my query: SELECT content.*, activity_log.content_id FROM content LEFT JOIN activity_log ON content.id = activity_log.content_id AND sess_id = '$sess_id' WHERE activity_log.content_id IS NULL AND visibility = $visibility AND content.reported < ".REPORTED_LIMIT." AND content.file_ready = 1 LIMIT 1 The purpose of that query is to get 1 row from the content table that has not been viewed by the user (identified by session_id), but it still returns contents that have been viewed. What is wrong? ( I have checked the table making sure that the content_ids are there) Note: I think this is more efficient than using subqueries, thoughts?