Two Forum Questions

garioch7

I am just wondering if it is possible to "Unfollow" specific topics here and thus turn off notifications for new replies to that topic only.

I know that I can turn off all notifications, but that is not what I want to do.

Also, is there a way to copy the link for a specific post in a topic rather than only the link for the entire topic?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but that is how we learn.

If such capabilities don't exist, could consideration be given to adding them?

Thank you, and have a great day.

Regards,

Phil

Scott

Hi @garioch7

I do have an answer for your 2nd question, if you right-click on the time of a post and Copy link address, you can post that and it will provide the link.

:)

garioch7

@Scott ,

Thank you. It was not obvious to me. It must be a consequence of old age! Now, I have learned a new trick! 👍

Have a great day.

Regards,

Phil

Scott

You're welcome, Phil. It was a question I at one time had to ask about, too :)

Cheers :)

Alexandru_BD

Hello @garioch7 and thanks for posting your questions here.

Since @Scott already covered your second question and the way to copy the link for a specific post in a topic, and I thank him for that, I'll share some insights on how to manage notifications for categories and threads on the forum.

We have the Category Following feature enabled, so all users will see a bell icon at the top of each Category page. By default, all Categories are set to Unfollow, giving users the freedom to choose which ones they want to follow.

To follow a Category, navigate to its page and click the bell icon > Follow Category. This action adds the Category to your Followed Content page, available from your profile. You'll then need to decide what type of notifications to receive from this Category, if any.

Upon following a Category (or when managing your followed Categories on the Followed Content page), you can decide whether to receive notifications about its content via its bell icon.

• Notify me of new posts: This refers to all new posts in the Category, which includes discussions, questions, ideas, etc.
• Notify me of new comments: This refers specifically to comments (replies) made in posts.
• Unfollow: If you’re already following a Category, you can click Unfollow Category at any time to disable all notifications and remove it from your list of Followed Categories.

For these two options, you can control the type of notification received via the the bell and/or email boxes.

• Enable the bell icon boxes to receive near real-time popups directly in the app (at the bottom left of the screen) AND messages in your Notifications Panel.
• Enable the email icon boxes to have emails sent to your personal inbox. Keep in mind this option sends a separate email for each new discussion/comment, which can result in numerous emails, so it's generally only recommended for Categories in which you're heavily invested or interested in.

TIP: In your personal inbox, these emails may end up in your Spam folder, so be sure to check there if you don't see it.

Any Categories you've followed are added to your profile’s Followed Content page, making it easy to:

• See which Categories you're currently following
• Update their notification options at any time using the bell icons
• Unfollow Categories you're no longer interested in

You can sort your Followed Categories by Most Recently Followed, Oldest Followed, or Alphabetical.

By default, all notification emails have an Unsubscribe link at the bottom. Users can click it to be automatically unsubscribed from that notification.

A user who clicks the link is:

• immediately unsubscribed from the notification and
• taken to the Unsubscribe page.

The Unsubscribe page confirms for the user their unsubscribe action.

✔️ TIP: On the page, the user can undo the action to reverse the unsubscribe and continue receiving the notifications.

📝 NOTE: Unsubscribing is unique to the notification that contained the link. Unsubscribing from one notification in a category (e.g., Posts) does not affect other notifications in the same category (e.g., Posts) or notifications from any other categories.

Later edit: Users can also bookmark discussions, which will send them a notification if the discussion is updated (if they are subscribed to notifications for bookmarked threads). This is the only discussion-level notification preference that can be toggled at present.

Cheers!

garioch7

@Alexandru_BD ,

This is the only discussion-level notification preference that can be toggled at present.

Thank you for your detailed explanation! I was hoping for a more "granular" approach at the topic level, which is common in most of the Forums I visit daily. I often respond to topics here and elsewhere that go off the topic or no longer interest me for other reasons. It would be ideal to be able to just unsubscribe from receiving notifications just for that topic and not have to disable notifications for the entire category.

I have disabled email notifications for the categories. I have been getting a lot of emails since I resumed participating actively here. Since I am here every day these days, that was just unnecessary email traffic.

Perhaps the option to disable specific topic notifications within a category is an enhancement that could be considered for a future Forum upgrade . . .

As always, just my two cents. Thanks again for your comprehensive reply. I greatly appreciate it. Have a great day.

Regards,

Phil

Alexandru_BD

Hello Phil and thanks for getting back.

Yes, the email notification option sends a separate email for each new discussion/comment, which can result in numerous emails, so it's generally only recommended for categories in which you're heavily invested or interested in. Apart from this, I think it all depends on preferences, some users may create dedicated folders in their inbox for the community notifications, others may choose to turn them off so their inbox doesn't get clogged, since the engagement here does return a considerable amount of notifications. Personally, I opted for specific email notifications and I usually rely on the build-in forum notifications to get myself up to date. I also have a custom 'newsfeed' that feeds new threads as soon as they are opened, to enhance moderation.

I can, of course, request a forum feature to follow/unfollow on the discussion thread level and maybe the web developers can help us out with this in the near future.

Thank you once again for suggesting this.

Regards,

Alex

garioch7

@Alexandru_BD ,

I can, of course, request a forum feature to follow/unfollow on the discussion thread level and maybe the web developers can help us out with this in the near future.

It would be great if this feature were incorporated in these Forums. It is a widespread feature on most other Forums.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Phil