Sorting Forum Posts, Most Recent

[max-list]

When I go to see the forum posts and sort by most recent, the dates are all over the place. The first one is 5-12-21. Next is 7-13, then 7-17 and so forth. What's up with that?

[dnasilver]

From what we can tell they base the date off of last reply and not the actual post. This only makes sense to those who are clueless in setting up anything related to operating an actual business. Leadership is certainly lacking.

[friskya]

It would be kind of nice to see threaded replies, too. It can be really difficult to follow some conversations and it would be nice to see not only who is being responded to, but what it was that generated that response, without having to scroll back to find it.

[dhbookds]

No threaded posts for me.............they tried it and was a disaster........

Actually there is a setting in preferences to use threaded..........have no idea how it works.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/user/myprofilepage/tab/user-preferences:threaded-format

[katzrul15]

Would not like threaded either.....Reddit does that and it can be hard to follow.

[friskya]

---

@dhbookds wrote:

No threaded posts for me.............they tried it and was a disaster........

Actually there is a setting in preferences to use threaded..........have no idea how it works.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/user/myprofilepage/tab/user-preferences:threaded-format

---

I remember that setting and all it really does is change the sort order from oldest and newest and back again. I was thinking about post/reply type of threading... someone posts a comment and any reply specific to that post appears immediately below it. 

[eleanor*rigby · Accepted solution]

---

@max-list wrote:

When I go to see the forum posts and sort by most recent, the dates are all over the place. The first one is 5-12-21. Next is 7-13, then 7-17 and so forth. What's up with that?

---

@max-list 

There are two sort options for the main page of each discussion board: 

1. Sort by Latest Post Date
2. Sort by Topic Start Date

Option #1 will move a thread to the top of the list when someone posts in it.

Option #2 will show the newest thread(s) that have been posted at the top of the list.

Everyone has their own reasons for choosing the options. Some like to keep up with the more active threads, so they choose #1. The downsides of #1 are that some threads seem to never die and may not continue to be interesting after 200+ posts of people arguing back and forth; and, even super old threads that someone comes along and posts in a year after the last activity will pop up to the top of the list.

I'm rarely interested in visiting a thread more than once or twice, so I prefer to sort by #2, in order to keep up on the newest threads.

Both options are available on the main page of a board, along the righthand side, immediately under the banner, in the "Options" dropdown menu. You won't see both options, just the one you're NOT currently using.

[eleanor*rigby]

---

@dnasilver wrote:

From what we can tell they base the date off of last reply and not the actual post.

---

 @dnasilver 

There's an option to display by "Topic Start Date."

---

@dnasilver wrote:

This only makes sense to those who are clueless in setting up anything related to operating an actual business. 

---

Not suggesting you're clueless, but you can choose to sort the threads on any given board by "Latest Post Date" or "Topic Start Date." You might check to see whether you've set yours to "Latest Post Date." It's under the "Options" dropdown menu just under the banner on the righthand side of the screen (on the desktop version).

[eleanor*rigby]

@friskya 

The ability to switch to "Threaded Format" is also available under the "Options" dropdown menu on the title page of every discussion board. If you switch, it will apply to every board. 

I'd be interested to read how you like it, if you decide to make the switch. Not all posters reply directly to the post they're actually addressing. They either reply to another poster or to the very first post or whatever. I find it very confusing when applied to the eBay discussion boards.

[max-list]

That's what I was looking for, thank you.

[dnasilver]

under options on my screen  it does not show Topic Start Date, it did a while back and that is how I sorted, its been gone for awhile (guessing 6 weeks or so).

[eleanor*rigby]

---

@dnasilver wrote:

under options on my screen  it does not show Topic Start Date, it did a while back and that is how I sorted, its been gone for awhile (guessing 6 weeks or so).

---

---

---

@dnasilver 

If you've already sorted by "Sort by Topic Start Date," you'll no longer see it as a sort option--since, well, uh, you've already chosen it. 

It's considered helpful when discussing issues like this to post your OS, browser, etc.

For example, I'm using:

Desktop version on a Windows 10 device with a Chrome browser.

Please post the above information on the device you're using to view the "Options" feature.

Please post whether you have an "Options" feature just under the banner on the righthand side of the screen--just "yes" or "no." 

Please post the screenshot(s) of the "Options" dropdown menu you're seeing that might match the two I've posted below.

If I currently have "Sort by Topic Date" selected, my "Options" dropdown menu looks like the screenshot below. Note that the only sort option is "Sort by Latest Post Date," because the other sort option ("Sort by Topic Start Date") is the one currently applied:

If I currently have "Sort by Latest Post Date" selected, my "Options" dropdown menu looks like the screenshot below. Note that the only sort option is "Sort by Topic Start Date,"  because the other sort option ("Sort by Latest Post Date") is the one currently applied:

So, again, if you've already applied one sort option, you won't see that option on the dropdown. You'll only see the other option that you've NOT chosen.

[eleanor*rigby]

@dnasilver 

Too late to edit previous post.

If you selected "Sort by Topic Start Date" six weeks ago, you'll only see "Sort by Latest Post Date" on the "Options" dropdown menu as an option. 

Switch to "Sort by Latest Post Date," and you'll see only "Sort by Topic Start Date" as an option. 

You'll never see both options available on the list at the same time.