Another plea to allow disabling of notifications for SPECIFIC threads I've participated in.

vacheron

This issue has been raised many times since the software update years ago, but there is still no solution to what seems to be an obvious issue that surely affects and frustrates many. 

Below is an example of the issue:

I have posted in thousands of threads on MSE over the last 10 or so years. And while most threads naturally resolve quite quickly, or are eventually closed by the moderators, some are extremely popular and designed to run for years and years and can often wander way off the topic which interested me at the time I replied.

One good example is the New "Have a Look at This" thread, which currently runs to 1,286 pages in length. 

Because I commented on this thread years ago, I now recieve an email every time a new post appears on this thread. As a result I have been bombarded with literally hundreds, if not thousands, of notifications for this one single thread which arrive on an almost daily basis.

All I would like the option to do is remove a few specific threads like this one from my e-mail notifications.

I am aware that there is an option in "Notification Preferences" to select or unselect emails for "New replies on threads I've participated in". However this is all or nothing and so disabling this would stop all notifications for all threads, 99% of which I am still very interested in.

Please tell me there is a solution to this issue in the works? The forum digest announcement today (regarding ways to recieve yet more e-mails from this forum) prompted me to raise this again, as sometimes less really is more! 

Flugelhorn

why not just disable "New replies on threads I've participated in" and bookmark the threads you are interested in?

Sea_Shell

Flugelhorn said:

why not just disable "New replies on threads I've participated in" and bookmark the threads you are interested in?

This is what I do.

I now have 35 pages of bookmarked threads!!!!  

I need to go back through and have a cull, but I would still be interested in any "late" posts on some of these old threads.  Many of them on issues that never get resolved, or at least we're not told by the OP of any resolution/outcome.   One of my pet annoyances. 

MSE_Stephen

Hi 

This is not something the Forum Team have the ability to create. We can only advocate for features we'd like to see with the provider of our forum.

We know this is a features members have wanted for some time, and in fact it is listed as an upcoming feature,  marked as 'In Progress':

Mute Notifications 

This feature will give users more control over how they engage with content.

• Mute Notifications: Users will be able to mute notifications on posts [Threads] they follow, helping them reduce noise from threads they’re no longer interested in.

I'm afraid we don't have any information on when this will be available. 

vacheron

Flugelhorn said:

why not just disable "New replies on threads I've participated in" and bookmark the threads you are interested in?

HI @Flugelhorn.

Mainly because of what @Sea_Shell said above. 

I've participated in thousands of threads on MSE, but because the vast majority of these are now dormant I am happy to remain subscribed to them as I don't get e-mails anyway.

This method works in 99% of cases, but apparently the only option to resolve the maybe 5-10 threads where this causes a problem is to disable the notifications entirely and then manually subscribe to these thousands of threads (plus also remembering to subscribe to every new thread I post in) rather than simply being able to deselect one or two problem threads from time to time. 

The biggest frustration however is that I have been a forum poster (and moderator) on a number of UK forums since the late 1990's, and on all of these (mainly vBulletin based) forums, the approach is blindingly simple: 

1. When you post on a thread, you are "subscribed" to it automatically.
2. All subscribed threads send you updates about new posts etc.
3. If you are no longer interested in a particular thread, you go to it, click "unsubscribe" at the top of that particular thread, and you are done

You can then keep your "bookmarks" for the really special or important stuff.

Had I not experienced this simple and very established approach to notifications for almost 3 decades now, It wouldn't be nearly so frustrating that the MSE forum (which now use more than all the others), apparently still hasn't figured this out. 

vacheron

MSE_Stephen said:

Hi 

This is not something the Forum Team have the ability to create. We can only advocate for features we'd like to see with the provider of our forum.

We know this is a features members have wanted for some time, and in fact it is listed as an upcoming feature,  marked as 'In Progress':

Mute Notifications 

This feature will give users more control over how they engage with content.

