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Important Changes to "Notifications" Area - PLEASE READ!

 

Hi, all! About a week ago, the site went through some routine maintenance and updates, and, as you may have noticed, there were some changes made to the "Notifications" area of member profiles. These changes were relatively small, but I wanted to give you a full explanation of them nonetheless.

I strongly encourage everyone to read the entirety of this post and to then check your "Notifications" settings to be sure you have them set exactly as you want.

As you hopefully know by now, the "Notifications" area controls the instant notices you get from various parts of the site (blog, clips, forums, etc.) via email and also via onsite alerts. Onsite alerts, when they arise, show up as a number in a red circle near your member profile avatar in the upper right of the site (in standard laptop viewing mode). Just click on that number, and a dropdown menu will appear that guides you to your onsite alerts.

For instance, since I started writing this post, I got four alerts that I need to check:

Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 12.10.12 AM

But, before I do that, let me finish this post! 

In the past, prior to the recent update, you could control your email notifications independently of your alerts, meaning that, if you wanted, you could select to receive some types of instant notices via email and other types via alerts. The two sets of notices did not need to contain the same things. Some of Hoop.la's customers didn't like the complexity of this interface, and so the recent update simplified the interface. (BTW, Hoop.la is the team that supports all tech aspects of this site and the other sites that ride this same platform.) 

In summary, here's what's changed:

(1) Now, emails and alerts (if you opt to get both) must contain the same notices. 

(2) But, you have many more options for alerts than you had in the past - the same number as you have for email notifications!

And, how do you now manage these instant email notices and onsite alerts? Basically, in a fashion very similar to before:

(1) Select "Notifications" in the dropdown menu that appears under your member profile avatar in the upper right of the site.

Screen Shot 2017-08-25 at 12.26.01 AM

(2) You'll then be taken to a new "Notification Settings" landing page (see screen shot below), and the first "Settings" tab will be open. Under "Instant Notification Delivery Methods", select whether you want to receive email notifications or onsite alerts, or both. Both will be toggled "on" by default when you first enter this area, but either or both can also be toggled off. Only select "Suspend All Email Notifications" under "Miscellaneous" if you don't want to receive any email notices from any areas of the site. If you select it, it will override your email setting under "Instant Notification Delivery Methods". PLEASE NOTE: I do NOT recommend suspending all email notifications, because you will likely miss important messages, such as this one, from the site. And, as you will see in Step (3), you have a lot of control over the types (and, thus, quantity) of notices you get from various parts of the site without having to take the extreme measure of stopping all emails.

Screen Shot 2017-08-24 at 11.56.15 PM

(3) Lastly, select the second "Primary Notifications" tab at the top of the page, and you will be taken to the page where you can select precisely the content you want to get instant messages about (i.e., likes or comments on your clips, new blog posts, new clips, etc.). The image below is just a partial screen shot of all of the options, so be sure to scroll to the very bottom of the page on your computer to see everything available to you. Remember: Whatever options you select here will be sent to you as both an instant email notice AND an onsite alert IF you checked BOTH of these boxes on the previous page. If you uncheck any one of these boxes, you will get none of the things you've checked on the "Primary Notifications" page via that delivery method. PLEASE NOTE: The recent site update did not alter your past email notice settings in this area. It only toggled the email and onsite alert options in "Settings" into an "on" position. If you had previously set up an email notice for anything on the "Primary Notifications" page, then you are now also getting that notice as an alert. 

Screen Shot 2017-08-24 at 11.57.11 PM

And that's all she wrote, folks! If you have any questions about this update, please leave them below so all can benefit from my answers to your questions. And, again, I highly recommend that you visit your "Notifications" area very soon to make sure everything is set up as you like. Your email notices should be set as they were before, but you may find you are receiving more or fewer alerts than before, depending on how you had previously set your alerts.

ADDENDUM, SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Also, since many of you are now more tuned into your alerts since the above announcement, here are a few other things you should know about how your "Alerts" page works:

1) Alerts cannot be manually deleted from your "Alerts" page. (Although your private messages can be deleted, but that's another story . . .) I've suggested to the site support team that they add this functionality, but so far they have not committed to do so.

2) Alerts will only display in the order they were created, with the most recent ones displaying first.

