It'd be nice if the email subscription thing actually showed you the content of the new post...
Dave
Dave
Feature Request
Posted by Dave on Thu 03 May 2001 10:16 PM — 6 posts, 26,325 views.
There are a couple of problems with that.
1. Network bandwidth - if a lot of people subscribe then there will be a lot of emails going out for every post, potentially filling up mailboxes quite quickly.
2. This would effectively turn the forum into a mailing list - whereas I think it is more helpful to have topics grouped by thread. For example, a most might read:
--------
Try making MAX_RACES 100
--------
On its own it is out of context, so if that was emailed to you, you might wonder what it meant. However if you read the thread on the forum then the reply appears in the context of the earlier questions and comments.
3. What happens if someone corrects a post? Do you want the correction emailed also? Or do you get the original, incorrect one only? I tend to make corrections quite often, as after doing a post I find a formatting problem, or spelling error, and then immediately post a correction - hopefully before too many people have read it.
4. How would you handle "forum codes"? These make messages more readable, because you can imbed bold, underline, monospaced fonts, horizontal lines and so on. It wouldn't be as easy to do those in an email.
1. Network bandwidth - if a lot of people subscribe then there will be a lot of emails going out for every post, potentially filling up mailboxes quite quickly.
2. This would effectively turn the forum into a mailing list - whereas I think it is more helpful to have topics grouped by thread. For example, a most might read:
--------
Try making MAX_RACES 100
--------
On its own it is out of context, so if that was emailed to you, you might wonder what it meant. However if you read the thread on the forum then the reply appears in the context of the earlier questions and comments.
3. What happens if someone corrects a post? Do you want the correction emailed also? Or do you get the original, incorrect one only? I tend to make corrections quite often, as after doing a post I find a formatting problem, or spelling error, and then immediately post a correction - hopefully before too many people have read it.
4. How would you handle "forum codes"? These make messages more readable, because you can imbed bold, underline, monospaced fonts, horizontal lines and so on. It wouldn't be as easy to do those in an email.
*shrug* it was only an idea, as for the MAX_RACES being 100, which mud could possibly want 100 races? ;)
Dave
Dave
That was just an example. :)
Think of it as MAX_ROOMS if you like.
Think of it as MAX_ROOMS if you like.
> It'd be nice if the email subscription thing actually
> showed you the content of the new post...
mwForum (www.mwforum.com) actually does that. When I get an e-mail notification that someone has replied to my post, the message contains the content of the reply.
> There are a couple of problems with that.
Here's how mwForum handles these issues. I run mwForum on http://www.shoujoai.com/forum/ and http://www.animelyrics.com/forum/. Note that I don't use its subscription feature; I only have replies to my own posts e-mailed to me.
> 1. Network bandwidth
Yes, network bandwidth is a concern, but that's exactly what mailing lists are and they run without problems.
> 2. This would effectively turn the forum into a mailing
> list - whereas I think it is more helpful to have topics
> grouped by thread.
The e-mail notification does not include previous posts in the thread, so sometimes I do get an e-mail notification that is not understandable out of context.
It's not a big problem though, because the e-mail notification includes the URL for viewing the post on the website, so I can go to the URL if I need to.
> 3. What happens if someone corrects a post? Do you want
> the correction emailed also? Or do you get the original,
> incorrect one only?
I get the original, incorrect one only.
In this situation on mwForum, I'll tend to see the corrected version of the post later when I visit the forum website to read through other posts.
(mwForum has explicit icons that tell me which posts/topics I've seen, and which I haven't seen. Receiving an e-mail notification for a post does *not* count as seeing it, so I'll end up glancing at it later when I visit the website and hopefully noticing the edit.)
This is probably the major sticky point.
> 4. How would you handle "forum codes"?
They are stripped out in the e-mail version. The message is usually just as readable as plain text, but I can click the URL to view it on the website if I need to.
> showed you the content of the new post...
mwForum (www.mwforum.com) actually does that. When I get an e-mail notification that someone has replied to my post, the message contains the content of the reply.
> There are a couple of problems with that.
Here's how mwForum handles these issues. I run mwForum on http://www.shoujoai.com/forum/ and http://www.animelyrics.com/forum/. Note that I don't use its subscription feature; I only have replies to my own posts e-mailed to me.
> 1. Network bandwidth
Yes, network bandwidth is a concern, but that's exactly what mailing lists are and they run without problems.
> 2. This would effectively turn the forum into a mailing
> list - whereas I think it is more helpful to have topics
> grouped by thread.
The e-mail notification does not include previous posts in the thread, so sometimes I do get an e-mail notification that is not understandable out of context.
It's not a big problem though, because the e-mail notification includes the URL for viewing the post on the website, so I can go to the URL if I need to.
> 3. What happens if someone corrects a post? Do you want
> the correction emailed also? Or do you get the original,
> incorrect one only?
I get the original, incorrect one only.
In this situation on mwForum, I'll tend to see the corrected version of the post later when I visit the forum website to read through other posts.
(mwForum has explicit icons that tell me which posts/topics I've seen, and which I haven't seen. Receiving an e-mail notification for a post does *not* count as seeing it, so I'll end up glancing at it later when I visit the website and hopefully noticing the edit.)
This is probably the major sticky point.
> 4. How would you handle "forum codes"?
They are stripped out in the e-mail version. The message is usually just as readable as plain text, but I can click the URL to view it on the website if I need to.
Some of the replies Nick, I, and others provide for questions can get quite lengthy.
I find it satisfying when the person with the problem posts to say that their issue has been resolved.
If replies were e-mailed to posters, I think there would be a natural lack of incentive to reply, since the person may find it 'too much trouble' to visit the forum when they have the answer in their hands.
Since you need to visit the forum to read the new messages, it provides a natural incentive to reply and contribute to the 'knowledge base' here. :)
I find it satisfying when the person with the problem posts to say that their issue has been resolved.
If replies were e-mailed to posters, I think there would be a natural lack of incentive to reply, since the person may find it 'too much trouble' to visit the forum when they have the answer in their hands.
Since you need to visit the forum to read the new messages, it provides a natural incentive to reply and contribute to the 'knowledge base' here. :)