Problems with forum notifications? Here's the fix

[David Baxter PhD]

In response to recent problems with slow and double posting on this forum, I have made a number of changes in the past couple of weeks both to server configuration and to configuration of the vBulletin software that powers this forum.

One unfortunate effect of this has been that several people have reported that the notifications on the forum are not working or are inaccurate.

This has been reported so far for people using the Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Safari browsers. I haven't encountered that problem personally

Fortunately, there is an easy fix for this: Clear the cache for your browser.

For laptop or desktop browsers, this is just a matter of clicking on your browser menu options.

Chrome

• click on the three vertical dots at the top far right of the browser to get to Chrome settings
• select More tools... and then Clear browsing data...
• check Browser history, Download history, and Cached images and files
• uncheck the rest unless you have a reason to want to clear those too
• click on the Clear Browsing Data button

Firefox

• click on History from the top menu, or if that's not enabled click on the three vertical lines at the far top right and select History
• select Clear recent history
• check Browsing and Download History, Cache, and Offline Website Data
• uncheck the rest (again, unless you have a reason to want to clear those as well)
• click on the Clear Now button

Other browsers should have a similar option. If you have difficulty with Internet Explorer, Edge, or Safari, post a reply to this thread and I'll post the step-by-step instructions.

Mobile Browsers

I don't use Android devices and I don't own one to practice on, but here is the procedure for iOS devices (iPad and iPhone):

• To clear your history and cookies, tap Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. Clearing your history, cookies, and browsing data from Safari won't change your AutoFill information.
• To clear your cookies for specific sites and keep your history, tap Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Remove All Website Data.

 

[Mari]

I was not having any trouble with posting since I did not post anything but whenever I switched to another page I appeared to be logged out and could not view many of the posts. I logged out, followed the steps above and logged back in. So far things seem fine. Posting this to see what happens. Thank-you.

 

[GaryQ]

I was not having any trouble with posting since I did not post anything but whenever I switched to another page I appeared to be logged out and could not view many of the posts. I logged out, followed the steps above and logged back in. So far things seem fine. Posting this to see what happens. Thank-you.

Clearing the browser cache also resolves the issue of new posts not showing up as you mentioned. This was one of the first issues which lead me to try clearing the cache and it also fixed the notification issue (pure luck)