3) Whether read or unread, alerts drop off the list after seven (7) days. If you have a large number of alerts to display, then pagination links will display at the bottom of the page to allow you to see them all. But, again, if you don't look at your alerts for over a week, you will miss some, because they automatically drop off (disappear) at that time.

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Images (5)
  • Alert Graphic: Source: Free Clip Art
  • Julia's Onsite Alert Notices: Screen Shot from Cookie Connection
  • Dropdown Menu to "Notifications" Area: Screen Shot from Cookie Connection
  • New "Notification Settings" Landing Page: Screen Shot from Cookie Connection
  • "Primary Notifications" Page: Screen Shot from Cookie Connection

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Comments (8)

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I like that I can get all the instant-notifications on site now. And I liked very much the "Primary Notifications" tab, as we can choose really deep in detail what we would like to be notified about (especially the Forum topics, by clicking " Show Per-Forum Setting and checking on the list). Is this a new feature?

Thanks for the update

Manu posted:

I like that I can get all the instant-notifications on site now. And I liked very much the "Primary Notifications" tab, as we can choose really deep in detail what we would like to be notified about (especially the Forum topics, by clicking " Show Per-Forum Setting and checking on the list). Is this a new feature?

Thanks for the update

No, I don't believe the per-forum choices are new, though I could be wrong. This area has always been very deep.

Julia M. Usher posted:
Manu posted:

I like that I can get all the instant-notifications on site now. And I liked very much the "Primary Notifications" tab, as we can choose really deep in detail what we would like to be notified about (especially the Forum topics, by clicking " Show Per-Forum Setting and checking on the list). Is this a new feature?

Thanks for the update

No, I don't believe the per-forum choices are new, though I could be wrong. This area has always been very deep.

Then I am glad to have found it!

I'm embarassed.  I read all the instructions several times. I have no idea what I did, but the next morning I awoke to more than 200 emails and alerts.   So I  went into my Notifications setting to temporarily Suspend All Emails. 

This is where I need your help Julia. I think that I can avoid being notified of comments, which was what the bulk of all the emails were about, by using the Weekly Digest.   Is it correct that if I choose to be notified of content by email via the Weekly Digest, I won't need to receive additional notifications for comments as I'll be able to read them when I go to the topic from the Weekly Digest?   And if there are more comments added to that same topic, I'll find that topic posted again in the next Weekly Digest and I'll be able to read the additional comments?  

Also, when Hoop-la made the change my 'Alerts' filled with all topic and comment notifications, and i couldn't find my "liked" comments.  They're in there, but they're hard to find. BTW, how do I delete the alerts after I've read them?

Please tell me that I'm not an entirely lost cause?

L

 

Last edited by Julia M. Usher
pip posted:

I'm embarassed.  I read all the instructions several times. I have no idea what I did, but the next morning I awoke to more than 200 emails and alerts.   So I  went into my Notifications setting to temporarily Suspend All Emails. 

This is where I need your help Julia. I think that I can avoid being notified of comments, which was what the bulk of all the emails were about, by using the Weekly Digest.  Is it correct that if I choose to be notified of content by email via the Weekly Digest, I won't need to receive additional notifications for comments as I'll be able to read them when I go to the topic from the Weekly Digest?  NO, NOT EXACTLY. THE WEEKLY DIGEST ONLY APPLIES TO THE FORUMS SECTION, AND WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF ACTIVITY THERE. SO, WITHOUT SEEING HOW YOU'VE SET THINGS, I AM GUESSING YOU HAVE TOGGLED ON THE NOTIFICATIONS FOR COMMENTS ON ALL CLIPS AND/OR ON ALL BLOG POSTS. I HAVE THOSE ITEMS ALL TURNED OFF MYSELF AND ONLY OPT TO SEE COMMENTS ON CONTENT I FOLLOW, WHICH IS AN OPTION AT THE VERY TOP OF THAT PAGE. I COULD BE MORE HELPFUL IF YOU TOOK SCREEN SHOTS OF YOUR SETTINGS AND SENT THEM TO ME, AS I AM JUST GUESSING ABOUT YOUR SETTINGS AT THIS POINT. And if there are more comments added to that same topic, I'll find that topic posted again in the next Weekly Digest and I'll be able to read the additional comments? NOT APPLICABLE, GIVEN WHAT I JUST SAID.

