Changes to Forums notifications
Posted , 15 users are following.
Hi,
We wanted to let you know about some changes to the way that Patient.info Forum updates are set to be delivered.
After looking at our data along with feedback from a number of users, we realised that some users were receiving a huge number of emails from us as a result of activity on the forums.
While we realise that some users welcome regular updates, for the majority it was a bit of an issue and it also meant that some email providers stopped important updates from reaching our users.
As a result, we're making the following changes in the coming weeks:
- Browser notifications for Private Messages and Replies
Instead of (or alongside, if you choose) receiving email updates, you will now be able to opt in to browser notifications. This will reduce the number of updates that you get to your inbox and allow you to instantly access new messages.
Simply click "Allow" on the prompts when you next visit Patient.info Forums or visit your settings notifications page to update your settings if you want to opt into these notifications.
- Changes to forum emails
•You will now only receive emails for forum replies and private messages.
•New discussions from your groups will not trigger an email.
•You will only receive reply emails for messages posted directly to youinstead of all replies in a thread.
•You can still see all notifications (including new discussions and all replies) by visiting your notifications page.
These changes are designed to reduce the number of emails that our users receive and highlight the important messages that get through to you.
- Email frequency and format
As well as reducing the number of emails, we're also changing the format of a number of them.
Active users will still continue to receive all emails, however those that take some time away will see their emails grouped together if they have multiple notifications.
Generally, these will be grouped every 6 hours, 24 hours and 7 days, with a roundup including a highlighted comment and the total number of notifications.
Again, we're looking to reduce the number of emails clogging up your inbox and improving our communication with you to highlight the things that matter to our users.
We hope that you continue to enjoy the Patient Forums and if you wish to change any of your settings, you can edit all of your communications preferences here.
1 like, 74 replies
AllyCD Emis_Moderator
Posted
and now I can't find my first reply!
nick67069 Emis_Moderator
Posted
Another improvement would be if we had "Mark as read" tick box as part of the post, in addition to notification page. For example as I read discussion between you , Eileen and Ptolemy I should be able to check off all those messages that I read, rather then go back and forth to notification page and thread I am reading.
dmart7 Emis_Moderator
Edited
What a shame. An erstwhile excellent forum has effectively been closed down. I have found the "notifications" page but it is no substitute for seeing every PMR/GCA-related message drop into my email. And I share the additional burden of how complicated this has been made. And it is not pretty to see the attempts to justify the change...
ptolemy dmart7
Posted
I totally agree, because I do not get emails I forget to log in and when I do I have a list of totally incomprehensible notifications. If you use more than one forum it is close to nightmarish.
EileenH ptolemy
Posted
Same here. I wouldn't mind as much of their "new improved" push thing worked but I went to my settings, added that but have had nothing for 10 days (I assume since that is the age of the oldest notification).
However - I had been logged out and had to sign in again. Which I never had to do.
EileenH dmart7
Posted
Couldn't agree more!
ptolemy EileenH
Posted
Being nerdish, I was wondering how many posts are actually being made daily? We are told that they wanted to send emails out to a million people, but I reckon they would be lucky to get two hundred posts on a good day based on the number posts I am getting.
EileenH ptolemy
Edited
Actually - now I think about it, there were 7 new posts in my list - never a notification appeared, of any sort. Time to pm the boss methinks. They really have made a total bollocks of this ...
nick67069 EileenH
Posted
With so many objections and problems, I am surprised that they did not just go back to previous version. I am sure they have backup and it would be relatively simple to reinstall previous version. Then at least we would have working site while discussing what changes should be developed. As it is it is almost useless.
EileenH nick67069
Posted
I'm not surprised - have you noticed any interest or care for what the users want in the last 3 years? Because I haven't.
If they don't even tell us if a new thread appears in our own home forum what use is it? Someone new finds it via a browser search and asks a question. No-one is told it is there so no-one replies. The newcomer assumes the site is defunct as no conversation develops and they give up. I had 7 new threads to look at yesterday - not told about any of them. I don't care about specifically being told someone has replied to ME, I need to know that someone has joined a conversation I was part of.
nick67069 EileenH
Posted
I am not sure what the reason for last ( or several recent) changes was, but it certainly was not user's needs or requests driving it... BTW there was no message about your reply to my comments - I just happen to check... It is really hard to participate in this forum. Sad.