• Mute Notifications: Users will be able to mute notifications on posts [Threads] they follow, helping them reduce noise from threads they’re no longer interested in.

I'm afraid we don't have any information on when this will be available. 

Thanks Stephen. 

Glad it is still on the radar, but given how long it has been since I saw people first requesting it, I feel it could be a long time (and thousands more unwanted e-mails in my inbox) before it potentially makes it into an updated release. 

Fingers crossed though! 

Flugelhorn

vacheron said:

Flugelhorn said:

why not just disable "New replies on threads I've participated in" and bookmark the threads you are interested in?

HI @Flugelhorn.

Mainly because of what @Sea_Shell said above. 

I've participated in thousands of threads on MSE, but because the vast majority of these are now dormant I am happy to remain subscribed to them as I don't get e-mails anyway.

This method works in 99% of cases, but apparently the only option to resolve the maybe 5-10 threads where this causes a problem is to disable the notifications entirely and then manually subscribe to these thousands of threads (plus also remembering to subscribe to every new thread I post in) rather than simply being able to deselect one or two problem threads from time to time. 

The biggest frustration however is that I have been a forum poster (and moderator) on a number of UK forums since the late 1990's, and on all of these (mainly vBulletin based) forums, the approach is blindingly simple: 

1. When you post on a thread, you are "subscribed" to it automatically.
2. All subscribed threads send you updates about new posts etc.
3. If you are no longer interested in a particular thread, you go to it, click "unsubscribe" at the top of that particular thread, and you are done

You can then keep your "bookmarks" for the really special or important stuff.

Had I not experienced this simple and very established approach to notifications for almost 3 decades now, It wouldn't be nearly so frustrating that the MSE forum (which now use more than all the others), apparently still hasn't figured this out. 

I am just a bit more picky as to what I subscribe to  - the forums where I am moderator I keep an eye on without the need for notifications, which are just kept to highlight problems 

J_B

MSE_Stephen said:

Hi 

This is not something the Forum Team have the ability to create. 

Dare I say that they B*** well ought to.

I commented on the LPG thread when we had a house with LPG

We sold this house in 2017 but still the notifications come.

I wouldn't have thought a simple on/off switch would be beyond the abilities of a simple computer geek!

MSE_Stephen

J_B said:

MSE_Stephen said:

Hi 

This is not something the Forum Team have the ability to create. 

Dare I say that they B*** well ought to.

I commented on the LPG thread when we had a house with LPG

We sold this house in 2017 but still the notifications come.

I wouldn't have thought a simple on/off switch would be beyond the abilities of a simple computer geek!

Hi

The Forum Team look after the day-to-day running of the Forum.

Our provider handles all the techie stuff. Sometimes we have a limited capability to make some minor tweaks and improvements - depending on the settings available, and some places we can add customisations.

But we cannot change the core functionality of the forum.

Flugelhorn

J_B said:

MSE_Stephen said:

Hi 

This is not something the Forum Team have the ability to create. 

Dare I say that they B*** well ought to.

I commented on the LPG thread when we had a house with LPG

We sold this house in 2017 but still the notifications come.

I wouldn't have thought a simple on/off switch would be beyond the abilities of a simple computer geek!

just switch all "notifications for threads I have posted in" off and bookmark the threads you want to follow 

J_B

MSE_Stephen said:

J_B said:

MSE_Stephen said:

Hi 

This is not something the Forum Team have the ability to create. 

Dare I say that they B*** well ought to.

I commented on the LPG thread when we had a house with LPG

We sold this house in 2017 but still the notifications come.

I wouldn't have thought a simple on/off switch would be beyond the abilities of a simple computer geek!

Hi

The Forum Team look after the day-to-day running of the Forum.

Our provider handles all the techie stuff. Sometimes we have a limited capability to make some minor tweaks and improvements - depending on the settings available, and some places we can add customisations.

But we cannot change the core functionality of the forum.

Message received and understood - thank you 

Maybe I ought to rephrase my comment that the provider ought to be able to make such a simple tweak