue there are new post since your last visit.

         By clicking on either the blue dot or the blue star, it should take you to the last unread post.

         If the star next to a thread title is gray, not blue, this means that you posted and nobody else has posted after you.

Now bookmark this page! 

If you used a Mac and want to add an icon to the home screen of your phone or ipad, on your device go to Bookmarks and open up the CC page. At the bottom of the page, there is a little box with an arrow pointing up out of it. Click on that, and then at the bottom swipe to the left until you see Add to Home Screen. Click on that, and voila! You now have a shortcut to get to CC.

Hope this helped!

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by lighthousemom

[CC Help Jenn]

Thank you!

 

[pnsnkr]

Wow...what a PITA just to get the 'take me to the first unread post' feature.

[Turtles06]

On 10/18/2018 at 3:16 PM, lighthousemom said:

4. The envelope icon is for messaging and is not yet working.

 

Well, it is working -- for the purposes CC intended.  It allows the Administrators/Mods to message each other as well as to send messages to CC members.  What it doesn't do is provide a means for CC members to private message each other (a feature that has never been activated on CC).   [Of course, the presence of the envelope icon has confused many members, as evidenced by the frequent questions in this forum about it.] 

 

Edited to add: I did not realize that an old thread had been resurrected.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Turtles06

[Globaliser]

15 hours ago, pnsnkr said:

Wow...what a PITA just to get the 'take me to the first unread post' feature.

 

The instructions that lighthousemom posted do an enormous amount more than "just" take you to the first unread post.

 

If you want "just" that, then go to the forum in which the thread lives, find the thread and click on the blue dot or blue star to the left of the thread title. Not in the least bit PITA, and exactly what you had to do to get there using the old forum software.

 

If you want to make the most of the bells and whistles that the new forum software comes with, then it is a tragic but inevitable fact that you will have to put some effort into learning how to do that.

[pnsnkr]

Thank you!  Yes, that's pretty much what I was looking for.