Lack of notifications of a thread recently

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I found what the problem so am making this post in case it will help others with the same problem.

I unwatched the thread and then clicked on 'watch thread'; this revealed that there was no entry for either box i.e. to 'receive email notifications' or 'without receiving email notifications'! I tried it on this thread and it was already clicked to 'without receiving email notifications' i.e. this is the default setting since I have never clicked this on any other thread. I hope that's clear.

Can you please provide a screenshot of where you are seeing this setting.
The boxes we are referring to are an either or box. One of them has to be selected. They are not tick boxes, but round selection boxes, like this.

This is the watch thread option for this individual thread which can be found at the top of this page. It is not the watch thread option that is found in your personal settings in your profile.

 

[creative]

Can you please provide a screenshot of where you are seeing this setting.
The boxes we are referring to are an either or box. One of them has to be selected. They are not tick boxes, but round selection boxes, like this.

View attachment 7107

This is the watch thread option for this individual thread which can be found at the top of this page. It is not the watch thread option that is found in your personal settings in your profile.

View attachment 7108

Yes the same as your screenshot. I said tick boxes because I couldn't think of the right terminology, that's all. (I didn't use the watch thread option in my personal settings but at the top of the thread). Anyway, the matter has been resolved, i.e. I found out that the reason why I got no notifications was that both of the options were unmarked/open/blank so I 'ticked' the bottom/default setting and it solved the issue.

Sorry that you have been drawn into this - I know you are busy with your move. I don't know what more to add...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Yes the same as your screenshot. I said tick boxes because I couldn't think of the right terminology, that's all. (I didn't use the watch thread option in my personal settings but at the top of the thread). Anyway, the matter has been resolved, i.e. I found out that the reason why I got no notifications was that both of the options were unmarked/open/blank so I 'ticked' the bottom/default setting and it solved the issue.

Sorry that you have been drawn into this - I know you are busy with your move. I don't know what more to add...

I moved here exactly 12 months ago (hence the thread being resurrected) - thank you for your concern though.

I'm in on it because as the site owner, moderator and an IT Engineer, what you are telling me should not be possible, hence why I wanted a screenshot. This option is only an either or, there is no option for none which means that there could be a problem elsewhere. Resolving it by selecting one the options, when an option is a mandatory selection as far as the software is concerned, isn't resolved, it is only a temporary fix. So if you are able to reproduce the issue, I really need to know and with a screenshot please.

@morning glory has correctly brought me in on the matter.

Thank you.
SNSSO

 

[creative]

I moved here exactly 12 months ago (hence the thread being resurrected) - thank you for your concern though.

I'm in on it because as the site owner, moderator and an IT Engineer, what you are telling me should not be possible, hence why I wanted a screenshot. This option is only an either or, there is no option for none which means that there could be a problem elsewhere. Resolving it by selecting one the options, when an option is a mandatory selection as far as the software is concerned, isn't resolved, it is only a temporary fix. So if you are able to reproduce the issue, I really need to know and with a screenshot please.

@morning glory has correctly brought me in on the matter.

Thank you.
SNSSO

Oh, I read a recent post saying that you were moving again.

Yes I know your status here. Re. this issue - although you say that the situation 'should not be possible' there were clearly no black dots in either of those options (which explains why I got no notifications and hence made this thread). I tried to recreate the initial situation but to no effect, i.e. it is showing the default setting.

I have now selected the default setting so cannot recreate what you want, i.e. go back to the initial problem since I don't know how that occurred to begin with! I hope you understand. I posted the solution, in case it occurs to another member, so I don't foresee that this is a problem.

 

[Shaun]

@creative I think you've over complicated it - but it's not your fault. It has happened before and is due to a lack of understanding of how the alerts work.

Let me try to explain ...

Okay, the first thing to understand about alerts is that you only get a single alert to tell you there is a new reply to a thread you are watching, and you won't get any more alerts until you visit the thread and read it up to date.

If you go ahead and visit the thread from the alert and someone replies later on, you'll get a new alert, and this will continue so long as you go to the thread each time and read it up to date.

However, if you forget to visit the thread, or ignore the alert, or intend to view the thread later but don't quite get around to it - you won't get another alert.

So, one alert to tell you there is something new, and no more alerts until you visit the thread. (It works this way to stop you being bombarded with alerts for every single reply to every thread you're watching).

Now, the second thing you need to be aware of is that the alerts themselves don't hang around for very long in the drop-down box - and once you've viewed them they are marked as read and a couple of hours later they are removed and can only be seen on your recent alerts page (which you can get to via the Show All ... button at the bottom of the drop-down) or by going here: https://www.cookingbites.com/account/alerts

Usually, if you check through the pages of your recent alerts you'll find that you were actually alerted; but what often happens is that people either think they've clicked the alert from the drop-down and visited the thread, or had every intention of visiting but simply forgot or got distracted, and the alert disappears from the drop-down and it seems like they haven't had a notification. They have, it was just moved to the recent alerts page without you realising.

So next time you feel you've missed an alert use the Show All ... button to check through your recents and you'll probably find it in there.

Oh, and one more thing - there's a little yellow star on your most recent unread alerts in the drop-down, so even when they no longer show in bold you can still use the star indicator to identify the ones that are the newest (and click them if you have missed one):

Hope that all helps (you and others).

