Topic: Items of the threads have not a visible follow number ?

[Peter2]

I have a question which is a little off topic, but important enough to ask, I think.

Why have the items of the threads not a visible follow number? That would be much easier, when we have to study threads from the past. Sometimes I have to look some time for a certain item. With a number I could immediately go to the item I was looking for.

[admin]

I do not see your point, can you give an example.

[Peter2]

There are many examples!
It can be that I look for the item with the link to the thread http://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?t=4481 (because I can not find the information without the link).
When I do not know in which thread the link is, then I must look in a number of threads for the item with the link. That costs much time. When the items have numbers and I know the number of the item, then I need only to look at that number in all those threads. That is much faster!

Sometimes I know the thread in which the link is. But when I do not see and know the number of the item, I must try different links to find the link that I was looking for. When the link is below and I begin my search above, then (when there are many items with links) it costs some time to arrive at the searched link. And when the searched link is above and I begin below (thinking that the link is more below than above) then I have the same problem.

When the item with the link has a number (and I know that number) then my searching is much easier!

Already 7 years I am an editor of an other website (of a great international organisation). There I am a volunteer to help all the people who visit the website. We editors have also a forum. There we can debate with each other about our work. But in our forum all the items of our threads have a number. So we can say (and we do that many times): "This is a reaction on the item with the number 84." Or: "Nobody gave an answer to item 127. Can somebody do that?"
Sometimes somebody only says: "Bump 326." And that means: "I want to get an answer on item 326."

In short: It is very easy to give each item a follow number! Searching in the threads can be much faster in that way!

[Peter2]

I must add something to my own words.
On this forum it would be not polite and well-mannered to say "Bump" if we wish to get an answer. For on this site there are helpers and help receivers.

On the forum of the international organisation for which I work, the relationship is otherwise. There we are all volunteers and helpers. The people who wish to receive help must use an totally other forum.

Nevertheless we can pose the forums of others as an example. The follow numbers of the items of the threads of our forum is very useful for us as volunteer editors. And I am sure it would be very useful on this forum. It would make my great struggle to understand the difficult Apache-issues easier.

[admin]

Thanks for suggestions to get the forum better.

But rather we do not taking over your suggestions, seeing not that it solves a general problem. There are two searches possibly, the forum build-in (top left menu) and the Google Custom Search (at the top).

Btw.
We have no problem that users bump a post.

[Peter2]

Yes, I see the 2 search possibilities.
But the forum build-in function (top left menu) is only when we are looking for a thread or sometimes for a topic in general.
The Google Custom Search is when we know exactly the words we are looking for. And then we often get dozens of search results.

But there are many situations in which those 2 possibilities can not help us. Follow number are very useful to find back what we have already read, en want to read again. I lost extra time to find some items back, because I wanted to read them a second time. When those items have a follow number and I know that follow number, then I can return to those items immediately.

Moreover follow numbers are very useful as reference. When I have a question about a certain item, and the item has a number, I can immediately say (for example): "I do not understand what is written in item 9."

In my life I have visited many internet forums. And I think in 99.9 % of the forums the items of the threads have a follow number. It is really more efficient!

[admin]

Every post (you call it an item or a follow number) has a number for example http://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?p=21829#21829 . Whith every new post it is upped one.

The number is for example visible when you hover the Quote button in the status bar of your browser.

[Peter2]

Yes, I knew already that the items (or posts) have an invisible follow number. When I hover the Quote buttons I see indeed numbers in the status bar.

But those numbers are very high. That was not my opinion. My opinion was: The first item (or post) of a thread has the number 1, the second item the number 2, etc.

It would be very nice if those numbers were visible!
Low numbers are easy to remember! And are easy to write as reference!