Introducing the unified new view for the topic list

[Damian_Boon]

This doesn’t work

All i need is a URL that shows the latest topics

[Moin]

The links you got were those which replaced what used to be /new (only topics that are considered new based on the user’s preferences) and /unread (only topics with new replies the user is tracking/watching). Both lists are now combined in /new, but you can still filter that list for topics and replies.

/latest, which shows topics ordered by activity, wasn’t changed.

Can you share which link you’re trying to replace?

[Damian_Boon]

Sorry I think i got confused - I take this it this is unaffected /latest?order=created

[Moin]

Yes! The change is only about /new.

[mbauman (Matt Bauman)]

Our community is in a similar boat; we got the update that opted us in to this change, and immediately got a feedback topic asking for us to opt out. We did. I’ll be sad to lose the opt-out, as will others in our community.

I still find the new new quite confusing — it intermingles an individual’s tracked state (watched topics with unread posts) and global state (new topics by topic creation date), but sorts by the last post (well, technically the “activity” timestamp, but that’s typically the timestamp of a reply, not the topic itself. I think that’s why it’s confusing for folks to understand when something drops off new).

I don’t understand how this is meaningfully different from what was tried (and reverted following feedback!) three years ago.

The "new new" has been enabled on Meta

This has been disabled as of 2023-11-26T16:00:00Z (UTC) See The "new new" has been enabled on Meta - #31 by sam What it is? Over the past year we have experimented with a refined pattern for new/unread. The setting experimental_new_new_view_groups on meta now has trust_level_0 which enables this feature for everyone. This setting “merges” the lists for new and unread into a unified list: old way: New / Unread new way: New (New Topics / New Replies) [image] Why? This experiment …

I don’t think we’re alone here.

The new-new functionality: why call it "new" not "unread"?

I think it’s more reasonable to call these topics “unread” because according to my settings I should read them and I haven’t. Calling them “new” gives me the feeling that I don’t need to read them, they are simply new topics.

New Topics is showing all Topics New & unread

Here on Meta I noticed when you read a topic and choose New Topics vs unread it is showing new and unread totaled together see SS this is on both Meta Branded and Foundation. [Screenshot_20260613-014322] [Screenshot_20260613-014430] I haven’t observed this in my instances but am currently running an update.

[mbauman (Matt Bauman)]

Here’s why I find this confusing:

I’d naively expect language like “New topics” to display topics that were created within some recent window of time, typically with the window configurable on that page. I think I’d expect this to sort this by the topic creation date by default, too.

I’d naively expect language like “New replies” to be akin to /latest, displaying all topics within which a post has been added in some recent window, and definitely sorted by activity. Or, alternatively, I could also reasonably expect that these are just the posts that are explicitly replying to me (either in a topic I created or a direct reply to a post of mine). I really expect different language — maybe “tracked replies” — to show me what used to be called “unread”. And it becomes even more confused if it sits right alongside “new topics.”

I think of my tracked/watched state as something different and completely orthogonal — and something more important to me! I’ve done something to these topics already, something meaningful. These counts are the more important numbers to me! They’re like “softer” notifications. So that’s really at the core of why I dislike this; it removes that visibility from my landing page.