Yesterday, my good friend Olentzero started an MPSIMS thread asking how I’m doing in Sweden: Hey Montfort (the answer, for the lazy: quite well, thank you).
I replied to the thread and checked for E-mail notification, but then my true love bride Anniz also replied, shortly after I did, and I haven’t gotten a notification e-mail yet. I checked to make sure I have my e-mail address correct just now and it is.
Something up?
I’ve seen another thread where people have complained about e-mail notification. Right now I imagine it might be because the server is overworked and sometimes doesn’t “get around to it.” This is on our list of things to investigate as time permits.
Thanks for the reply. In the past, I’ve gotten delayed notifications (usually just a few hours), but it’s been more than 24 hours since the above-linked thread was updated, and still no e-mails.
FWIW, another thread I had notification on before 7 Dec was bumped yesterday, too, and I didn’t get an e-mail. Nor did I get one when you replied here, Arnold.
Just so you know.
Instead of using the e-mail notification, I would suggest keeping a list of important threads in a small document on your hard drive somewhere, and checking those links periodically.
Just to clarify, Arnold, should we keep the list instead of using the email notification function because the email thing seems to be malfunctioning right now, or should we just always do that in general because the email notification slows down the server?
Did that question make sense? Getting sleep in three-hour bursts doesn’t do much for the ol’ higher brain functions…
My recommendation:
Don’t use “e-mail notification for replies” for now. When jdavis has stopped tearing his hair out over other issues, we can approach him with the question “can/should the Teeming Millions depend on this feature?”
Again, FWIW, I got a spate of e-mails yesterday shortly after posting again in this thread. So, my guess is that it’s working, just slowly.
That is all. (And I do have bookmarked many “important” threads.)
Rather than signing up for email notification, I suggest that you just subscribe to the thread.
To do this, you simply click on the “Subscribe to This Thread” link at the bottom of each and every thread.
All the threads you subscribe to are then conveniently listed in your very own “user cp,” a homepage of sorts. You can go directly to this page from any other page on the boards by clicking on the user cp button in the uper right hand corner. When someone posts a reply to your thread, the thread is listed there.
You can even view all of your subcribed threads, whether they’ve been replied to lately or not by simply clicking on the “View All Subscribed Threads” link.
Another great feature of subcribing is that you don’t even have to post to the thread to get notification of a new reply.
And now, as an extra bonus to all the Dopers of the world, I also offer you the ability to subcribe to entire Forums. Now, whenever any action takes place in the thread you’ve subscribed to, you will know about it.
How many times have you missed the latest thread in GD on “What makes the better sandwich, mayonaise or mustard”?
Or how about in the Pit. Did you miss the thread entitled, “My Girlfriend Just Left Me for My @#$% Cousin’s Best Friend’s Boyfriend’s Sister Because I Wouldn’t Let Her Pour Lemonade Down My Pants”?
And then there’s the great forum, MPSIMS. Did you miss the thread in which Dopers held a tournament for the most mundane and pointless stuff they could share?
Thread and Forum Subscribing… the latest and greatest feature of the Straight Dope Message Board.
Small Print: All threads titles cited in this thread are entirely ficticious, and any resemblance to the names of actual threads is wholly coincidental.
DoperChic hereby removes herself from any consequence that arises from any doper subscribing to any thread or forum.
I finally think of something witty to say and I hit submit rather than preview before I was finished.
My post should read as thus… (Words in italics is the stuff I just added.)
Please see the announcement re our problems with the Email Notification system.
Thanks.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator