Text inclusion in PM notifications

JackieMartling · Post by **JackieMartling** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:29 pm

This was an issue quite some time back: new members (or older members who just didn't know) would receive notifications of Private Messages in their e-mail inboxes that included the text of the message that was sent to them; they then believed that was the message, rather than just the notification of it, and would attempt to reply via e-mail. As we know, those replies get sent somewhere completely other than where the sender intends, and the intended recipient never receives them. I seem to recall that text inclusion in PM notification was switched off for this reason. Now it's back on, and lo and behold, this whole scenario just repeated itself. I sent a PM to a newbie, and noticed he hadn't received the message, as it remained in my outbox. Finally, I nagged him a bit in a thread we both posted in, where he said he had received the PM in his e-mail inbox and replied to it. I know text inclusion in a notification is convenient, but I also think its benefits might be outweighed by the disadvantage of it being confusing. Personally, I'm of the opinion there should not be text inclusion in the PM notifications. As long as we cannot use our own e-mail inboxes for correspondence in this instance, it makes sense we would have to come in here to read the messages, as well as respond to them. It just keeps things consistent, and prevents mishaps.

~ Nathan

jvan · Post by **jvan** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:34 pm

I agree as I have had the same problem.

yoyology · Post by **yoyology** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:56 pm

I disagree.

I can only read the forums occasionally, but I need to keep up on Personal Messages more often, especially when I have something for sale. If I log in to read my PMs and then log out, I lose forum posts. Receiving full-text e-mail notifications is the only way I can read my PMs without logging in.

I understand the frustration you experienced, Nathan, but I would be very unhappy if the practice were discontinued.

Perhaps it could be made optional, with the default set to "no full-text" for new subscribers?

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:56 pm

I like this feature. It let's me know what the body of the message is about. If it's something that requires immediate attention I can log-on. If it's something that can wait, I will wait until I am back on the site. Most of us get a pop-up message when we log-on anyway.

verde · Post by **verde** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:01 pm

The admin can modify the text in the email. They can put a note before and after the PM text to notify the person reading the email that they must log into SMF to reply.

nodaktim · Post by **nodaktim** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:18 pm

I like the e-mails for the same reasons mentioned above. If I don't have much time to go through all of the overwhelming amount of recent posts, I can just check my e-mail and read it there. Later when time permits I can come on to SMF and reply properly. This way I don't lose out on the posts that may not show up the next time I do come on here. I do realize that I could easily go though the individual forums but the new ones don't stand out as much then. Besides I don't read the new posts in order so seeing the unread flags helps me keep track and see if new posts have been added while I was reading another thread.

verde wrote:The admin can modify the text in the email. They can put a note before and after the PM text to notify the person reading the email that they must log into SMF to reply.

This seems like a good solution to prevent replying to the email instead of coming on to SMF and replying here.

JackieMartling · Post by **JackieMartling** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:38 pm

nodaktim wrote:I like the e-mails for the same reasons mentioned above. If I don't have much time to go through all of the overwhelming amount of recent posts, I can just check my e-mail and read it there.

I'm not advocating we do away with notifications altogether. I rely on them as well. Often, I'll just look at the threads I get notifications about, as a way of saving time. I was just saying we should modify what's being done with the PM notifications. My suggestion was more radical, but some other options have been put forth that seem like a better compromise. I like Karl's idea of having text inclusion being optional, with the default being for no text inclusion. I would add to that that some explanation be provided at the time one changes that option that one can only reply via the site. I also like Mike's idea of having the e-mail itself contain a notice that one cannot reply to the e-mail. Really, the text inclusion isn't the problem; the problem is one of misunderstanding. If we can find a way to solve that, then including the text would certainly be fine by me.

~ Nathan

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:46 pm

Austin wrote:I like this feature. It let's me know what the body of the message is about. If it's something that requires immediate attention I can log-on. If it's something that can wait, I will wait until I am back on the site. Most of us get a pop-up message when we log-on anyway.

I agree 100%. I think this is also a great feature for mods and admin for the reasons Andrew mentioned. If I'm away from a computer I'm able to check my email on my cell phone which is very benficial.

JackieMartling · Post by **JackieMartling** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:00 pm

Johnnie, you're a moderator. Do you have any thoughts on how to improve the issue with the confusion? Some good ideas have been put forth about how to help make things more clear for new members, while keeping the text in the notifications. Are these likely to be looked at seriously by the moderators and implemented?

~ Nathan

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:17 pm

I'll talk to Vince and see what we can do. Maybe we can add something like "Do not reply to this email." Or maybe apply it to veteran users.

J

Post by **VinceFX** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:01 pm

Modifying the messaging system is not trivial. I'd rather not do it if it's working just fine today.

Back when I implemented this change I also put an autoresponder on the shavemyface.com address that sends the notification. If anyone tries to reply to a PM notification they get a bounce response that lets them know they sent it to an automated mailbox that never gets checked.

Thanks,
Vince

verde · Post by **verde** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:18 pm

Vince,

In the folder:

forum>language>lang_english>email

open privmsg_notify.tpl

You can modify the text there.

This will save you from messing around with the PM text in email MOD.