Make the New blog message disappear after reading it

Question

While I'm very happy with the new blog link in the header (it does wonders for the traffic), I've heard several complaints regarding the red [new] tag.

It's supposed to indicate there's a new blog post and it's only displayed 24 hours after posting, but after I've read the blog post the [new] tag is like an annoying Inbox that keeps saying I've got unread messages.

Is it possible to make the [new] tag disappear after I clicked the link?

Answer 1

Starting with the next build, we'll use localStorage to remember you clicked to read the blog or dismissed the blog indicator. You will be able to either:

• click on the (new) indicator to only make the indicator go away
• or click on the blog link to go read the blog

Either of the above will dismiss the new indicator and it won't show up again until the next blog post.

Answer 2

I also find the red "new" label () distracting:

• It's larger and more prominent than the Stack Exchange notifications at the left of the header
• It sticks around for 24 hours even though I've read the recent post, because...
• Subscribing to the RSS feed is a much more sensible way of being notified of blog updates

Possible changes to mitigate this:

• Only show "new" once, e.g., the first time the home page is loaded, per user, after a new blog post.
• Hide it for logged-in users with at least a certain rep. These users will probably know about the blog anyway.
• Unify the log-in method of the blogs with SE accounts. Each blog could track the time of each user's last visit, and show "new" accordingly. This should cover RSS feeds too, as long as you visit the blog page. This would sort of be a partial implementation of the suggestion here, and it could involve a lot of work.
• Reduce the time threshold for showing the "new" label, e.g., to 4 hours. This might be needed anyway if there are several posts per week - otherwise the "new" message might be present most of the time, and lose its impact. It might mean some people are asleep or otherwise and miss the notification for some posts, but regular visitors will notice it every now and again. The time could even be tuned, roughly based on the frequency of posts to each blog.
• Clicking on the blog link while "new" is present hides "new" until a new blog entry is posted. I don't like this because I'll end up having to click it pointlessly, just to make it go away.
• Add an option in user preferences (I don't like this option either - it's too trivial).

• Something like this Chrome extension:

  newPostLabels = document.getElementsByClassName("new-blog-post");
  
  if (newPostLabels.length > 0) {
      newPostLabels[0].parentNode.removeChild(newPostLabels[0]);
  }
  

A lot of effort seems to go into the community blogs, certainly for Super User, and they're a good supplement to the main sites. I'm just suggesting that this method of notification is over the top. We already have blog adverts on SU, and lots of cross-linking to the blog from relevant SU posts.

Answer 3

It could just appear (and, more importantly: disappear) in the normal inbox.