# Is this really better than a mailing list? **URL:** \ **Category:** Discourse Feedback\ **Created:** [September 29, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57 "2018-09-29T01:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pf\_moore](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/pf_moore/32/35_2.png) [@pf\_moore](https://discuss.python.org/u/pf_moore)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/21 "2018-09-30T14:39:17Z")
I don’t know - I’ll have a look. Thanks for the suggestion. Hmm, I just scrolled up in this conversation (while composing the reply) and I didn’t see the back button. It popped up a few moments later. Now it’s disappeared again. > [@pablogsal](#): > > I think it may only appear when the thread is long enough and you have unread messages. But it could be a bug as you say. We may contact the discourse support. Just saw this response. That sounds like my experience too. ---
**Author:** ![pf\_moore](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/pf_moore/32/35_2.png) [@pf\_moore](https://discuss.python.org/u/pf_moore)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/22 "2018-09-30T14:48:55Z")
> [@ambv](#): > > To take this back on track: it looks like we identified a bug in the timeline functionality designed to help alleviate your valid concern around losing your place when scanning a discussion with new replies. This is helpful, we’ll report it and get it fixed. And in general, taking the Discourse test so seriously is helpful, thank you for that. My apologies. You are right, I have expressed my frustration here, and probably more emphatically than I should have. I felt pressured as a result of (a) the “we stop using email right now” posting, and (b) the imminent governance discussions, and my fear of not being up to speed with a new communication medium in time for that. Both of these points have been raised by others as well, and responded to sufficiently, so the spill-over into the tone of my responses isn’t helpful. Regarding helpful responses, you’re right, I have been getting a lot of help (for which again thanks), but I’m not finding it easy to locate it after the fact. Again, unfamiliarity, and I don’t intend to complain about that, but it does leave me feeling still very confused even with the help. I think what I need to do now is to take a break for a few days. I’m getting stressed and it’s affecting both my responses and my day to day life. So I’ll back off from discussion here until things have cooled down. I think the main source of my frustration (getting unwanted emails from Discourse) is solved (I had made changes, but they hadn’t taken effect - I thought I hit “Save” but maybe I didn’t) so hopefully it’s now ignorable enough that I can take that break. ---
**Author:** ![ambv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/ambv/32/25884_2.png) [@ambv](https://discuss.python.org/u/ambv)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/23 "2018-10-03T14:25:44Z")
Hey everyone, I moved this topic to “Discourse Feedback” because it fits there better **and** that way @Supermathie can give us a definitive answer to how the “Back” button on the timeline is supposed to work 😉 > [@ambv](#): > > Losing your place in discussion assumes you’re scrolling up, I guess to refresh your flow within the topic, or clicking through quotes to get to the source. That makes perfect sense to me. There is functionality to help you get back to the reply you were originally looking at (see the “Back” button): > > [ > Screenshot 2018-09-30 15.54.28.png2460x1326 447 KB > ](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/python1/original/1X/98494e32abfc33951f9f206e66ca6ebeab164972.png) > > Surprisingly, I don’t see it consistently appear, at least not on Firefox ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Supermathie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/supermathie/32/98_2.png) [@Supermathie](https://discuss.python.org/u/Supermathie)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/24 "2018-10-03T14:40:55Z")
> [@ambv](#): > > how the “Back” button on the timeline is supposed to work It should be showing up once you move “far enough” away from your latest unread, absolutely. It works (for me at least) on Firefox 61.0.1 (64-bit) on Ubuntu, but if it’s not working for you, do let us know about it. Videos showing the problem would be great! If you have suggestions on how to improve it, please feel free to suggest them on our Meta topic where we discuss improving this: [Improving our "lowest read position" Back button / indicator - Feature - Discourse Meta](https://meta.discourse.org/t/improving-our-lowest-read-position-back-button-indicator/54324?u=supermathie) ---
**Author:** ![ambv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/ambv/32/25884_2.png) [@ambv](https://discuss.python.org/u/ambv)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/25 "2018-10-03T14:51:23Z")
> [@Supermathie](#): > > It should be showing up once you move “far enough” away from your latest unread, absolutely. I guess it doesn’t appear at all if your last seen is the latest post? Could that be it? I think it would be more obvious if it always appeared, that way people would expect it to be there. I’ll comment on the topic you linked when we confirm what we are seeing is expected behavior. ---
**Author:** ![cjerdonek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/cjerdonek/32/63_2.png) [@cjerdonek](https://discuss.python.org/u/cjerdonek)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2018, 7:28am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/26 "2018-10-04T07:28:41Z")
> [@ambv](#): > > If you click on a topic with new replies, Discourse automatically takes you to the first new reply. Again, thanks to the fact that discussion is recorded linearly, this is all you need to read forward. I find this a big advantage over mailing lists where discussion tends to explode in a tree form. I agree with @pf_moore that having a reliable indication of which posts you have and haven’t read is IMO one of the most important features for a site like this to have. Having said that, it seems like Discourse might have an issue with its “read detection.” I noticed that when I was reading a thread and then navigated away, it seemed to mark as read one or two posts ahead of where I left. This can cause one to miss messages. I was able to reproduce this a couple times in a long thread, but at a certain point all of the messages in the thread became marked as read, so I couldn’t try again. 😄 I haven’t looked for a “mark all as unread [in a topic]” button to let me confirm this behavior again. ---
**Author:** ![tjreedy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/tjreedy/32/137_2.png) [@tjreedy](https://discuss.python.org/u/tjreedy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/27 "2018-10-11T22:11:11Z")
> [@pf\_moore](#): > > I have been getting a lot of help (for which again thanks), but I’m not finding it easy to locate it after the fact. If one clicks the … icon below a message, it is replaced by a flag 🏳 and bookmark icons. (The latter looks like a hanging banner, but represents the exposed end of a fabric bookmark.) (Silly to have to do this, but that is another topic.) In any case, click your profile image and the left of the three icons underneath is the bookmark icon. Click that you there is a list of bookmarked messages, with an unbookmark button for each. I am going to like this. I can bookmark messages I might want to respond to after reading the rest of the messages. In fact, I did this with this message. ---
**Author:** ![pitrou](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/pitrou/32/28_2.png) [@pitrou](https://discuss.python.org/u/pitrou)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/28 "2018-10-12T07:24:34Z")
It’s a pity bookmarks aren’t featured more prominently on the front page. Apparently you have to dig into your profile to find them. ---
**Author:** ![ambv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/ambv/32/25884_2.png) [@ambv](https://discuss.python.org/u/ambv)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/29 "2018-10-12T09:24:41Z")
If you click your avatar in the upper-right corner, there are three icons next to your username. The first one is actually Bookmarks. ![26](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/python1/original/1X/5b64de3a335d3b6b1bc6ff856b1e85c292014ecf.png) ---
**Author:** ![pitrou](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/pitrou/32/28_2.png) [@pitrou](https://discuss.python.org/u/pitrou)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/30 "2018-10-12T12:36:53Z")
Ah, right. I would have expected something more prominent, though (e.g. at the same level as “Latest” and “Top” on the front page). Do Discourse devs read this category? ---
**Author:** ![ammaraskar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/ammaraskar/32/32_2.png) [@ammaraskar](https://discuss.python.org/u/ammaraskar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57/31 "2018-10-12T18:14:11Z")
> [@pitrou](#): > > Do Discourse devs read this category? @Supermathie is a discourse developer who frequents this category but in general discourse has a [“meta discourse”](https://meta.discourse.org/) to discuss bugs, feature requests etc: [Previous page](https://discuss.python.org/t/is-this-really-better-than-a-mailing-list/57.md?page=1)