Subscriptions/Notifications - My thoughts

Discussion in 'BukkitDev Information and Feedback' started by turt2live, Mar 25, 2012.

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    turt2live

    I've noticed that I get alerted when I comment on something I've subscribed to, I'm pretty sure I don't need an email telling me I hit a button.

    As well, would it be possible to add a profile option where if I comment on a plugin, I am automatically subscribed? It's kinda annoying to have to take the time to do something that the forums already do.

    As a potential feature for both the forums and BukkitDev, a checkbox for "alert me for replies only by the author". This feature would allow people to get help from the developer without getting spammed via email with "It's broken! Help!" constantly. Possibly even make this per-thread configurable so I (as a developer) am not stuck with getting emails from my own replies to myself.

    In writing the above, I also thought why not have threads I create automatically override my "global" setting of "only if the author replies" so that I can get all responses on my own posts without having to worry about settings.

    From here down is really me just ranting/proving the above 2 points to be useful, feel free to ignore this.

    The current system does allow for some flexibility, but I personally would think (if I were a new user) that the forums and BukkitDev have similar default settings, as they are both considered to be on the same website, and are directly related. People tend to comment on my plugins and never reply because (likely) they think that they will get an email when I reply, but they don't because they didn't click the "Subscriptions" tab and hit a few boxes. As well, people don't know when a release comes out if they only pay attention to BukkitDev instead of the (deprecated, and "will be removed soon") forum post, even if I were to comment on my own plugin saying "Hey! Version X is out!" because they don't get alerted.

    Considering the Subscriptions tab, I'm pretty sure it could be removed and you could just throw a button somewhere on the page (near 'Donate'?) much like the forums ("Stop watching" button). The release notifications are nice, but you could also throw another button on the downloads page that says something along the lines of "Email me for a new release".

    If you were to implement my suggestions for buttons and such, I would also suggest you use jQuery, AJAX, or something in comparison so people can click the button, and still continue on with either reading, downloading, or commenting without having to go to another page and click a few boxes, go back, scroll, etc. That tab is a general annoyance for people who are new, trying to get stuff done, or just want an email for when I (or someone else) .

    In regards to the whole "only if author replies" concept, it would defiantly allow people to get more streamlined, and personal, help with either setup, download, and/or bugs because they simply would not have to sift through other emails hoping that the email they got is because I replied. As for if I create a thread/plugin, I would (and I'm sure most devs would) appreciate it if we were notified for every comment/reply because we would 1) like to have our plugin used, 2) want it to be easy to use (I would hope...), and 3) want people to get their server working with our plugin, but we also would (likely) want to maybe add support for X plugin, so we would head over to that plugin and ask "How do I hook into X?", but of course we only want responses that are useful and not "Here is an issue: <pastebin>".

    A slight modification COULD be made to the "only author" notifications where it would be "replies only", in the event that some other user answers my question on how to hook into X instead of the author themselves. This would still filter out standalone posts, but allow me to get help where needed.

    Anyways, those are just my thoughts on the system, I know people will disagree while some will agree, but in the end: this is a suggestion forum.

    (PS: Even here, right below "post thread" it gives me the option to not get emails, would it really be that hard to add a checkbox series like that to BukkitDev?)

    To add to my suggestion:

    I would like an email when someone replies to a PM.

    I just looked through my PMs and saw a few unanswered PMs with a few messages "Hello?" towards the end...

    Thanks guys :/

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 24, 2016
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    Lolmewn

    Yep, the notification system is pretty fuxed up, but I think they're working on it (they better be).
     
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