I was using favorites as a way to see a list of topics I am interested in following along with stats like the number of new posts and the time passed since the last post. I asked about way to list the topics I was ‘watching’ and was told to try the ‘favorites’ functionality.
Knowing that there is often more than one way to accomplish a goal (a list of topics I want to follow formatted like the favorites list used to be), please suggest an alternative.
I do miss favorites as well.
The change came from the folks that manage the “Discourse” forum software.
It actually was discussed for over a year (I had no idea), and has to do with an overall argument to streamline the interface (even if that mean making it less usable, doh!).
There’s another post where I link to the relevant release discuss on the Discourse Discourse…
In brief, I think you’re supposed get what you need from the “Bookmark” indicator and filter.
Thanks for the additional background, @tgauchat.
. . . hmmmm. This is a real head-scratcher.
. . . no tracking of recent activity here. Still scratching head. . . .
52 views and a few likes. Not a big deal for folks. I will work around this.
I noticed this comment in the thread linked to by CosmicPuppy, above:
"Starred top level filter is removed (which can still be achieved with
?bookmarked=true or mods can add a “bookmarked” top level tab if they
insist - default off)"
Perhaps SmartThings could add this “Bookmarked” tab for us? (I’m hoping this means it appears near “Categories”, “Latest”, “New” etc.).
Thanks @tgauchat. I misunderstood . . . so it was Discourse, not the ST implementation of Discourse that changed. It’s still weird. This issue aside, Discourse is a really fantastic package, I think.
I strongly believe the current implementation is way better. A few minor points.
in:bookmarks
I see no reason for a bookmark/star divide, it served very little purpose.
Given the lack of action on this thread, I’d say no one cares. I see the bookmarks tab is turned on. However, what you get is not useful to me:
. . . . this view appears to be sorted by the date I bookmarked it.
What I think would be more useful would be this format:
I still don’t see a way to easily identify and track the activity of thread I am interested. I realize there are often multiple ways to do things but I’m just not seeing a solution in the current configuration.
Yea . . . I reviewed that thread you pointed me to earlier, @tgauchat. I don’t think I’m going to bother. If the ST community collectively thought this was an issue, then I think it’s job for the admins to take this back to Discourse. However, it doesn’t appear to be a big issue for the community. To me, this is just a dumb design decision in an otherwise brilliant piece of software - ends up just being one of those things that make me go, hmmmmm… . . . (there’s a song reference there)
There are plenty of other opportunities to crusade for. . . like, getting ST to handle temperature with a little more resolution that whole numbers . … . 
. . . . as always, thanks!
This is the design I personally use:
Adding the bookmark tab is something that @Ben or @briant or any of the admins here can do if about 20 seconds, if they wish.
This is a very useful list format:
I’d love to be able to click a button and get this list for the threads I am interested in where ‘interested in’ means:
If I become disinterested in a thread I either had proactively or passively indicated interest in, I want to be able to opt out so it is eliminated from this list.
@sam_saffron, are you associated with Discourse in some way?
I am a co-founder 
Our plan around this level of customisation to the list is to use “search” and in particular something like “saved search”. Our first move to make this a reality will be a full screen search page.
OK. Cool. I think a ‘saved search’ functionality would be great assuming that search criteria could include the ones I mentioned (threads I started, threads I posted on, threads I manually expressed and interest in, aka favorite/watching/etc.) Discourse is a really fantastic solution otherwise.
