# Question about Subscriptions to Threads **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 14, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-subscriptions-to-threads/195163 "2003-08-14T15:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SpaceForRent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@SpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-subscriptions-to-threads/195163/1 "2003-08-14T15:59:56Z")
I have two questions about subscribing to threads: 1. Is it possible to subscribe to a thread without receiving an email every time someone posts to it? I just want to be able to view them in my CP. 2. Can the boards be configured to only send out one email for a thread subscription until the user visits the thread? I’ve seen this feature in other forums. (Basically, I had 6 or so subscriptions. The email from the board was apparently hung up, because one morning I received about 50 emails notifying me that a new post was made to a thread I subscribed to. Each thread had many emails. It would be much cleaner to send one email with a note that no more notices would be sent until the thread was once again visited–like I said, I’ve seen other forum scripts do this.) Anyway, just wanted to check. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-subscriptions-to-threads/195163/2 "2003-08-14T16:45:48Z")
1. No. 2. This is the way it’s _supposed_ to work. Obviously, it doesn’t always. ---
**Author:** ![SpaceForRent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@SpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-subscriptions-to-threads/195163/3 "2003-08-14T17:06:07Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. This is the way it’s supposed to work. Obviously, it doesn’t always. I thought that’s how is should. Doesn’t for me, though. I get a barrage of email if I’m away from the computer for a while. Each thread can generate several for me. Maybe someone on the technical end of things can look into it? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-subscriptions-to-threads/195163/4 "2003-08-14T17:33:19Z")
I’ve noticed similar problems. Sometimes I’ll only get one between board visits even though there’s a number of replies (which is as it should be), but other times I’ll get one for every reply. Occasionally I will get no email even though there are a number of replies. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-subscriptions-to-threads/195163/5 "2003-08-15T12:44:46Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought that’s how is should. Doesn’t for me, though. I get a barrage of email if I’m away from the computer for a while. Each thread can generate several for me. It seems to be sporadic. Sometimes it works properly and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not really perceived as a big enough problem to devote tech time to track it down. Those guys at the Chicago Reader are busy with other support stuff - things the Reader needs for day-to-day business operations. The message boards have a priority that approaches zero.