Following Forum Posts

[Love Zhaoying]

When creating a new "topic" (aka "Thread"), the "Follow Topic" option should be defaulted to "Yes".

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

You can set it for yourself in your settings:

 

On the right side of the page:

 

 

Expand the Followed Content section

 

Check the first box:

[Love Zhaoying]

29 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

You can set it for yourself in your settings:

 

On the right side of the page:

 

 

Expand the Followed Content section

 

Check the first box:

Thanks, done! I did not know this was an option. I think the option should be defaulted.

[Solar Legion]

If you wish to follow your own posts constantly - set it up that way. The current default is fine.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Solar Legion said:

If you wish to follow your own posts constantly - set it up that way. The current default is fine.

I do not disagree - but as a pretty active Forumite, I had no idea the feature existed for setting the behavior. 

So, I assume most others will not know about it either - especially new Forumites who may create posts asking questions etc.

Don't you think "most" people would want to get notified when people reply to their posts, as a default? Sorry, I am actually curious, not just challenging you.

[Solar Legion]

59 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I do not disagree - but as a pretty active Forumite, I had no idea the feature existed for setting the behavior. 

So, I assume most others will not know about it either - especially new Forumites who may create posts asking questions etc.

Don't you think "most" people would want to get notified when people reply to their posts, as a default? Sorry, I am actually curious, not just challenging you.

People are already notified when a user directly responds to a post they have made, through the quote feature. They are also notified if someone reacts to a post.

"Follow Topic" is not about individual posts/responses.

Speaking for myself: If I start a thread, I will check up on it from time to time and pay attention to any sort of notification regarding direct, quoted responses - if a forum does such mind - as opposed to seeking to be notified whenever someone responds in general.

As far as not knowing about the setting for it? It is a god idea/practice to examine what settings are available in any given forum and to re-examine them from time to time to see if anything has changed.

Especially as regards notifications.

[Love Zhaoying]

5 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

People are already notified when a user directly responds to a post they have made, through the quote feature. They are also notified if someone reacts to a post.

"Follow Topic" is not about individual posts/responses.

Speaking for myself: If I start a thread, I will check up on it from time to time and pay attention to any sort of notification regarding direct, quoted responses - if a forum does such mind - as opposed to seeking to be notified whenever someone responds in general.

As far as not knowing about the setting for it? It is a god idea/practice to examine what settings are available in any given forum and to re-examine them from time to time to see if anything has changed.

Especially as regards notifications.

Ok, the only place I disagree with you is this:

Many who "reply" to a thread do not quote the original poster. 

The original poster will not get notified in those instances unless they enable the "Follow" option.

 

[Solar Legion]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

Ok, the only place I disagree with you is this:

Many who "reply" to a thread do not quote the original poster. 

The original poster will not get notified in those instances unless they enable the "Follow" option.

Therein lies the rub: Does the OP want to be notified for every single response to their thread or do they only want a notification for when they are directly quoted/reacted to?

If the former, manually enable the "Follow" option per thread or toggle the setting oneself. if the latter, nothing whatsoever need be done.

[Love Zhaoying]

14 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Does the OP want to be notified for every single response to their thread

I could be an "outlier" in that the answer for me is "yes", so I am glad the default exists.

[BillFletcher]

22 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

The original poster will not get notified in those instances unless they enable the "Follow" option.

True, but I don't follow any posts, I do have posts I am interested that I check when I log on, even if just to look at the list of posts in a given forum and see when the last post was. I personally like the way this works for me. I would prefer that my notifications be limited to quotes and reactions.

[Love Zhaoying]

6 minutes ago, BillFletcher said:

True, but I don't follow any posts,

You don't ever create new posts/threads yourself, that you want to follow?

That is what my original post in this thread is about: If you create a post/thread, you have to remember to select "follow".

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 9/27/2023 at 10:23 PM, Love Zhaoying said:

I think the option should be defaulted.

This really comes down to the philosophy of OPT IN or OPT OUT.  

In most things that can possibly end up being spammy, most folks would prefer to specifically have to OPT IN to get notifications.

[Love Zhaoying]

25 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

This really comes down to the philosophy of OPT IN or OPT OUT.  

In most things that can possibly end up being spammy, most folks would prefer to specifically have to OPT IN to get notifications.

Even in the context of my actual question, specifically: for posts (threads) someone creates themselves?

[Rowan Amore]

35 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Even in the context of my actual question, specifically: for posts (threads) someone creates themselves?

I don't follow topics I start.  

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

I don't follow topics I start.  

Ok, I thought of three reasons not to. Thanks to struggling with the reason why!

[Sid Nagy]

I don't follow postings either, and I would find it pretty annoying if I would get bells. buzzes or mails about somebody posting something.
I use forums like a newspaper: Scanning a lot, read here and there the full story and always my favorite columns.

[Love Zhaoying]

5 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

I don't follow postings either, and I would find it pretty annoying if I would get bells. buzzes or mails about somebody posting something.
I use forums like a newspaper: Scanning a lot, read here and there the full story and always my favorite columns.

With my notification settings, I get none of those when I follow posts. You can turn all those off. I just see a "notification  count" next time I go to the Forums, and the notification is listed under the "bell" icon. That's all..

 

[Sid Nagy]

I use "unread content" a lot, that way it is easy if something is going on lately in a thread that I'm interested in. I use the Bell only to see if someone quoted me.

[Love Zhaoying]

58 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

I use "unread content" a lot, that way it is easy if something is going on lately in a thread that I'm interested in. I use the Bell only to see if someone quoted me.

I use "unread content" when "notifications" go dry.  You know, if I need a "fix". ("I'm Jonesing for a fix for that hot Forum stuff, man!")

However, I've seen that "unread content" has its limits or seems too (I may be incorrect). 

I never use "Mark Site as Read", but notice that "unread content" only goes back so far.

[ValKalAstra]

On 9/30/2023 at 12:38 AM, Rowan Amore said:

I don't follow topics I start.  

Heck, I don't even follow my own thoughts. One second I'm all "This is Dove Skipper X30 on final approach to alpha centauri" and the next it's "how in the flying FFFF did my mind get here?!". Jokes aside, I tend to auto follow threads I have made because it's usually because I need help with something or want it to mean something. I do check quotes and summons too but otherwise, I have got a tendency to bow out of topics when they get too heated for me.