OK I’ve been answering support questions for 2 weeks – now I’ve got a question

  • pinoyca

    (@pinoyca)


    16 years ago

    I have replied to around 200 topics now and I have helped in a good number of inquiries here so I think I have earned an honest answer to a question:

    Will “Notify me if there is a new post in this thread” ever be implemented in this forum?

    1. How will I know if somebody I replied to 12 days ago has a follow up question specifically for me? The topic is already on page 6 of my activity list. 200 favorites, is that it?

    2. Do plugin authors get notified when someone posts a discussion on their plugin page? Answer this: Why not?

    Have a nice day.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Len

    (@lenk)

    16 years ago

    Yeah I wouldn’t mind seeing a better notification system either. Digging through the various threads in my profile doesn’t really thrill me nor does the RSS option. It would be nice if bbPress introduced an email update option or some such thing. Maybe one day. 😉

    Edit: I just took a look at the bbPress forum and evidently they have a plugin that will do just that. Now if we can get it implemented here…
    http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/plugin-post-notification?replies=44

    Thread Starter pinoyca

    (@pinoyca)

    16 years ago

    200 favorites … is that it, Matt/Michael?

    Could this be why thousands and thousands of support topics are never ‘resolved’? Because posters never hear whether someone answers? Because later readers never find out if the earlier suggestion worked? Is that worth being fast, light and efficient, Matt?

    I’d like to stay and help more, but….

    Roy

    (@gangleri)

    16 years ago

    Pinoy, I once commented on a plugin page and I could check receive an email notification if someone replied. However the problem has long been solved I still get an email notification when somebody comments on that post. What I mean to say is: it might be very hard to make something that makes notifications only when the user wants to. The only option that I can think of is a “let xxx know” marker for a poster in which (s)he can check the names of anyone who has posted in a particular thread until then (and perhaps the starter of the thread gets a notification by default).

    As for your question two, I think this could be relatively easily solved, since it seems that you can ‘subscribe’ to tags and a tag with a plugin name could be automatically added when somebody replies from the ‘plugin page’ at WP.org.

    Jut a few suggestions for the forum builders perhaps.
    And like I suggested in another thread, maybe it is an idea to have a ‘this forum’ part on this forum for these kinds of threads.

    Thread Starter pinoyca

    (@pinoyca)

    16 years ago

    Gangleri, I’m replying to your comment more than 24 hours after you posted it. As I type this, I am doubtful you will read this. Think about it. Do you ever check the post you made five days ago ( e.g., http://wordpress.org/support/topic/162534 ) for new messages? I checked your favourites RSS and this topic and that one aren’t in it.

    In fact I have no means to let you know I need you on this or that topic — or any topic here for that matter.

    What sort of efficient support forum is this?

    I’m not just talking to Gangleri. I’m talking to everyone here.

    I checked a couple of moderators’ favourites RSSes and they were all empty of recent replies. Therefore, the moderators don’t have “200 favourites”. What sort of forum has no internal means to contact individual moderators?

    A broken one.

    This brokenness is probably okay if this forum is chatter about Justin Timberlake’s latest music and concerts. Or about Ma.tt’s photography.

    No. Each topic here must be treated as a “support ticket”, which it is.

    ..

    But let me get to the Gangleri’s point:

    > However the problem has long been solved I still get an email notification when somebody comments on that post.

    Internet forum software have had a “post notification” feature since 1996 — the hallmark that time is called UBB (Ultimate Bulletin Board). Gangleri, in case you haven’t used a Internet bulletin board all your life and have never checked “Notify me if there is a new post in this thread” in one, let me teach you how it works. When you check such a box, yes, you will receive an email when someone comments on that thread. The standard format of that email ALWAYS has an “Stop notifying me” unsubscribe link at the bottom. So people can and do bail out when they no longer care. Unwanted messages are never a problem.

    What is a problem here is a LACK OF MESSAGES.

    Can a kind reader please pass this message to Matt Mullenweg? I think he expects us to put each topic we reply to to our favourites. That’s strange, because I checked his favourites RSS http://wordpress.org/support/rss/profile/1 and he obviously isn’t doing it.

    Have a nice day.

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    WordPress.org Admin

    16 years ago

    Forum ideas and suggestions should go to the wp-forums mailing list. That’s where we discuss (and complain about the lack of) forum features and functionality.

    http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums

    Complaining here won’t accomplish anything. Complaining there might.

    FWIW, I do not, and have never used, email notifications on any forum. I would find that extremely annoying if a forum started emailing me about replies, actually. I’d much rather have the forum show me threads I’ve participated in, sorted by the most recent activity of those threads.

    moshu

    (@moshu)

    16 years ago

    I kinda agree with Otto.

    In the old design looking at the threads in my own profile I could at least see which topic has been visited (normal font) and which has new posts – bold font. Now everything is bold. Bad.

    Also, the topics I participated in are listed by the time of my first post in the thread. This should be changed to bring the latest activity to the top – as it was the main page of the forum in the past.

    But yes, we should write all this to the mailing list.

    Roy

    (@gangleri)

    16 years ago

    I partially don’t agree with Pinoy, I can see this thread in my profile, right? The “threads started” function no longer works, but I can simply see every thread that I replied to and see if someone else has made another comment. I didn’t know about the mailing list that Otto points to. I suggested a forum part on this forum for discussions like this, but there is another option for that apparently.

    ruigato

    (@ruigato)

    16 years ago

    please add notification trough email to the forum..

    DianeV

    (@dianev)

    16 years ago

    Moshu, I agree. While I like the new forums layout, the usability with respect to the appearance of links/visited links is gone.

    I mean, if the links are a menu, then make them look the same always (except for the hover property, when you cursor over them). But if they’re a list of thread links, then make it clear which threads you’ve already visited.

    Yes, I’m over-explaining this. 🙂

    createsean

    (@createsean)

    15 years, 3 months ago

    No notifications is really annoying. Every other forum on the internet has it and it should be considered a basic usability feature here.

    All other CMSs that I use I get better community support due to topic reply notifications.

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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