investigating Group discussions no longer ordered by most recent posts

Since updating a couple weeks ago, I find my Group Discussions are no longer ordered like I had them before. I realize this may be due to my having made a custom template, but where do I find this code?: to show the discussions that have had the most recent activity on top is what I used to have. Now it seems the discussions are listed randomly, see here:
https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group/19/old-style-drone-noter-players
(the top two discussions are 'pinned' btw)

Which module or template location/code controls this, that got changed in the latest updates? If I can identify/locate it, I can probably readjust it. Thanks!


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 01/26/20 04:59:17PM

If you didn't change anything then nothing should have changed - the last update to the group discussion module was back on May 15th, so I am guessing something else is up here. I'm assuming you have not made any changes to the template?


--
Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

Well, which specific template are we talking about that would control this?
I do have the following templates in my GD module:
index.tpl
item_action.tpl
item_detail_meta.tpl
item_detail.tpl
item_index_meta.tpl
item_index.tpl -(03/15/16 03:57:11AM - custom by strumelia)
item_list.tpl

BTW-In my GroupDiscuss module, under global settings I do have the 'sort by activity' checked, as I always have.
I only noticed this change when a member pointed out it was now different, as of like 3 weeks ago... which is about when I (finally) applied the last BIG round of updates to my site. (and the updates sat there for a month or so before i applied them).


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

If you have the 'sort by activity' checked the expected result would be that whenever a comment is added to one of the discussions then that discussion would be moved to the top of the list of discussions.

Is that happening? Do you have a feeling as to what the order of the discussions might be in there current state?

I'm not seeing an issue. I added a test comment to one of the discussions at the bottom of the page and it moved to the top, but below the first two discussions that are pinned so always show first. Mayby these two pinned discussions are confusing you?
hth


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Paul, no the pinned are not confusing me.
I tested too, and now when I post in a group discussion it DOES take the discussion to the top as it should.
However the problem is that when the latest updates were applied, they randomly ordered all the group discussions up to that point. Many members can now no longer find discussions that had been recent (until the updates)- since now those discussions are buried within other pages of incorrectly ordered discussions.. some discussions go back eight or ten years. This is not the end of the world, but is a problem and frustration in larger groups with many older discussions.
Is there any way to RE-ORDER all group discussions at this point in time now, so that they are once again in correct order- from discussions with most recent activity to discussions with most long ago activity?

Here is an example of the problem, in my Beginner Players Group:
https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group/1/beginner-players
The pinned discussions are on top as expected. Any discussions that have had posts SINCE the update scrambled everything are also at top.
But ALL discussions before the update which used to be in correct order are now seemingly random.
See this one which has not had activity for 7 years now:
https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/377/for-noter-drone-beginners-playing-from-music-rather-than-tab
....it's way above in the list compared to this discussion which was started just 4 months ago in June and had its last post in July:
https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2687/pick-thickness

This ordering makes no sense to me. However, as you go into older pages of discussions, there is a 'general' tendency to order them with oldest last. But the 'newer' pages, especially pages 1 and 2 of the discussions, make less sense. What the heck?? I do know that this happened suddenly, seemingly right at the time of my applying that large number of JR updates last time around.
Any clue as to what happened or how to now 'force' a RE-order of them by date of last post?


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 10/15/19 10:44:46AM

I notice that a large number of your group discussions have the same '_updated' value and this is what is causing the issue. The database query to list discussions is asking for them to be ordered by their '_updated' time so when they are all the same, they can only be returned in an arbitary order.
The question is then, how did this happen? There have been no recent updates to the Group modules so that is an unlikely cause. The '_updated' field is updated during discussion transfers however. Have you transferred these discussions recently?

Having said this, I agree that the issue needs to be fixed up and I can install a tool to do this within the next day or two.
hth


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

I have not transferred or done anything else to group discussions lately. This change was noticed by a member shortly after I applied a whole slew of recent JR updates (though I have not yet applied the newest ones from like last 2 weeks). So, the timing seems to indicate that it was connected to the updates, and I have not made site changes lately. But we can't be sure til we know exactly what caused it.
Thanks so much for your time and efforts to help fix this up!


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Take a look now to see if Group Discussion ordering is by latest activity, as expected.
I think I've found what might have caused this issue and it is fixed in the next module releases.
I also built and temporarily installed a tool on your site to fix up the discussion ordering on your site.


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Paul, as usual, you are a genius. :D
Yes everything looks back to as it should be again... YAY!

Can you please tell me:
1) did this happen when that big batch of updates was applied- was it an update glitch in one of the modules- which module?

2) where can I see the 'tool' you temporarily installed? And... can i remove the tool once the next module release comes out? Or should i just leave your temp tool there. Which module release would the new fix be in?

Big hug!


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Not sure when or where it might have happened but as I said, I did find a code issue that could have caused it and that will be fixed in the next releases.


I built and installed a temporary module with this tool, ran it, then removed the module from your site. I am now considering whether to include the tool in the Group module incase this happens again to you, or has already happened to other users.


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Hi,
I'm afraid my Group discussions have re-scrambled their order again.


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Yes - I'm seeing this again. Did it happen after a specific action?
I'll get it sorted on your site again then finish the updates to the group modules and install them on your site.
Thanks


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

I've installed the module tool to fix this again and have run it, so things should be ok again.
I'm going to keep a regular eye on the site to see if this happens again, and if it happens suddenly or gradually.
Don't run the tool yourself, but let me know if you see this happening again before I do.
Thanks


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Ok will do Paul. Thanks so much for jumping into this so quickly and working on it!
I don't know if anything triggered it this time- a member reported it this morning again. And I've not been doing anything out of the ordinary/usual on my sites at all.


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

It has happened again. Thanks!


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

I've fixed this again.
I'm still not sure why this is happening on your site but I have now made updates to the group modules that might be contributory. These updates are not released yet but I have implemented them on your site, so if we can continue to monitor things there that would be great.
Thanks


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Yes, it's not problem for me to keep letting you know when/if it happens in the future, until you know for sure what the problem is causing it. I guess we should just leave this thread marked as 'investigating' for a while then?


--
...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

Thanks. Yes, let's leave this thread running until this is resolved.


--
Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist