Hi

1)
In the notification mail when subscribing to new comments, it says that the user needs to manually re-activate the subscription. If not, it will automatically re-activate in X days.

Why is the function built that way? If I have subscribed to new comments, I want to either get notifications or I want to cancel the subscription.

Why have the middle step of re-activating after each notification mail?

2)
Also, is it possible to subscribe to only specific new comments or replies? Such as the function for this thread I'm writing now... Example: I don't want notifications for every new thread and reply in the forum, only replies to my own thread(s).

Regards
Nils

Well, a lot of people don't check their email very often, perhaps only every few days. If there are 10 comments per day then that's about 30 emails the user would have to deal with when they next log in. With the re-activation feature, it's just 1 email to deal with. The user can then visit the website and view any comments that have been posted since that email. Personally, I don't want to receive 10 emails every day. I like to keep my incoming emails to a minimum. If I want to receive more notifications for that day, I would just click the re-activation link. As a user, I would really appreciate this feature. I don't know if you have ever used the vBulletin forum but it works in a very similar way. The user receives a notification email of a new post and the email tells the user that they won't receive any more notification emails for that thread until they next log in to the forum. If you still want to send a notification email to your users every single time that a new comment is submitted then simply go to Tasks -> Re-activate Inactive Subscribers and change the Days from 3 to 0. Then go to Settings -> Email -> Editor -> User -> Subscriber Notification and remove the text about re-activation.

I'm not familiar with v bulletin, but I see the point now why it's built that way. Yah, I agree with you. Thanks for clarifying.

I too don't want emails for every new thread, but I do would like to be able to subscribe to the posts I make. Is that possible, just like in this forum?

It's something which I'd like to add. However there are so many ways to develop it that I'm waiting until I have a clear plan about how it should work. Maybe we can discuss that now.

I think one way would be to provide some options when the user posts a comment, like this:

   

Although it would work, there are a few things to consider.

1) The user can't subscribe to another person's individual comment.
2) The user has to post a comment in order to subscribe.

Another way (possibly in combination with the above) would be to add a button to each comment giving the user the option to subscribe to that individual comment, like this:

   

When clicked, it would need to ask for the user's email address. It would then need to send a confirmation email to make sure the user actually wanted to subscribe.

As the user would be able to have multiple subscriptions, I think there would need to be a way to unsubscribe from all subscriptions at once.

Actually, the option "Only replies to all my comments" probably isn't needed.

(06-Oct-2012, 09:04 PM)Steven Wrote:  Actually, the option "Only replies to all my comments" probably isn't needed.

Interesting ideas!!

Now I'm thinking of how e.g. 1) Facebook works compared to 2) how this forum works...

1) On Facebook, you automatically subscribe to all threads in which you have made a reply.
The consequence is that you get a whole bunch of notifications if the thread becomes popular, regardless if a reply is made to your specific reply or the owner of the thread's reply. The result can be annoying. However, you have the option to stop subscribing to that tread once you've made a reply in the thread.

2) In this forum, you have the OPTION of subscribing to the thread IF you have made a reply, or started a new thread before posting your reply.
The consequence is that you are in control of how many notifications you receive whether there are replies to your comment or not.

However, Steven, your suggestion no. 2 is to be able to to subscribe to ANY comment/thread regardless of owner of the comment/reply. It's a kind of hybrid, right? If I find a reply to a thread interesting, I should be able to start a subscription of future replies in the middle of a discussion.

To adopt a Facebook-like solution (like no. 1 above) can be strategically smart though, since a lot of users probably have a Facebook account and that would render a familiar way of handling subscriptions.

Nonetheless, I'm in favor of your second suggestion. Let's put more power of consequence in the hands of the users. Make it possible for the user to control how he/she wants to handle his/hers subscriptions, and make it easy to opt out if one thinks it's too much.

If I want to subscribe to an interesting comment regardless if that comment is a reply to a parent comment or a brand new thread (and thus subscribing automatically to all its future replies), I should be able to do so. But then it should be easy for me to cancel that subscription and also to understand which subscription I'm actually cancelling if I have many at the same time

I agree that the option of "Only replies to all my comments" is not needed.