Also, when Hoop-la made the change my 'Alerts' filled with all topic and comment notifications YES, AS I NOTED IN THE POST, HOWEVER YOU HAD YOUR EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS SET BEFORE IS HOW YOUR ALERTS WERE AUTOMATICALLY SET UP. WE HAD FEWER OPTIONS FOR ALERTS IN THE PAST, SO MOST PEOPLE WILL FIND THAT THEY ARE NOW GETTING MORE ALERTS. IF YOU WANT TO JUST FOCUS ON ALERTS/EMAILS ABOUT PEOPLE "LIKING" YOUR CONTENT, THEN YOU'LL NEED TO FOCUS IN YOUR SELECTIONS ACCORDINGLY. BUT, NOW, REMEMBER THAT WHATEVER YOU SELECT ON THAT PAGE WILL BE SENT TO YOU BOTH AS AN ALERT AND AS AN EMAIL IF YOU HAVE SELECTED BOTH OPTIONS UNDER THE FIRST TAB., and i couldn't find my "liked" comments.  They're in there, but they're hard to find. BTW, how do I delete the alerts after I've read them? I DON'T THINK THERE IS A WAY TO DO THIS, BUT THIS IS ALSO A QUESTION I HAD AND HAVE SUBMITTED TO THE SUPPORT TEAM. I ALSO HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW MANY ALERTS ARE FILED ON THE "ALERTS" PAGE AND HOW LONG THEY STAY THERE BEFORE THEY DISAPPEAR. WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT ONCE YOU READ THEM, THE RED BUTTON INDICATING THAT YOU'VE GOT NEW ALERTS WILL DISAPPEAR. ONCE I GET ANSWERS FROM THE SUPPORT TEAM ON THESE OTHER POINTS, I WILL LET EVERYONE KNOW. 

Please tell me that I'm not an entirely lost cause? YOU ARE NOT, BUT PLEASE SEND SCREEN SHOTS OF YOUR SETTINGS SO I CAN BE A BETTER HELP. I'VE COPIED MY BLOG AND CLIP SETTINGS BELOW. THESE AREAS GENERATE THE MOST SITE ACTIVITY AND ARE THE ONES YOU MOST LIKELY NEED TO LOOK AT AGAIN.

L

 

 @pip See my comments in CAPS in your post directly above. Here is the screen shot of my Blog and Clip settings, as explained above:

Screen Shot 2017-09-04 at 2.51.46 AM

I doubt you will want to follow all blog post edits, however. I only follow them because I oversee all editing of blog content on the site. And you may not even want to follow all new clips, as they add a considerable volume of emails each day. Again, I only follow them because I monitor all clips posts for copyright infringements and posting errors, or at least attempt to do so when I have the time. BUT, you most certainly do not want to follow all clip and blog comments (I would guess), or you will be inundated.

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Images (1)
  • Screen Shot 2017-09-04 at 2.51.46 AM
Last edited by Julia M. Usher

@pip and everyone else, here's a quick update on how your "Alerts" page works. I've also included this information at the end of the post above and in a separate forum announcement.

ADDENDUM, SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Since many of you are now more tuned into your alerts since the above announcement, here are a few other things you should know about how your "Alerts" page works:

1) Alerts cannot be manually deleted from your "Alerts" page. (Although your private messages can be deleted, but that's another story . . .) I've suggested to the site support team that they add this functionality, but so far they have not committed to do so.

2) Alerts will only display in the order they were created, with the most recent ones displaying first.

3) Whether read or unread, alerts drop off the list after seven (7) days. If you have a large number of alerts to display, then pagination links will display at the bottom of the page to allow you to see them all. But, again, if you don't look at your alerts for over a week, you will miss some, because they automatically drop off (disappear) at that time.

Last edited by Julia M. Usher
Jadine Fong posted:

where is the notifications area?  I don't have an avatar and there is nothing in the upper right corner to indicate that I am signed in

What device are you viewing on? The above description if for standard laptop viewing mode. If you are on a mobile device, all controls are under the "hamburger" icon in the upper left (that icon is three straight stacked lines). They are organized in roughly the same order as on a laptop, just to the left where they usually are on all mobile devices. I explain this elsewhere, but I guess I missed it on this post. Sorry about that. Hope this helps! Let me know.

Last edited by Julia M. Usher
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