How To Get Email Notifications For Replies To A Post?

[Verminator]

Can someone tell me if there is a setting I can choose (I've looked and can't find it) that allows an email to be sent to me when someone replies to one of my posts?

It used to happen automatically, or there was at least an option to receive an immediate email when a reply to the post happened, but now I can't see how to set this, and it certainly does NOT email when replies are received.

Thanks in advance if someone can help me here.

 

[atikovi]

Nope, remember when it used to happen automatically too. Alternative after you made a post is to click on the box to the right of "Hop To" which lets you "Follow Thread" and THAT sends you emails each time an additional post is made. You just have remember to do that everytime after making posts in another thread.

 

[Verminator]

Thanks. That will work for me. Just didn't know that button was there...so although not ideal, it will do the trick. Thanks!

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by Verminator
Just didn't know that button was there.


I only stumbled on it by accident myself. It's like the internet is designed by millenials who seem to think everybody knows what every symbol is and a printed title isn't needed. Why couldn't they have written on that button, "Follow Thread" like the two others to the left of it?

 

[Dave9]

^ To some extent I agree, that new-user-friendliness is not great in many web forums, but typically this kind of setting is on a row like it is here, at the top of the topic. Sometimes it's in the topic options instead of a separate icon, but it is probably for the best that people aren't auto-subscribed.

Consider that if you are auto-subscribed to every topic you participate in, that even though there are fewer replies to topics as they age, over years of posting you will be getting more and more topic replies. There was a time when I was getting well over 50 topic replies a day due to so many years I had posted in forums and it was just too much, so one by one I had to unsubscribe unless I wanted to nuke all replies from the entire forum. In an automotive context that sometimes made sense, for example if it was for a vehicle forum and I no longer owned the vehicle.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by Dave9
^ To some extent I agree, that new-user-friendliness is not great in many web forums, but typically this kind of setting is on a row like it is here, at the top of the topic. Sometimes it's in the topic options instead of a separate icon, but it is probably for the best that people aren't auto-subscribed.

Consider that if you are auto-subscribed to every topic you participate in, that even though there are fewer replies to topics as they age, over years of posting you will be getting more and more topic replies. There was a time when I was getting well over 50 topic replies a day due to so many years I had posted in forums and it was just too much, so one by one I had to unsubscribe unless I wanted to nuke all replies from the entire forum. In an automotive context that sometimes made sense, for example if it was for a vehicle forum and I no longer owned the vehicle.


I've registered at probably over 500 forums the last 20 years and some of them have automatically set the default notification to "do not subscribe." So I make a few posts, but thinking I didn't get any replies because I didn't get an email notifying me of them, I don't bother visiting that forum again. I can't imagine why forum administrators wouldn't make the default notification to "instant" and why posters wouldn't want that. I mean, why post a comment or question if you don't want to see the reply. And as for flooding your email with notifications, most forums only send ONE email per thread until you log back in to the thread, but of course, they don't have that here either. EVERYtime there is a reply in the thread, you get an email. Why can't THAT be fixed?

 

[Dave9]

^ Even on forums where there was only one email sent, no matter how many replies to a topic, I was still getting swamped because as stated, over years the sheer # of topics adds up.

At its worst it is someone posting in some very old topic about a fairly unrelated issue, or a spammer, or a "me too" post, or someone who waited weeks if not months to start participating in the topic again, long after everyone has forgotten all the topic content so they'd have to re-read it all.

I do feel that any topic thread someone starts, should have auto-notify enabled by default, but maybe even an auto-notify should have an expiration date by default.

 

[RooflessVW]

I'd rather have a "notifications" counter near my name so I can jump to unread replies in threads I've participated in.

If I got an email for every reply, my inbox would have a meltdown every time someone engaged Edy about his Sienna.

 

[Duffyjr]

Some forums put a check mark next to the threads you have participated in. I'm with roofless on the email thing, I get enough emails the way it is. To see what threads I have participated in I click on my username and click on the link right below it when the menu drops down, shows me a list of them from newest to oldest.

 

[wemay]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I'd rather have a "notifications" counter near my name so I can jump to unread replies in threads I've participated in.

If I got an email for every reply, my inbox would have a meltdown every time someone engaged Edy about his Sienna.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I'd rather have a "notifications" counter near my name so I can jump to unread replies in threads I've participated in.

If I got an email for every reply, my inbox would have a meltdown every time someone engaged Edy about his Sienna.

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