I'd hazard a guess that it's your browser and not the forum, per se. I have taken to using Firefox and find the same as you. Read link colours revert to unread after some time. Non-specific.
Tom

Ok. I think I have figured out why the list of what I have viewed in the forum keeps disappearing.
Hopefully someone from Sony will read this. Is there a place to report problems with the forum itself?

I think the way this forum is constructed has a problem. I use Firefox, but it seems to me the problem would exist in any browser.

When I view a message from the forum, my browser saves the URL in its history file. If I display a page that has that same link on it somewhere, the browser displays the link in the "visited" color which is sort of a reddish purple for me.

The way these links are constructed is somewhat complex. The link to Tom P's message just above mine in this thread is (right now)...
-mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=385459&Page=1
(I left off the http part so it will display as text.)

Note that it ends with 'Page=1'. That is because my thread has rolled to the second page of the forum, which is Page=1. Page=0 is the first page of the forum.

After I post this message, the thread will be updated so it will move from page=1 to page=0 as it will now be back on the top of the forum list. I think I have only read Toms message while my thread has been on the second page of the forum, so my history only has the link ending in Page=1. When the thread moves back to page=0 and I view it, I will not see Tom's message as being visited, even though I know I have read it.

So the problem with visited links being lost, happens when the thread containing the message moves to a different page of the forum from where it was when you viewed it. Now I know why things kept changing and why sometimes the visited links would come back.

Possibly this has something to do with the number of messages I have selected to display per page in my preferences, I haven't tried going back to the default.

Edit:
When my thread moved from Page=1 to Page=0 because of my post, Things changed as I expected. Tom's message shows as not-viewed now because the thread was on Page=1 when I read his message.

I tried changing messages per page in my preferences. The same issue exists, but happens faster with fewer messages per page, because the page wraps sooner.

I think they recently changed the sorting, but I'm not sure exactly how that might affect certain browsers or prefs. For me, everything seems the same. I read Tom's post this afternoon, it's still in the same place, still showing as read.

I have just tried it with both FireFox and IE. It behaves the same way as I have described.

Try this experiment:
Set your forum settings so that you are viewing 25 or 50 messages per page. Now pick a message thread that shows near the bottom of the first main page (if you set forum to 25/page, open message 23 or 24). Open that thread and view a message or two. Go back to the main fourm list and then reopen the same thread to ensure that messages show as viewed.

Now change your preferences to 10 messages/page. This will cause the thread you just viewed to move to the second main forum page or later (you will need to click Older Topics to see it now). Open that same thread and see if your viewed messages still show up.

I bet they don't. The changing of forum page messes it up for me in both FireFox and IE. If you view the message on that new page, it will become marked as viewed, and your history will now have both versions marked, but let it roll to a different page and the 'viewed' will be lost again.

The links to the messages in the forum pages have 'Page=n' included in them which breaks the history if that value changes. I think the forum code needs to be modified to remove the 'Page= '.
I don't see a good reason why it is needed.

Edit:
I've been saying "thread" in this description and previous messages when I really meant "topic".
I thought I should correct that in case it confused anyone.

At least one reason that we add the page=x to the URLs is because we use it on showmessage.asp, for the "Back to Vegas - Video link". It allows us to send you back to the forum's topic list, at the location you were at when you clicked into that message.

I'm guessing that most people use the back button anyways (true?), so if that's the only reason page=x is used, I can yank it. I'll look into it in the next day or so.

I always use the "Back to Vegas Video" link because it seems to refresh the forum topics page and shows any new messages that may have been posted while I was reading a thread, whereas just hitting the back button loads the topics page from the browser's cache.

John

Good point. I'll give this some thought. I'm sure we can figure out a way to meet everyone's needs.

Like John, I only use the "Back to Vegas" button to return to the main list. Using the Back button, I've accidently posted something twice because I have a short attention span and forget whether I've pressed the "Post" button. :-)

Kevin, can you store the "Page" value in the cookie? I don't know if you use session files, but i keep the "back" link in the session file and generate it from there.

Yup. That'd be one way to go.

Thanks for looking into the situation.

We seem to have this issue resolved. Let us know if you continue to see problems. Thanks.

I just recenly started using firefox alongside IE. I too have the problem with viewed topics not showing read within firefox ONLY.
IE works fine and shows as purple when read.I have my prefs as set to show 50 posts per page.
I like firefox, but I also cant use the "back" and "forward"button's on my mouse in its browers like I can in IE.
Just some extra info........
Also wondering why the last three posts (#'s 50,49,48) appear in blue(have not read them) but Not in bold type.

> We seem to have this issue resolved. Let us know if you continue to see problems. Thanks.

Well I see that the links now only include the message ID that is good.

Of course, all the old message histories are now broken. I'm willing to live with that short term problem. Please accept my thanks for addressing the issue.

My apologies to Spot and others who didn't notice the problem before, but now will notice the fix for a day or two.