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General discussion

New feature: See all incoming forum posts in real-time!

May 11, 2007 4:24AM PDT

Hi everyone,

Check out this really cool new forum feature page that engineer Dan has created.

Forum real-time activity page
http://forums.cnet.com/7716-6035-0.html

Just leave this page open and it will automatically update itself and display all incoming forum posts as soon as they are submitted. A true real-time view of what's taking place in the CNET forums--right before your eyes!

Currently this feature page is still in its BETA stage. So, if you folks see anything quirky, wonky, or just plain weird, please let us know about it in this thread.

And of course we would like to know what you folks think of it. Feedback--positive or negative, suggestions for improvements are welcome!

Some notes about this page:

-- When you first initially land on this page, 5 of the most recent posts will be displayed. And as time progresses and more posts are submitted, the list will continue to grow as posts are added.

-- All incoming messages are dynamic and in real-time, so if you were to refresh your browser, it will clear all posts on the list you are currently viewing, and start over again displaying the 5 most recent post.

-- All new discussions and replies will be displayed on this page.

-- Subject line tagged with red text "New Topic" are indictors that they are new discussions just created.

-- If you were to leave this page open or idle for an hour, the feature will pause all incoming posts, until you tell it to resume.

-- You can access the Forum real-time activity page anytime you want--the link will be located in the forums' left hand navigation under the subheading CNET forums.

That's it for now.

We hope you enjoy this new feature as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you.

Thank you and enjoy!!
-Lee

Discussion is locked

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i posted a test in test
May 11, 2007 4:56AM PDT

dont see it

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the test forum is excluded
May 11, 2007 5:15AM PDT

we figured people wouldn't be that interested in seeing test posts coming through.

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(NT) not see that ok
May 11, 2007 5:25AM PDT
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Well, NOW I know
May 11, 2007 5:04AM PDT

WHY I was getting page not found all daySad IMO this is a totally unneeded feature.

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It's nice in some respects...
May 11, 2007 5:59AM PDT

From the frequent poster's standpoint, if you're just itching to answer people's questions you can monitor all forums at once and see the questions come in in real time. It also makes it easier to spot spammers making their rounds. Down the stretch it'll be enhanced to filter by forum, username, etc, making it more useful to those who are primarily attached to select forums. It's been slowly growing on me and is now one of my hotspots.

John

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I thought that was
May 11, 2007 8:44AM PDT

why we had thread tracking? I just think it's one more feature that will screw with the forums. I had page not found all day long yesterday. I knew they were doing something with the forumsSad

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there was no conection
May 11, 2007 1:11PM PDT

between the new forum and the 'page not found' problem


.,

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It actually launched a few days ago...
May 11, 2007 3:46PM PDT

The real-time monitor actually went live a few days ago for preliminary testing...all they did today was post the links to make it public. It's possible that it's related, but my guess is that the slowness stems from something else.

As to thread tracking, it's great if you're watching a specific thread, but this new feature lets you see new threads come in that you may want to start participating in and eventually track. Obviously not for everyone, but nice to have IMO.

John

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It's good for me !!!
May 11, 2007 11:10PM PDT

I haven't used tracking much because the notices are sent to my mail inbox. With something soaking up my PC memory, I can't always leave it open.

With a new computer on it's way, it will be a joy to leave the new service open, not only to monitor the "action" on forums I frequent most, but a good chance of picking up some useful information from those I don't. A real time saver instead of switching from forum to forum.

I also see it as a convenience for those who like to follow the posts of selected members.

Angeline

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I think it's great as well.
May 12, 2007 6:24AM PDT

Fortunately I have two monitors, so I can have the Real Time page open on the 2nd monitor and keep working on the first.

I've found it works really well.

Mark

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Love it too...
May 12, 2007 1:05PM PDT

Thanks CNET! Can't wait for the full version!

