[X] My Assistant

[dvandorn]

A recent thread in the Saturn forum makes me wonder just how y'all read UMSF, and how much of it any one particular person follows.

I read every new post. I always have. I am beginning to think that this is not normal for most of the people who frequent this place.

When I come onto the site, I use the main board index as my entry point. The main index has new post indicators on it -- the blocks to the left of every forum name are light blue when there are no new messages in that forum, dark blue when there are new posts.

I start at the top, checking in on new "news" posts, then through the inner solar system (Mercury, Venus, Luna and Earth). Then I drop down to the bottom and work up, checking board maintenance, the miscellaneous categories, and the outer system (asteroids, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune). I leave the Saturn fora last in this category, since they are the most interesting to me of the outer planet fora.

Finally, I go through the Mars fora, my absolute favorites here (sorry, Jason!). It's sort of like how some people eat a meal -- I go for the things I like the least first, saving the things I like most for last. When it comes to the Mars discussions, I save those so I can "finger-lick" them...

I find this satisfies me more than just going to a list of new posts and picking and choosing from there.

In this way, every day when I come in to check for updates, I end up reading all of the new posts. So yes -- I read them all.

So -- how do y'all read UMSF?

-the other Doug

[Del Palmer]

I wish I had the time to read every post, but... UMSF is part of my morning routines (e.g. whilst having breakfast), where I spend 2 hours downloading stuff for offline reading later in the day (although I've had broadband for years, this offline method is a habit that persists from the days of dial-up). As I like to save the best for last, UMSF is the last link from my list. Depending on how much time is remaining, I may skim through quickly just to see what is happening mission-wise, or carefully read and post. I use the 'View new posts' option, click on threads that are of interest to me, and use backspace to return to the search list. I then return to the forum 4-5 hours later and more carefully read threads, although some threads I save until I get more time to read them (the downside to that is that I've then missed the boat in terms of contributing to them).