How do you keep up with the Forum?

magicroundabout

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum but enjoying all the friendly advice and hopefully contributing in my own way.

But there's a LOT of posts - especially during the week, and it's hard to keep up!

I've tried using RSS for the forums I'm interested in but then I lose the threads (the topic history) in my feed reader. Plus I get posts from ALL topics, not just the ones I want to watch.

The other way I've tried is to log on and use the "View posts since last visit" thing but this isn't ideal as it shows me all forums and threads that I'm interested in.

"Watching" threads I'm interested in is half-hearted too as it won't inform me about new threads that I might be interested in.

Embarassingly, I'm an IT techie and I don't have an efficient way of:
1) Watching threads I'm interested in - with the history of the thread intact
2) Keeping an eye out for new threads in forums that I'm interested in

So my question is this - how do you keep up with the forums? Are there tools out there that I'm not aware of that might help me do this more efficiently?

Ta

MR

ivancarlos

I liked the newest posts feature on the old forum. Would be helpful if it could be brought back. Other than that I'm not sure. BTW what is RSS?

Shadowduck

I use a combination of topic watching and "posts since last visit", though I have to agree it's not ideal. I read & post randomly across all the forums (since I don't really fit into any of them exactly) so the lack of specificity isn't an issue! Sometimes I don't visit for days (or occasionally weeks) at a time so I'm sure I miss shedloads of topics that would interest me. If I'm not here it's because I'm doing something more interesting / important so missing the odd thread doesn't cost me any sleep.

ivancarlos - RSS is a way of getting notification of updates to websites without visiting the websites to check them manually. If you have a list of sites, blogs etc. you check on a daily basis I'd higly recommend it - It's totally revolutionised the way I use the internet! I use Google Reader but there's plenty of other sites / software packages you can use, take your pick.

redddraggon

Shadowduck wrote:

If you have a list of sites, blogs etc. you check on a daily basis I'd higly recommend it - It's totally revolutionised the way I use the internet!

I tried using RSS but I just found checking sites the old fashioned way easiest for me. Especially considering that I use more than 3 computers at work and one at home, I would forever be trawling through "new" articles that I'd already read.

Shadowduck

redddraggon wrote:

Especially considering that I use more than 3 computers at work and one at home, I would forever be trawling through "new" articles that I'd already read.

I use four in various places, so I know the problem. That's the advantage of using a web-based reader like Google's - once you've read something it stays read, regardless of what computer you log on from.

Anonymous

If you download and install the Opera browser, you can subscribe to the Bikeradar rss news feed through it's Newsfeed app. (RSS/XML)

Then as new subjects/threads are posted, the Bikeradar newsfeed updates those to your browser around every 1/2 hour, normally, 15 threads at a time. You can then respond to those you have an interest in, and, if you are using a pop3 mail account set up in the Opera browser mail client, you receive E-Mail alerts from the posts you have responded/posted to. Makes a nice stream of new stuff and stuff you want to watch. No need to scour every forum category.

Works like a champ. Also, as you can guess, when you receive an e-mail notification through Opera about a thread you are watching but are, by this time, sick 8) of, just choose not to watch it anymore. No more alerts from that thread, just the new ones, again.

Anonymous

ivancarlos wrote:

I liked the newest posts feature on the old forum. Would be helpful if it could be brought back. Other than that I'm not sure. BTW what is RSS?

R=Real, S=Simple, S=Syndication (sic)

Graham Webb

I find it an impossible task, but I don't worry about it. Sometimes I'm up in the mountains for three monyhs on end, without a computer and don't even get withdrawal symptoms! I try to stay in touch on about 10 forums so there arn't enough hours in a day to watch them all. If I go quiet, don't go thinking I've snuffed it, I maybe just away for awhile.

Regards.

Anonymous

Graham Webb wrote:

If I go quite,......

Quite? ????

vermooten

I just dip in and out as and when.

(We are still talking about the forum aren't we.)

Graham Webb

bikers46 wrote:

Graham Webb wrote:

If I go quite,......

Quite? ????

:oops: Sorry, that comes from speaking Flemish for 40 years, I sometimes have to think twice in English! Now keep 'quiet' or I'll post in Flemish next time

Anonymous

Ooppss......

jimmythecuckoo

I just check the new posts since I last logged on in the Road section and read the rest as and when.

TheGreatGatsby

check in the morning before work and evening the evening before bed. Just check the posts with new replies and only on the threads that may be interesting. Usually staying around cake stop, training and beginners.

Gats

Anonymous

ifyouwanttoreadstuff,justclickit.