EileenH nick67069
Posted
Alan assures me you get told when someone replies to you - so report it FAO Alan - so he can see it isn't just me complaining.
Emis_Moderator nick67069
Posted
Hi Nick,
I'll get someone to look into notifications for your account. As Eileen says you should get an email if they are switched on when someone posts a direct reply to you.
Alan
Emis_Moderator EileenH
Posted
Hi Eileen,
I've replied to Nick above. Regarding not being able to Report a post, this is another known bug to do with the infinite scroll. If you start on page 1 and scroll through the pages to eg page 3 then the Report link does not work on that page. While on page 3 if you Ctrl/F5 to refresh the page it will work.
This has been reported for a while and is one of the many issue with infinite scroll.
I have a list of things I want doing in the forums and will continue asking and feeding back users comments. I am keeping an eye on things so aware of these discussions but I will try again to get the depth of feeling through to get some priority for the forums.
Alan
EileenH Emis_Moderator
Posted
Infinite scroll????? No - I had gone straight to the post from notifications as far as I remember, Definitely hadn't started at the beginning.
nick67069 EileenH
Posted
same here.. from notification page I picked your post and replied to you... never paged/scrolled through posts...
nick67069 Emis_Moderator
Posted
I did not get email for this post either in spite that you replied directly to me.
Emis_Moderator EileenH
Posted
Ok, I've checked Report function coming from the notification and it works as below. The other known issue with Report link is if you open the box but scroll the page even slightly the box disappears. As I've said I have quite the list of things to get fixed.
Anhaga nick67069
Posted
I couldn't stand all the email notifications so these have been disabled in my account forever, I just go to the notifications list where I see new posts, which I follow even if I don't reply at that time, and I saw all the replies recently made in this thread.
My beef is that it is so slow and painstaking to toggle back and forth from that notifications list, but I don't think I've been missing anything. If I am, it's because new posts are not appearing in the list of all activity in this community which would be even more serious than not getting personal notifications.
nick67069 Anhaga
Posted
There are other ways to deal with multiple emails from the same sender... I forward them to a specific folder. When the folder receives any new email it changes look to "unread" and that was my "notification" about new activity. When I am done with emails received, I delete them. Look of the folder changes to "read" . Relatively simple system. I can either click on any of the emails ( which I didn't and perhaps I am not the only one, because Alan thinks that nobody opens the emails) ; my preferred option is to bookmark one of my posts and that leads me to notification page with the list of new posts and replies.
Emis_Moderator Anhaga
Posted
Hi Anhaga,
I don't know if you saw my post further up the thread about a way of using the notification page to make it quicker but copied below.
I don't know if it will help but while you are on notifications page on a laptop/PC if you press CTRL and click this opens each link in a new tab. You can then read each one in these tabs and when finished close them. Once back on notifications page do Ctrl/F5 or Ctrl/R to refresh the page. This will mark any/all opened in tabs as read without having to select each one and clicking the button. If you don't open any in a new tab they will remain as unread on page.
For iPad/Android - Touch and hold the link, then tap Open in New Tab. Or, tap the link with two fingers.
EileenH nick67069
Edited
I'm damned if I can see why I should have to go to all this effort when for the last 12 years I have used the forum in much the same way which was simple and easy. But the forum thinks that the people who turned up for Covid-19 and, at a guess, have now lost interest, are more important that the long standing members. It's a bit like how the new customers of an insurance company, or utility supplier got the special offers...
Anhaga Emis_Moderator
Posted
When I press ctrl nothing happens at all so there must be a step I'm missing. It's easier for me to choose one of the replies to a thread and when in the thread read all the replies. At the end of my time on the forum any given day I just ask that all notifications be marked as read. Now that the community is so inactive it's easy enough to keep up. When the changes were first instituted it was a nightmare especially as for so long one couldn't select notifications to be deleted, it was all or nothing. Now that we have that ability it's hardly necessary any more.Sometimes days go by with no new notifications. PMR remains the most active of the communities I follow. I can't remember how long it's been since I saw anything from osteoporosis or osteoarthritis. Weeks if not months.
Emis_Moderator Anhaga
Edited
Hi Anhaga,
Keep holding the Ctrl button down and use the mouse to click each link on the page. This opens a new tab for each link clicked as below (click image to see). I was on notifications page and Ctrl/clicked 8 links. After viewing each tab I refreshed the notifications page and those 8 are marked as read.