Until this is corrected, you can just refresh the page that has the list of your subscribed threads (Ctrl-R) and it will update when it reloads.

Yes, so apparently the fact that it refreshed the cache/cookies when you hit back was actually considered a bug and was fixed in this release

Why would someone think that is a bug? I have never seen a website that if you went back to the previous page, it didn't refresh the cache.

Honestly, I have been to plenty that have that functionality

Regardless, the lack of automatic refreshing (refreshment ) makes FT much more difficult to use.

Agreed, whoever thought it was a bug needs to re-think.

I agree. I am curious how this was considered a bug -- what harm did it do?

I agree with you all that it's pretty annoying

But at the same time, don't we just... remember what we just read?

And if not, there is always the manual refresh button

If it's just one thread, yes. Now repeat the process for several other threads. Some of them may have multiple pages of new posts, which may take several minutes to read. And sometimes there are similar threads discussing similar benefits across programs or a thread for a co-branded card may have a related thread in both the credit card forum and the hotel/airline forum. Now use the back button to go back to the summary page -- do you still remember all of this in your head?

Having said that...

... this is an easy workaround, yes.

BTW similar reasoning applies to the annoyance that mobile skin no longer (for years now, I realize, but I know it was commented upon at the time when it changed) shows the current thread title. And it's easy to say "well don't you remember what thread you just clicked on?" Not always, see above plus on longer threads the software takes a long time to load the page and with ADHD brain it's easy to forget "wait which of several similar threads am I reading"

Is there a reason the change can't be reversed given the reactions from users? I know it's a pretty trivial issue in the grand scheme of things, but some backroom body deciding it's a bug surely isn't enough to keep it.

Yes, so we can suggest it for a future release, but our tech orientation for the past several years has been towards software standardization across sites and verticals.

Basically what that means is that if it's not part of the core product, it's not getting worked on. There are some exceptions for legacy add-ons, like hotel reviews were, but otherwise it goes against directive.

Some of us don't read all 25 threads on a page in reverse chronological order (which is indeed a partial workaround), but prefer to look at threads of higher interest first.

Also, if reading for half an hour during a high comment period, several of the threads may have new posts. So we are being forced to refresh quite frequently.

Then it needs to be in a future release. As soon as possible.

Right now, perhaps FlyerTalk should be renamed as "Refresh" because that's about half of the clicks that I press each time that I visit the site.

And, because of that, I'm reading less and less. Or maybe that's what IB wants.

David