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Wouldn't it be easier
May 12, 2007 7:26PM PDT

to swap these two on the directory page

Latest posts

Hot discussions

and/or on any forum page, shrink the advanced search toolbar and put the latest posts in the upper right corner, then have it update realtime.


Rick

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Mozilla Firefox and NoScript
May 14, 2007 5:58AM PDT

You have to tell it to allow dojotoolkit.org

It will then work correctly. You can also have it work as a new tab and/or window.


Rick

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Nice
May 14, 2007 6:48AM PDT

This is pretty sweet!! good job!!!

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Re: Forum Feedback - Reatime
May 16, 2007 7:34AM PDT

I can see where you're coming from Lee, however please make note that I prefer not to have beta systems on my PC (that goes back a way to when I did load a beta programme and it was so full of bugs that the system crashed on a regular basis - I was using Windows 95 then!). I know that if a programme is issued in beta now, it has already been as thoroughly tested as possible, nevertheless, once bitten forever shy; not only that but to be honest, I can't see the point in it, you have seperate posts for seperate queries, and you look at those posts to get the data, and reply on that specific subject!

In fact, I placed a post earlier on called "Dual Monitors", from that post I have had several replies, and have gained the necessary data from the replies. I agree there are some who will insist on asking questions of a different probelm in reply to somone else's post, and I agree that is infuriating, but surely that is not a good enough reason to mix up ALL the posts.

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just attempting a test posting
May 22, 2007 12:24AM PDT

with this message

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interesting feature
May 16, 2007 10:09AM PDT

I was surprised to see it for the first time. Thought it had something to do with my mouse cursor hovering over something. Then I noticed it was a Cnet forums thing, similar to AIM when popup windows alert u when ppl go offline, etc.

One time I even got a popup window for the post I just made. Heck, maybe i'll see one for this post as well!

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(NT) also, the prefs don't come up. Error page
May 18, 2007 12:05PM PDT
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So
May 18, 2007 10:40AM PDT

So I guess its like Google Mail then? No need to refresh? COOL!

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Another job for Dan
May 19, 2007 3:51AM PDT

Neato! Maybe Dan can work on a new forum feature that allows Admins to see incoming emails in real-time.

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If you post a reply
May 19, 2007 2:42PM PDT

somewhere in the middle of the post, it will not update real-time. If you refresh your browser, it will show up but not automatically.


Rick

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Works for me
May 20, 2007 6:47AM PDT

really. May facilitate getting issues resolved more quickly, easily for some posts. How can that be a bad thing?

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That is very cool!
May 25, 2007 10:18AM PDT

I like it a lot. I could site and watch it go by all day long. All i need now is a full screen version that I could put on my projector and watch it on my 'media wall' here in the den Silly

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An engineeer's idle hands. . .
May 26, 2007 12:20AM PDT
Wink

I'm not quite so addicted I need to see a post milliseconds after it hits. I guess some are.
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(NT) Ahhh. Don't think I will be using this function.
May 26, 2007 1:23AM PDT
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At a boy.........
Jun 1, 2007 5:08PM PDT

Give that Dan guy a raise!!!!

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Seems to slow things down and feature not needed....
Jun 2, 2007 12:28AM PDT

I have little time and spend maybe 10 minutes a week checking in to CNET. It took my browser 2 minutes to open the page this time...and less than a second to open the reply page.

It might be nice a for a few who "live" with CNET but you ads are best targeted at a larger audience and I think you with loose that.

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Windows Live Mail Problem
Jun 2, 2007 1:14AM PDT

The new feature works, but with Windows Live Hotmail, a whole load of white horizontal lines come up on the message. It's a little annoying, but okay.

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Your Forum and Freeware download
Jun 2, 2007 12:02PM PDT

BALA
It is an interesting and useful feature. So far I have downloaded many useful freeware softwares only through CNET Download and there is no problem or harm to my computer. Thanks a lot.

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firefox
Jun 2, 2007 5:08PM PDT

Help! when i try to open my firefox brower all i get is a blank screen where the text and images should be, i think i have tried everything,