Elegant way to do reads

[stick_figure]

What's the most elegant way to mark something read or unread in a forum? Currently I just assume that they've read everything from before the last time I saw them, and everything after that is unread. Is there a better way to do this sort of thing?

[planetsim]

I dont fully understand that. How would you be able to do it.

Why not try and just see if theres new posts in the forum..

You could try and make a cookie for the user.
With Expire date. Last Visit time

Then from the last visit time you should check from that towards the posts in the database

Then display all the posts that have happened since they last visited.

[stick_figure]

Actually, I do essentially that, only I leave it in the database instead of the cookie. I'm wondering if there is a better way, because this way I can only say "Everything after this date is new." I'm wondering if there is an efficient way to tag posts as new, because I've seen forums where once you've viewed one thread, it knows that you've seen that specific one and marks it so. Doesn't matter what the date is on it.

[planetsim]

Well unless you keep making more Cookies(Which i dont think the user will like) I cant actually help you sorry.