Agilix Backpack

Some of you may find when working in discussion boards that Backpack appears to lose the “read” status for previously read discussion board posts. Unfortunately, this is caused by a bug on some Blackboard servers. Some versions of Blackboard server ignore the read/unread status sent by Backpack.

I’m afraid there is not much you can do about this. Agilix has reported the problem to Blackboard, Inc., but it has not yet been resolved.

This is what happens (this all happens within 1-2 seconds):

1. You read a post in Backpack; Backpack marks it as “read”
2. When you sync with your Blackboard account, Backpack sends the “read” status to the server
3. The server accepts the status without returning an error to Backpack
4. The server then drops the status for some unknown reason (so it retains its “unread” status for the post)
5. Backpack immediately attempts to re-sync with the server, requesting updates for all statuses
6. The server sends the “unread” status back to Backpack (because it ignored the “read” status)
7. Backpack changes its “read” status back to “unread” because that is what the server told it to do

There is no fix and no work around for this bug. Backpack will always sync to match what the server shows. So, for instance, if you were to go online to read the posts, they would change to “read” online. Then, when you sync Backpack with the server again, the status will change from “unread” to “read” in Backpack to match the server.

Trust me – Agilix knows how frustrating this bug is. It is frustrating to them, too! Unfortunately, the fix must be made on the server side by Blackboard, Inc.