BlameThePixel!

//select unique rows only (don't think that matters for the new posts marker...) from the forums SELECT DISTINCT f_forums.id AS id FROM f_forums
//Get all the threads in the forum INNER JOIN f_threads ON f_threads.forum = f_forums.id //Get the row for the "read posts" table for this thread provided the user in the f_read table is the logged in user LEFT OUTER JOIN f_read ON f_read.thread = f_threads.id AND f_read.name='$loggedin' //Get special access stuff (to determine whether this person can view the forum) for this forum, again where the user is the logged in one LEFT OUTER JOIN f_saccess ON f_forums.id = f_saccess.forum AND f_saccess.user='$loggedin' //Check whether the user has the forum ignored, same as above really LEFT OUTER JOIN f_ignore ON f_ignore.forum = f_forums.id AND f_ignore.user='$loggedin' //Keep this row in if the current last post is later than the last read time, or the user hasn't viewed the thread at-all yet WHERE (f_read.time < f_threads.time OR f_read.thread IS NULL) // ( if the user has a status lower than the minimum access to the forum AND If the access type is 1 [the type for allowing access to special forums]) OR (the user has a status greater than the minimum or they are an admin) AND ((f_saccess.type=1 AND f_forums.minstatview > $status) OR f_forums.minstatview <= $status OR $status = 2) // (if they're not banned from the forum, OR there is no special access record for this user) AND ((f_saccess.type != -1) OR f_saccess.type IS NULL) // if they're no ignoring the forum
AND f_ignore.user IS NULL //if the last post time for the thread is greater than the cut-off time for marking posts as read (or when they clicked the "mark all posts as read" button) AND f_threads.time > $earliest