The Difference Between New and Unread Messages

After reporting problems with the “New” and “Unread” numbers of postings (in Discussions) and messages (in Mail) not reflecting the actual totals of new and unread postings and messages, Blackboard Support responded with the following explanation of the difference between the two concepts in Blackboard. Since it’s “right from the horse’s mouth” I’m repeating their responses verbatim (but with a few grammatical corrections):

This issue has been reported to our developers by a few institutions. According to them the discussion tool is functioning as design[ed]. Here is the explanation on New, Read and UnRead:

New and Unread are different concepts.

"Unread" only is used to indicate there are messages never read before. The number before "unread" represents how many messages have not been read in this thread.

There are two different kind[s] of meaning[s] [for] "New":

#1. "New" after the discussion topic is used to [indicate] if there [were] messages posted after this user accessed this topic last time or not. The number before "new" represent[s] the number of messages posted after this user accessed this topic last time.

#2. "New” after the message subject is used to [indicate] this message has never been read before.

The number of "unread" messages under the topic does not have to [be] equal to the number of "new" (#1 [above]) messages for this topic because it is possible and reasonable for [the] user to read the messages which they have interest in only and leave some messages unread, [so for] this topic for him/her, it is not "new" any more.

In other words, “New” refers to new messages or postings and any posting or message can be “New” only once. If you fail to read a “New” message, it is not “New” the next time you access the thread but may still be “Unread.”