Please Stop Unalerting me to Threads

[NinjaCow64]

Hi Everyone,

Ever since the update to CFC I have noticed that I will lose the ability to be alerted to threads if I don't post in them often enough. Is there some way to turn this "feature" off, even just for myself? That would be really fantastic.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I think that if you "Unwatch" the forum, you should no longer get any alerts. And make sure the box in the reply area is unchecked.

Or have I misunderstood and you actually want more frequent alerts? Do you get alerts only when you log in, or via email as well?

 

[Synobun]

He wants more alerts.

I have the same problem. I'll randomly stop getting alerts for threads even though I make sure to check each alert as they come in. That remains the case until I post in the thread or until I manually navigate to the thread through the index and then navigate away.

 

[NinjaCow64]

I think that if you "Unwatch" the forum, you should no longer get any alerts. And make sure the box in the reply area is unchecked.

Or have I misunderstood and you actually want more frequent alerts? Do you get alerts only when you log in, or via email as well?

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

What I'm referring to is when I watch a thread that I don't post in very often, sometimes CFC decides to stop alerting me when a new post is made. I want to be alerted every time there is an unread new post in a thread I am watching.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Ah, I see.

This is actually the same as how it was with vBulletin. The alert only works for the next time someone posts in the thread. If you don't read the post or at least open the thread, you won't get any more alerts from it.

At least I think that's correct. If a moderator or admin could stop by and clear this up, that would be appreciated.

 

[NinjaCow64]

But I do read the posts, I just don't get notified for new ones if I don't post anything.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

When you first replied, did you check the box below the reply field where it asks if you want to be alerted of replies?

Are you watching the thread and the forum?

 

[Petek]

But I do read the posts, I just don't get notified for new ones if I don't post anything.

Near the top right of a screen, select your name. Look at the options for Preferences and Alert Preferences. Make sure that these preferences are set to your liking. Does that help?

 

[Hygro]

Even with all alert options selected, I too have this problem.

 

[Petek]

I can't reproduce this behavior. I watched a thread in which I've never posted. I've now received three alerts for that thread. Each time I receive an alert, I visit the thread, but don't post. I receive alerts for every new post. To make sure that my elevated permissions aren't an issue, I also watched the same thread using a special test account that has no special permissions. The behavior was the same as above.

Does this problem occur only some of the time? Please supply a link to a specific thread in which you encounter this issue. I can then check whether this problem is thread-specific. Thanks.

 

[Synobun]

I can't reproduce this behavior. I watched a thread in which I've never posted. I've now received three alerts for that thread. Each time I receive an alert, I visit the thread, but don't post. I receive alerts for every new post. To make sure that my elevated permissions aren't an issue, I also watched the same thread using a special test account that has no special permissions. The behavior was the same as above.

Does this problem occur only some of the time? Please supply a link to a specific thread in which you encounter this issue. I can then check whether this problem is thread-specific. Thanks.

Only some of the time, and the thread differs. Thus far, for me, it's happened mostly with the serial threads.

 

[Petek]

Those who have this problem: Were you "watching" the affected threads in vBulletin, before we switched to xenForo? There might have been a problem with the conversion. If so, try unwatching the threads and then rewatching them. Also, here's a thread on another forum that appears to have the same problem: https://www.mu-43.com/threads/alerts-for-watched-threads-not-working-correctly.75600/. No solution was found, however.

 

[Ryika]

Isn't that just standard behavior? Any thread I'm subscribed to stops giving me alerts after a day or so of not posting there.

And by alerts I mean this list here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/account/alerts
It's practically useless for following discussions.

I thought that's intentional, a feature for internet kids that are so damaged by social media that they think any thread is old news after a day or so.
But I guess if that's not how it's supposed to work, then count me in on the list of people who experience that problem.

The watched threads list however:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/watched/threads/all
...is basically the same thing we had before the forum has migrated and still does a fantastic job at being a reliable hub to watch your threads actively.
Would still prefer for Notifications to not just stop though.

 

[Petek]

Does this behavior occur for threads that you started watching after the move from vBulletin to xenForo (which took place in Oct. or so of last year)?

 

[Ryika]

Yes. The last thread this happend in is this one:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/one-more-complaint-about-warmongering-and-diplomacy.609509/

The second-last notification I got from that thread was for this one which I read, but not responded to because the discussion was over:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...ing-and-diplomacy.609509/page-3#post-14639319

The last one was when I logged in later that day:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...ing-and-diplomacy.609509/page-3#post-14639434

And from that point on I did not get any active notifications anymore, but it was still updating in the watched thread list.

I'm not entirely sure how I navigated to the new posts in the thread, but I may have clicked it manually in the forum/thread overview instead of navigating there through the notification, because I've stopped checking them first a while ago, so maybe that confuses the system.

 

[Petek]

So, the situation with expiring alerts isn't related to when threads were watched. I researched this matter and it appears that this behavior is by design. See the following threads on the xenForo discussions boards:

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/improve-check-for-repeat-alerts.57534/
https://xenforo.com/community/threa...-havent-been-visited-since-last-alert.104911/
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/alert-trigger-for-watched-theads.95946/#post-919549
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/not-receiving-alerts-to-email.67098/