How to get less/more relevant notifications?

[ranulf the revenant]

Hello,

Apologies if this is a total noob question, but I'm receiving a lot of notifitcations for threads I follow, which is OK, but kind of redundant if it's multiple notifications for replies to the same thread. Apperently my settings are wrong? I picked "weekly digest", but I this doesn't seem to help...

 

[Brother Tyler]

There probably isn't anything that can be done under our current software. Subscribing to a discussion will activate the notifications any time there is a reply by someone else. The system isn't smart enough to simply consolidate all replies in the same discussion as a single notification, nor does it have the AI to judge what's relevant or of interest to you.

 

The admins will have to look at the new software to see if it can support what you're asking about.

[ranulf the revenant]

Alright then, thanks for the reply :).

[Panzer]

Hello,

 

Apologies if this is a total noob question, but I'm receiving a lot of notifitcations for threads I follow, which is OK, but kind of redundant if it's multiple notifications for replies to the same thread. Apperently my settings are wrong? I picked "weekly digest", but I this doesn't seem to help...

 

 

There probably isn't anything that can be done under our current software. Subscribing to a discussion will activate the notifications any time there is a reply by someone else. The system isn't smart enough to simply consolidate all replies in the same discussion as a single notification, nor does it have the AI to judge what's relevant or of interest to you.

 

The admins will have to look at the new software to see if it can support what you're asking about.

 

Actually I have to disagree there. There's something one can do. When you subscribe to a topic there's the option to get notifications instantly, or later. If you pick one of the later options then you will get only one notification per session/day/week per thread regardless of how many new posts that thread has.

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Panzer

[ranulf the revenant]

Well, I switched to "notification frequency: offline" and that seems to do the trick. Weirdly enough, I seem to get more notifications with "weekly digest".

[Brother Tyler]

That's because the weekly digest will tell you everything about the topics to which you're subscribed [since the last time you posted in them or the most recent digest]. Switching to the offline setting only activates notifications of replies that occur while you're offline.

 

The real trick is in knowing what's important enough for a subscription. Everyone has their own metrics for what's important to them so there's no real prescriptive guidance that can be given. In general, however, a subscription is for a topic for which the normal method of knowing that there are new replies isn't sufficient and for which you have a higher than normal interest. If a deluge of updates is considered irrelevant, it could be that the subscription isn't necessary.

 

Speaking solely for myself, I only subscribe to those topics that I really need to pay attention to, usually because they're for projects/discussions that I'm honchoing and I need to consider others' input and/or provide feedback on a regular and timely basis. Most other topics, even those that I'm watching to ensure they stay constructive/polite, don't require a subscription because I can see when there are new replies and clicking on the topic title will take me to the last reply I've read, allowing me to start with the new replies without having to search for them. YMMV

[ranulf the revenant]

...I think the title "weekly digest" might be a bit misleading then, it seems to imply there would be a weekly summary of threads I follow. Might be a language thing though...

[Grotsmasha]

...I think the title "weekly digest" might be a bit misleading then, it seems to imply there would be a weekly summary of threads I follow. Might be a language thing though...

 

Before the Mongo DDOS attack, the Weekly option would generate an email notification weekly, but with those disabled, the option is largely irrelevant 

[ranulf the revenant]

Ah, I see. Thanks a lot for the explanations, guys :)