Kind regards,
Shaun

 

[creative]

@Shaun - thanks for your detailed (and somewhat complicated) post! It's quite a convoluted process isn't it!? The yellow star explanation is useful.

How I use this site is that I always click 'new posts' which brings up any alerts. Then I go through the new alerts i.e. visit the various sections. I guess there has been a time when I overlooked/didn't attend to an alert so, from what you say, I would no longer get further alerts....EVER...for that section??? This seems to be the case i.e. what was marked as watched becomes UNwatched without my selection. I have looked back in the "show all" facility of the alerts and, indeed, I did NOT get notifications for the What Did You Eat Today section for the past week, i.e. up until I made this thread and managed to discover the fault and correct it.

So is this not a technical fault then? If it is, should it recur, then I will do as SatNav has requested and post a screenshot of the options here but, really, it would just be a shot of the 2 options without one of them having the dot, i.e. bit of a no brainer!

 

[Shaun]

No, that's not quite right - the only time something will become unwatched is if you manually click to stop watching it.

What happens though, is that you don't get any more alerts until you view/read it up to date - generally that will be the last page of the thread.

Alerts only show on the recent alerts page for 7 days, so if you got the last alert more than 7 days ago for the thread it will have expired and won't be visible (which is possibly adding to the confusion).

If you want to see which of your watched threads has new replies without relying on the alerts function you can use the Watched Threads button at the top (the same applies to the Watched Forums button). This will only show threads that have new replies since you last viewed them, but if you want to see all of the threads you are watching you can click Show all watched threads at the bottom left and all the read ones will appear to.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[creative]

@Shaun - well then what occurred to me was a technical fault since I discovered both notification options (i.e. to receive email notifications or without receiving email notifications) were open/no dot in either one i.e. the notifications were not on the usual default setting.

 

[Shaun]

@Shaun - well then what occurred to me was a technical fault since I discovered both notification options (i.e. to receive email notifications or without receiving email notifications) were open/no dot in either one i.e. the notifications were not on the usual default setting.

What web browser are you using?

 

[creative]

What web browser are you using?

Mozilla Firefox - Windows 7. I hasten to add that, up until this occasion, I have had no problems here. It might just be a one off. If it is not occurring to anyone else here then, since I have solved it, please do not overly concern yourself.....unless you think it is indicating a technical fault with further repercussions.

 

[Shaun]

Mozilla Firefox - Windows 7. I hasten to add that, up until this occasion, I have had no problems here. It might just be a one off. If it is not occurring to anyone else here then, since I have solved it, please do not overly concern yourself.....unless you think it is indicating a technical fault with further repercussions.

Thanks - to be honest I was going to suggest as much - that it was probably a one-off glitch with your browser / session.

It hasn't been reported by anyone else, but it's always good to be made aware of such things just in case anything is going wrong with the server or software, so if it does happen again or with any sort of regularity, then please do let us know.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[buckytom]

@creative I think you've over complicated it - but it's not your fault. It has happened before and is due to a lack of understanding of how the alerts work.

Let me try to explain ...

Okay, the first thing to understand about alerts is that you only get a single alert to tell you there is a new reply to a thread you are watching, and you won't get any more alerts until you visit the thread and read it up to date.

If you go ahead and visit the thread from the alert and someone replies later on, you'll get a new alert, and this will continue so long as you go to the thread each time and read it up to date.

However, if you forget to visit the thread, or ignore the alert, or intend to view the thread later but don't quite get around to it - you won't get another alert.

So, one alert to tell you there is something new, and no more alerts until you visit the thread. (It works this way to stop you being bombarded with alerts for every single reply to every thread you're watching).

Now, the second thing you need to be aware of is that the alerts themselves don't hang around for very long in the drop-down box - and once you've viewed them they are marked as read and a couple of hours later they are removed and can only be seen on your recent alerts page (which you can get to via the Show All ... button at the bottom of the drop-down) or by going here: https://www.cookingbites.com/account/alerts

Usually, if you check through the pages of your recent alerts you'll find that you were actually alerted; but what often happens is that people either think they've clicked the alert from the drop-down and visited the thread, or had every intention of visiting but simply forgot or got distracted, and the alert disappears from the drop-down and it seems like they haven't had a notification. They have, it was just moved to the recent alerts page without you realising.

So next time you feel you've missed an alert use the Show All ... button to check through your recents and you'll probably find it in there.

Oh, and one more thing - there's a little yellow star on your most recent unread alerts in the drop-down, so even when they no longer show in bold you can still use the star indicator to identify the ones that are the newest (and click them if you have missed one):

View attachment 7123

Hope that all helps (you and others).

Kind regards,
Shaun

Hey, Shaun, where ya been all my life (here)?

 

[creative]

I was hoping this issue was resolved...not so. Despite ensuring that What Did You Cook/Eat Today thread is watched i.e. 'without receiving email notifications'....I am NOT getting the alerts/notifications! On clicking on 'new posts' I find what I have not been notified on...and this isn't satisfactory since it just shows new posts, i.e. if the post is not new I would miss it altogether. I don't understand why this is occurring just on this thread....

 

[classic33]

Does the thread show in your Watched Threads list?

 

[Morning Glory]

Having looked at my watched threads I think the alerts are not coming in for every single new post. I've queried this with @SatNavSaysStraightOn. Are you getting some alerts for that thread?