Suggestion: Automatically Subscribe Members to Their Topics

[WebbyB]

Hi,

I've noticed the option to:
Automatically subscribe to every forum

But you can imagine the horde of unwanted emails people get, so is it possible to add another option to automatically subscribe members to every topic they create please? There is an option for them to subscribe manually but would be better in a lot of cases for them to automatically be subscribed - then ubsubscribe shouold they want to.

Cheers, :)

[broni]

Aren't they?

is it possible to add another option to automatically subscribe members to every topic they create please?

[bfarber]

There's an option in the user's user control panel they can enable for this already.

[WebbyB]

I appreciate that,

What I was wondering was if the Admin panel can have a Global enable - then the user can disbale it via their own cp ?

[Bryan Sammers]

[quote name='WebbyB' date='01 February 2010 - 06:22 PM' timestamp='1265044976' post='1907631']
What I was wondering was if the Admin panel can have a Global enable - then the user can disbale it via their own cp ?


That is a feature I'd also desperately need.

[Wolfie]

Very very VERY bad idea. Your board would get marked as being a source of spam in no time flat.

[Bryan Sammers]

[quote name='.Wolfie' date='01 February 2010 - 07:59 PM' timestamp='1265050761' post='1907693']
Very very VERY bad idea.  Your board would get marked as being a source of spam in no time flat.


Every vbulletin board has this enabled by standard. Having a big board my mails are not marked as spam even if 90% of my users have enabled the "write me an email once I get replies to a topic that I subscribed" - and that for years. I can't help but wonder that the "notify the user by: email, pn, on the start page" functions are not that worked out in IPB 3.0. I hope to see there improvement as these tools raise the users interaction. 

[Wolfie]

Keep in mind that just because vB does something a certain way, doesn't mean that it's the best (or right) way. I'd be highly irked if I started a few topics and then kept getting constant notifications of replies. I'd start filtering the messages to be deleted to cut down on aggravation.

Also there is the fact that some hosting companies put a cap on the number of emails that may be sent out per hour and something like that could cause havoc in no time flat.

Be better to have it left as a mod where someone with less than X posts would get a notification if a reply has been made to a topic they posted in if they haven't been active within a few days of that reply. That would be enough to remind someone to revisit without an avalanche of emails harassing them to return.

[Mark]

[quote name='.Wolfie' date='01 February 2010 - 06:59 PM' timestamp='1265050761' post='1907693']
Very very VERY bad idea.


I disagree. For some communities I can certainly see the use.

[Bryan Sammers]

[quote name='Mark' date='01 February 2010 - 10:33 PM' timestamp='1265060038' post='1907766']
I disagree. For some communities I can certainly see the use.


Thanks for taking participation in this thread, Mark. For possible vbulletin switchers as me - that feature is expected to be within IPB. We do make money from our community and the money comes from lots of visitors. There are more visitors the better the notification system is (also the SEO etc but thats taken care of). Well I can argue about the great design or philosophy behind IPS, I do care about my income. 





I do not have any "maximum number of emails I can send per hour" as I have dedicated server and a server management team babysitting it. I see that there are some restrictions from webhosting. Therefore: Whether or not this feature is activated in the admin panel is up to the admin. 

[bfarber]

[quote name='Bryan Sammers' date='01 February 2010 - 05:13 PM' timestamp='1265062436' post='1907788']
....For possible vbulletin switchers as me - that feature is expected to be within IPB....


To be fair, every vbulletin user switching to IPB has their own expectations and requirements (I've seen some say they won't switch without a "topic preview on hover" capability, for instance, without ever mentioning this sort of functionality). You're making a pretty blanket statement there. :P

This suggestion *has* come up before, but in the 5 or so years I've been here, it's only been a relatively few number of times, and has never really gained a lot of backing or traction amongst our customer base. I don't see any harm in having it as an option, but this particular setting isn't really like the magic thing IPB needs or anything like that. :P

[Bryan Sammers]

 Brandon, you are right. I can only vote for my situation :D

In fact the best thing I ever programmed is having your simple "Watched Content" list above the forums. To be fair, it just puts *any* information from the script usercp.php and displays it completely like that on the top of all forums. That easy, and that powerful.

