We are a new forum and currently we are getting between 500 and 800 posts a day on average which should show some increase as traffic picks up after the holidays. As a marriage forum that handles stuff like walk away wives, infidelity and all that rot, starting about the middle of the January, traffic cranks up as people start to fight after the holidays.

Our moderators and members use watch lists to keep up with the traffic.

Watch forums would work for the moderators especially. And you can go to the latest posts in a given thread by clicking on the left column, sorta. Actually, I don't understand the sort scheme at all, but it sux, big time in terms of any useful sorting by date and that is about all anyone cares about.

Watch users is also great for tracking our problem children. Would be great to know which posts have and haven't been read like an email page. that would be great for watch forums as well.

Watch topics is almost worthless. It does not sort by last post, it sorts by topic origination date, yuck phooie.

People look at this watch list like it was an email listing. And they expect the same usability. Not there guys.

This is probably the only function set that seems like it was a waste of time to do because it really doesn't do what users want it to do.

Larry
www.marriageadvocates.com

I think you are being a little harsh there. It may not suit your needs, but it is the one I use the most. It works in exactly the way I need it to.

This wouldn't be the first time I am clueless.

How do you use it where it works so well? Give me the human engineering deal. Anything I can learn to help make the management of a forum more efficient is much appreciated.

Larry
www.marriageadvocates.com

It could simply be a case of 'Horses for courses'. I don't use it to track post traffic, but simply to keep an eye on certain threads that I will need to refer to later. I look at it as a 'bookmark' function.

As far as unread items in your watched list.
Not to sure about watched users. But with watched topics at least there is a indicator. If you have not browsed the forum first.
The unread item is not in bold. But there is a small graphic that shows. It kinda looks like a down arrow that is bent to the side.
On the left side column of the list.

Myself, I use watched items as a favorites/bookmark system. For topics that provide information I may need at a later date in time.