As long as it is clear to the user how things works and how to opt out, I like your second idea. More freedom of choice, but also more consequences....

Okay, I think to manage it, there needs to be a proper interface for the user. This could be the /comments/subscribers.php file. How about the following. The user selects the "Notify me of new comments via email" checkbox when posting a comment, exactly like it is now. He then clicks the confirmation link in the confirmation email, exactly like it is now. After clicking the confirmation link, he is taken to the /comments/subscribers.php page. The page says that his subscription is now confirmed. It also says that he is currently subscribed to receive notifications of:

(1) New comments
(2) All replies

There will be a setting on the page to disable the notification of new comments.

Below that, it explains that instead of being subscribed to all replies, he can choose to receive replies to only particular comments. It then has a setting with 3 choices:

- All replies
- Only replies to my comments
- Custom

Next to the custom option, there is a link to the comments page. The link has ?cmtx_user=f9weklfsoo7dkjsf at the end, where the value f9weklfsoo7dkjsf is the unique ID of the user's subscription. So after clicking it, the user is now viewing the comments page with his unique ID in the URL. The script knows that this user is authentic, and it knows the user's email address and that it is confirmed. Each comment has a subscribe button. When the user clicks it, it tells the subscribers.php file (perhaps using jQuery so the user doesn't leave the page) that the user wants to subscribe to replies for that particular comment. If the user clicks the subscribe button without their subscription ID in the URL, or the ID is invalid, it takes them to the subscribers.php page where he can register a new subscription. This means he doesn't have to post a comment in order to subscribe.

With an interface, it could list all of the individual subscriptions with a delete link next to each one. Also, a delete all link.

There could be a setting to say how many notifications he wants to receive per subscription, whether it's unlimited or no more than x a day. The default could be unlimited.

The interface could even allow the user to change their email address.

(08-Oct-2012, 05:37 PM)Steven Wrote:  Okay, I think to manage it, there needs to be a proper interface for the user. This could be the /comments/subscribers.php file. How about the following. The user selects the "Notify me of new comments via email" checkbox when posting a comment, exactly like it is now. He then clicks the confirmation link in the confirmation email, exactly like it is now. After clicking the confirmation link, he is taken to the /comments/subscribers.php page. The page says that his subscription is now confirmed. It also says that he is currently subscribed to receive notifications of:

(1) New comments
(2) All replies

There will be a setting on the page to disable the notification of new comments.

Below that, it explains that instead of being subscribed to all replies, he can choose to receive replies to only particular comments. It then has a setting with 3 choices:

- All replies
- Only replies to my comments
- Custom

Next to the custom option, there is a link to the comments page. The link has ?cmtx_user=f9weklfsoo7dkjsf at the end, where the value f9weklfsoo7dkjsf is the unique ID of the user's subscription. So after clicking it, the user is now viewing the comments page with his unique ID in the URL. The script knows that this user is authentic, and it knows the user's email address and that it is confirmed. Each comment has a subscribe button. When the user clicks it, it tells the subscribers.php file (perhaps using jQuery so the user doesn't leave the page) that the user wants to subscribe to replies for that particular comment. If the user clicks the subscribe button without their subscription ID in the URL, or the ID is invalid, it takes them to the subscribers.php page where he can register a new subscription. This means he doesn't have to post a comment in order to subscribe.

With an interface, it could list all of the individual subscriptions with a delete link next to each one. Also, a delete all link.

There could be a setting to say how many notifications he wants to receive per subscription, whether it's unlimited or no more than x a day. The default could be unlimited.

The interface could even allow the user to change their email address.

Wow. That sounds great, just by reading the plans. I'd be happy to try out the interface if you create a beta/demo.

I like the fact that the user is able to control his/hers subscriptions in an easy way and also not having to write a reply just to subscribe/unsubscribe.

Keep it up!
/N