It appears that after the scheduled maintenance this evening, the -new-post.html page now returns a HTTP 302 redirect. I believe this will resolve the issue. Anyone previously affected should completely clear their cache/cookies/history to nuke any old URL references previously stored by the browser.

I will be watching closely in the next few days to determine whether the fix resolves the issue completely. I will be glad to finally be rid of this vexing issue.

We changed it to a 302 earlier in the day. This maintenance was to fix some things that that change broke.

Also, you shouldn't need to flush your cache. I changed the link so it's now linking to '-new-post1.html'. I'll change it back in a week so that any saved bookmarks won't be broken.

As of right now, it seems to be working for me. :)

So far so good...fingers crossed....

Seems to be working now. Thanks!

It seems to work again for me too :)

Thanks folks. Fixed here too.

Many thanks to baliktad for a clear, detailed analysis of the problem and possible remedies.

So far, working for me. THanks!

Due to this problem, I had significantly decreased my activity on FT and discovered many new things in life :) but thanks for finally fixing it anyway.

I am a bit disappointed, however, that I originally reported the problem on April 15th (and I was not the first person) and it seemed that there was no attempt from IB until 2-3 weeks ago to really understand the problem. Three months is too long for such an issue to be resolved.

First, let me say how happy we are to have resolved this issue at last, and how thankful we are to have had help from so many FTers in getting this done, from those who reported it, to those who provided their specific technical details, and those tech-minded FTers who contributed directly to tracking down the problem and leading to a plan of action.

But let me address the time frame as well. There are three parts to resolving tech issues like this. One is member(s) reporting a problem. Then there's me "triaging" the issue. Then there's tech addressing it if it appears to be a site issue. In most cases, there needs to be some sort of critical mass reached before tech gets involved; otherwise we are in the position of troubleshooting a hundred thousand users' computers for them, to see where the issue lies -- and clearly we can't do that.

This particular issue looked for all the world like a browser settings issue, and with conflicting reports there was no way to tell what exactly was happening early on. Read through the thread. Also, it was initially affecting a small group of users -- another sign that it was likely not a site issue. So we treated it as a browser issue and as you can see, at no point was the issue ignored; if it was a browser or settings issue, there's only so much we can say to resolve it from our end. But if you read the thread, you'll see that Dick, Kim and I frequently addressed this as it progressed from looking like an isolated browser issue to a clear-cut site problem affecting many users.

This was a particularly vexing issue and it took some time to resolve for many reasons, but not because we did not want to resolve it, not because anyone was ignored, or because there was foot-dragging. While of course we'd have preferred to get it done the day it was reported, things take time, and resources, and testing, and detailed behavior reports and some educated guessing to get resolved.

We're just happy it was.

Thank you again, all, for your patience and contributions.

Paul O'Brien
Community Manager

This issue has been resolved for me for a few days, but now it's back... However, it's on just one thread that I can find so far. Below is the culprit thread URL:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ng-airbus.html

It keeps taking me to post 205, despite the fact that I (and many, many other AA forum regulars) have been following this thread very closely. I have verified that the new message URL is the following:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...new-post1.html

I'm not an expert in such things like others here, but the symptoms for this thread seem the same to me as those that were before, so I'm posting here rather than starting a new thread. I've not changed my system setup at all in the intervening time, same version of Firefox and everything. Any suggestions are welcome.

Same situation, different thread (oddly in the american forum as well). I cleared my cache and it has not reappeared.

Same situation, yet another thread: Ideas for stopover LEX - PHL

I also experienced the same problem, confined to one thread, for about 2 days:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...0-usd-all.html

However, the problem eventually resolved itself. So far, all other threads are functioning fine.

Seeing as you are already using Firefox, and assuming you can install GreaseMonkey if you don't have it already, you can use this updated user script. It replaces all new-post.hml (or new-post1.html links if the former & future name is not found) with the actual URL that the server is going to send back anyway as the 302 redirect URL. It saves one round trip communication with the server every time you click a first unread link.
BTW, I'm curious why IB didn't adopt the approach of abandoning the .html URL "lie" as proposed back on 05-July. Unlike the regular thread URLs, the "lie" doesn't seem to serve any significant purpose not served by the real URL.

Happening on a couple of other threads now too. Not all, oddly enough. Extraordinarily aggravating.

It is happening to me as well on a couple of select yet apparently random threads.

I thought I saw this problem once, and I think it happened when using the old style link, so it is a different problem.

Hint for IB tech: it was immediately after I had merged two threads, suggesting the merge resulted in an incorrect database entry.

Everything seems to still be working for me, but I did have something strange happen earlier. I clicked on this thread, and this one opened opened up.

Apparently this was one one of the first threads on FT in 1998, and was closed five years ago. :confused:

Confirming there is an error in the way even the old-style link works with merged threads:

I just used this link:

Code:

---

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=1197694

---

and was taken to:

Code:

---

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/southwest-rapid-rewards/1197694-worth-buying-using-points-top-off-award-post16807357.html#post16807357

---

That post is one that I merged into the thread yesterday; I had merged two additional posts from another new thread this evening. The three merged posts all appear chronologically after the end of the of the surviving thread. I don't think I had used "go to first unread" on the surviving thread after the first merge.

I am going to guess this is an unavoidable problem. What we need to know is whether thread mergers are involved in the other cases of reported problems.

In my case, I can confirm with 100% certainty that thread mergers are not involved.

Thank you for that report.

So I reiterate:

Here is something I tried with one of those threads with which I am still having problems.

If I attempt to use MyFlyerTalk to take me to the first unread posted content in that thread, it does not remember what I last viewed.

However, once that thread had another “page” added to it, if I click on Last Page to take me to the last page of the thread and then choose View First Unread, it then works properly.

I hope this workaround helps towards finding an overall solution to this random yet annoying problem...

Good one, Canarsie. Please let me know if this works/doesn't for the time being...

The workaround does not solve the problem but it does work consistently and reliably for me.

I can live with the extra two clicks each time I want to read something new until there is a resolution.

However, this workaround will only work once a new “page” is automatically created in the thread with the problem.

I've been consistently having this problem with this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...l#post16823321

It's been going to this post for at least a week now.

Bizarrely, the problem to the thread to which I have referenced has quietly been corrected and works fine now.

Was this random, or was a fix found?

That's hard to say at the moment -- I know Dick has been trying a few things to resolve this, but as to whether that was the cause of your particular issue going away, only time will tell, as others report their behavior.

It is happening in this thread for me: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...l#post16847317 is the post I always get taken to.

For those still having this issue, have you cleared your browser cache? When a thread consistently sends you to the same post, have you tried going to a different browser and seeing if it sends you you the same post?

This problem seems to have returned for me, at least for some threads in OMNI/PR. Is anyone else experiencing it?

YEP :mad:

Yes, I am experiencing it in several threads — and while it is a minor inconvenience, I simply employ my workaround to this issue.

me too

Your link simply takes me to the top of this very thread . . . another artifact of the issue, I suspect :(

That is bizarre — the link works for me...?

And me if you need a sanity check :)

The original link will only work for those who have the same pagination options as Canarsie (which is obviously not everyone).

The proper way to link to a specific post is to grab the URL from the post number, like this:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16849477-post184.html

Or you can use a link like this, that will show the post in context of the thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...l#post16849477

Good to know that the issue with the link to Canarsie's post was separate from the issue I reported.

Clearing my cache seems to have cured things.

For now.