This doesn’t work
All i need is a URL that shows the latest topics
לייק 1
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?
2 לייקים
Sorry I think i got confused - I take this it this is unaffected /latest?order=created
3 לייקים
Yes! The change is only about /new.
4 לייקים
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.
I don’t think we’re alone here.
6 לייקים
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.
8 לייקים
I haven’t fully read up on this thread, however I’ll provide feedback from our users.
All of our heavy forum users do not like this feature. The number one complaint is that there’s no way to easily get to a list of topics you’re subscribed to with updated replies without multiple clicks. According to them (this could be wrong, never used the feature), you used to be able to set default settings for these lists.
Secondly, the section at the bottom of topics has become unusable because it just shows you new posts at all times instead of posts with new replies. The previous setup used to allow users to catch up with topics they’ve been involved with by simply flowing through each topic. Now you’re forced to backtrack to the main page to view the next topic because the top 5 at the bottom always show new topics.
4 לייקים
this is correct, it’s based on the user preference on /my/preferences/tracking — “Consider topics new when” (defaults to “last 2 days”)… making it configurable on that page directly could be a nice addition
Understandable, but it doesn’t… it’s “topics created within the last 2 days with most recent activity first” — so not a chronological list, active topics are prioritized over less active topics, which is our default assumption for sorting topic lists
Unfortunately tracked doesn’t work because tracking is a name for a specific concept we already use, so it wouldn’t be accurate… “unread” = “new posts in topics I’m watching or tracking”
There’s maybe too much complication here for a simple naming convention to work for everyone… with “latest” “new” and “unread” we had feedback that people new to Discourse didn’t really know which was which… technically if it’s new to me I haven’t read it, right? so aren’t “new” and “unread” synonyms for the same thing? there’s also some overlap with “latest” and “new” — if something is “new”, isn’t often also the “latest”? (and it’s true, sometimes it is)
So the thought with the new naming is that eliminating “unread” and using “new topics” and “new replies” more clearly distinguishes the concepts… “new replies” doesn’t have the same ambiguity of “unread” and “new topics” specifies “topics” where “new” on its own did not.
Naming convention aside, it seems that the primary complaint about the change is that at the top level the count is now combined and it takes an extra click to both see the counts and get to a specific list.
Could something like this improve the situation?
2 לייקים
I mean, even the tooltip reflects this confusion:
It’s really “topics created in the last few days or tracked topics with unread posts.” These things just don’t make sense to unify to me!
The language and behavior of “new topics” makes sense to me. The behavior of “new replies” does not, especially when paired against (and intermingled with!) “new topics.”
I get that the current language is confusing as well, and I definitely appreciate that you’re trying to make it better. I just don’t find this better.
Really all of “Latest” “Hot” “New (15)” and “Top” are implicitly "____ topics". What I think would make most sense would be to have a “Tracked (3)” there. Clicking tracked would (by default) only show you those three tracked/watched topics containing unread posts, but there could be a toggle to show all tracked/watched topics (potentially even detangling tracking vs. watching). I’d actually really love that ability!
I know you don’t like using “Tracked” to mean both tracking and watching, but in my mental model watched topics are tracked topics with harder notifications. In fact the “Tracking” user preferences sheet combines newness, tracked, watching, and even muting. I don’t think newness belongs there; that makes more sense as the persisted state of a selector on /new itself, but that’s all a bit aside.
I suppose I could get used to something like “New (15/1)”, but that seems quite advanced.
לייק 1
Yes, that is the complaint amongst my users.
Oh, interesting take! I’m going to pass this along and gather some feedback.
לייק 1
Can only second this. Combined list is fine. But only with unread tracked topics first on top and directly visible as in the past. Only a matter of sorting?
2 לייקים
I think a big issue with the combined page is that the dismiss button becomes non-functional. I like to quickly glance at the new topic list, open any I care about in a new tab (often none), and then hit dismiss all. Now that this will also dismiss topics I’m tracking, it’s useless. I nearly dismissed this very topic just now by following this workflow.
It would help a lot if the tracked/watched topics were always on top. They are far more important than completely new topics, so I think this would alleviate much of the problems from combining the pages. Still sort them as they are today, just within these two sub-groups.
לייק 1
This shouldn’t happen…there are 3 contextual states of the Dismiss button. If you have the All tab selected you see this, which dismisses all new and unread topics, with the option to stop tracking unread topics:
If you have Topics tab selected, you see this, which only dismisses new:
If you have the Replies tab selected, you see this, which only dismisses tracked topics (AKA unread), with the option to stop tracking:
I guess if the button on the All tab is confusing, maybe it could have no default behaviour, and you have to choose from a dropdown:
- Dismiss all new topics and replies
- Dismiss all new topics
- Dismiss all new replies
- Dismiss all new replies and stop tracking
Not sure…
לייק 1
Or, you know, this could alternatively do something that makes sense in the first place. 
I agree the old system is confusing. This new new system doesn’t help. There are fundamentally two (and a half) types of topic updates:
- New topics
- New posts on existing topics (and edits and other activity that bumps the timestamp)
The system keeps track of four kinds of state for every user:
- The time of last visit
- The time of “newness” (user preference with that “dismiss” button to reset the clock)
- A per-topic last post read (and if it’s been read at all)
- And a per-topic trackedness state: muting/normal/tracking/watching
So what makes for a sensible UX? Which views make sense together? What language groups them?
I definitely agree that it seems like the thing called “New” should should have two sections… but the two sections that are actually related are new topics (ordered by topic creation timestamp) and new activity (ordered by the activity/bump timestamp). The latter is what we currently call /latest, but it actually is quite new-like! The system could just as happily compute the total number of “new” posts just as it does the number of new topics.
Then there are the subset of topics that I’ve opened and read. These aren’t new topics, definitionally! They’re actually my read topics. Some of them are tracked, some may not be. Some may have posts I’ve not yet seen. But these posts-not-yet-seen aren’t necessarily “new” by whatever metric “New” used! But these are all facets of the same thing — things that could be selectors in their own topic view. It’s a shame “read” is such a terrible English word, but that sure seems like what I want this to describe. It could have subselectors for hide entirely read topics (on by default) and drop-downs to choose just “tracked” or “watched” topics. This gets rid of that dreaded “unread” negative framing that’s confusing!
When I got my PhD in Discourse tracking settings I changed “New” to “New topics”, and “Latest” to “Latest replies”. Back to the drawing board now!
2 לייקים
From the “New” page we are invited to “Browse latest topics”. It goes to “Latest” which is really “Topics with most recent posts”.
It might be useful to have a customisable explanation under the “All/Replies/Topics” tabs (and maybe elsewhere) to explain what each means.
Yes, this is what I’m saying isn’t useful. This is the default view so it’s the main place this matters in my mind. Sure, I can go to the other tab to just look at new topics, but as many people have mentioned, extra clicks are annoying and people tend to avoid them.
So the default view combining new topics and replies is already a bit unintuitive, but lacking a way on that page to dismiss new topics while keeping new replies is much worse.
I don’t think it’s confusing, just not useful. Maybe that isn’t any better. 
Either way, I think having the option to only dismiss new topics from the shared page would be a huge improvement.