(go to last post) topic title 1 (go to last post) topic title 2 (...) New private messages private message 1 private message 2 ... New created threads in subscribed forums Thread 1 ... etc. New public messages public message 1 public message 2 ... New posts in read, but not subscribed topics  .... etc.

That increased user traffic a lot - as you might think.




Important is that the user knows there is something new, and he interacts as fast as possible. Having 50 participants online within a five minute period is different than having 50 participants coming on any time in the day and look if something is new. Therefore the notification system (be it an email system - I activated that by default, or the Watched Items list). 




I do like very much that IPB has Watched Items as standard - the other forum software does not have it!

New posts in subscribed topics

[Phillyman]

[quote name='Mark' date='01 February 2010 - 04:33 PM' timestamp='1265060038' post='1907766']
I disagree. For some communities I can certainly see the use.


I belong to a gaming forum that runs XMB and notifies you via email everytime someone quotes you. There is no option to turn it off. But in its defense, I keep going back.

[The Geek]

Well, I would say that its not a leap to say that email notifications bring people back and therefore regardless of what forums did it before, it is a good idea.

Dare I say in vB it was easily switched off in your usercp which could be also be overridden via a setting option in the post editor.

[Bryan Sammers]

[quote name='The Geek' date='03 February 2010 - 11:52 PM' timestamp='1265237566' post='1908728']
Dare I say in vB it was easily switched off in your usercp which could be also be overridden via a setting option in the post editor.

That's a fair solution. Most topics you want to subscribe when answering, but some topics you "are done with" when answering them :D

[efecto]

[quote name='Bryan Sammers' date='04 February 2010 - 10:56 AM' timestamp='1265237805' post='1908732']
That's a fair solution. Most topics you want to subscribe when answering, but some topics you "are done with" when answering them :D


Unsubscribe option in a notification email would be a killer.

[Nervosa]

Might be a better idea to have a check box when you sign up.
That way people know its there when they first join

[Wolfie]

[quote name='Nervosa' date='04 February 2010 - 12:15 AM' timestamp='1265260540' post='1908822']
Might be a better idea to have a check box when you sign up.
That way people know its there when they first join

+1
I like that idea. ACP setting though, because then you can encourage it if you want to.

Show "Automatically subscribe to own topics" during registration?
No (don't automatically subscribe)
No (automatically subscribe)
Yes (unchecked)
Yes (checked)

Something like that, so the admin can decide default behavior and if it should be an option during registration.

[Dhillon]

It will be quite useful for small communities or forum that are just starting.

[Wolfie]

I made a suggestion that would be nice to have to work with this suggestion...

http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/303895-acp-control-over-notification-options/

[The Geek]

[quote name='Nervosa' date='04 February 2010 - 05:15 AM' timestamp='1265260540' post='1908822']
Might be a better idea to have a check box when you sign up.
That way people know its there when they first join


Nice suggestion!

[.Ian]

I like the idea - however what happens when they change their email address, but do not update their profile.

You could end up with an awful lot of bounces.

[Wolfie]

[quote name='.Ian' date='04 February 2010 - 09:05 AM' timestamp='1265292350' post='1908924']
I like the idea - however what happens when they change their email address, but do not update their profile.

You could end up with an awful lot of bounces.

http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/303895-acp-control-over-notification-options/

Using my idea (click link above), you would just change which member group they are in, and then no more bounced emails. :)

[Nervosa]

[quote name='.Ian' date='04 February 2010 - 09:05 AM' timestamp='1265292350' post='1908924']
I like the idea - however what happens when they change their email address, but do not update their profile.

You could end up with an awful lot of bounces.

You would run into the same issue if I clicked watch topic / forum here and changed my email.

Other then having just added a subscribe box when you sign up, there might be other options more helpful that could be placed under Board Options. You could configure what ones you would like displayed in the ACP.

[degeberg]

I'd like to see this feature included as well. You can always set to the default to subscribe, but don't email. There is no other easy way of keeping track of replies to topics you are participating in.