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MNHQ

Heads up - Improvements to watched threads coming

868 replies

BeccaMumsnet · 04/08/2015 12:52

Hullo everyone,

Just a heads-up: we wanted to let you know we've been working on some changes to improve the way our 'watched threads' option works, and we’re going to be releasing them today.

As you know, at the minute, if you want to receive an email notification when someone posts on a thread you yourself have posted on, you have to check the ‘watch this thread’ box when you post your message. From today, the box will be automatically checked.

Our thinking was that because, in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, , it can be easy to miss replies to threads you’ve posted on, so it’d be useful to keep you updated as a matter of course.

Some crucial points:

  • Fear not: we absolutely won’t email every time someone posts after you have - and if you’re still looking at the thread, we won’t mail you at all.
  • You’ll only get ONE email after you’ve left the thread, to say it’s been updated.
  • If the idea of receiving any such emails makes you want to weep/tear out your hair/throw a toddler-style tantrum on the kitchen floor, DON’T PANIC: you can do a one-time-only opt out, by clicking on customise at the top of any thread, and unchecking ‘Auto-watch threads I start’ and/or ‘Auto-watch threads I post on’.
  • If you’d like to adopt a mix-and-match policy and be alerted to replies on some threads but not others, simply uncheck the auto-watch options in customise, and check the ‘watch this thread’ box underneath the message box on the thread you’re interested in.

Hope all of this makes sense, and sounds useful. Do shout if you've any questions (we know we can rely on you Wink)

Thank you all Flowers
MNHQ

OP posts:
Thread gallery
31
Sparklingbrook · 04/08/2015 17:29

I am now finding that if I post on a thread it's adding it to my Watch List too, without me asking. Confused

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 17:28

I'm getting long hangs on clicking Post Message too.

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 17:27

Okay, in fact, it is auto checking it still. But I don't get the green banner after posting saying the thread is now being watched.

Heads up - Improvements to watched threads coming
DarkEvilMoon · 04/08/2015 17:26

And now this has been added to my watch list!!! Arrrrrrrrrrgh!

DarkEvilMoon · 04/08/2015 17:26

I have just posted on a thread and it added it to my watch list. I dont want the thread on my watch list.

The colours and choice of colours was actually a really useful function!

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 17:21

It's not auto-checking now. I think it must have just not quite taken effect on the first thread I tried. (Sorry I went elsewhere for a bit!)

But I am still without OP and self highlighted posts. I'm not even fussed about the colour - I would like the colour choice I picked but I don't mind as long as those are highlighted. MNHQ posts are still blue.

Seeline · 04/08/2015 17:18

Why can't we have the ability to fix our own colours any more - that was useful unlike being inundated with emails

Seeline · 04/08/2015 17:15

*JessicaMumsnet (MNHQ) Tue 04-Aug-15 16:08:27

Hello,
We've been trying to reduce the number of items in customise and have a clear out of some of the rarely used options.

As part of that we have removed the option to choose different colours. It shouldn't have changed the choice you had already though.

Seeline, when you're logged in can you let us know what you expect to see and what you are seeing?*

OP would have been green, with only MNHQ posts in blue.
Now the OP is in pale blue, but only for the first post, not for each time they come back, and MN posts seem to have stayed blue for each posting.
Makes reading long threads very hard to keep track of.

LazyLouLou · 04/08/2015 17:10

I too have lost my colours. The OP is grey and every other reply, including mine and the OPs further comments lack colour. The page in customise that used to allow me to choose is no longer there.

MN posts still definitely blue Smile

Sparklingbrook · 04/08/2015 17:10

My colours are ok. Confused

GoooRooo · 04/08/2015 17:09

Yep colours gone here too. MNHQ posts still blue but no colours for my posts or the OPs.

WorraLiberty · 04/08/2015 17:07

MN posts are still blue for me (which is good)

I still have 'reading like a book' (which is good)

But the OP's posts used to be in grey and mine in pink and I used to have one continuous page.

songbird · 04/08/2015 17:04

Yes mine looks as though I'd logged out - OP at the top in a box and posts in pages. My customised view before had OP's posts in purple and mine in green (LOVED that option!) and just one long page of posts, with most recent posts at the top. I'm definitely logged in.

I now realise 'reading like a book' with OP at the top is actually better, so I've been able to change it to that in the options.

MN posts are still blue though.

WorraLiberty · 04/08/2015 17:01

I wish I'd read the rest of the comments on the thread before clicking the link.

I really would advise everyone to do just that.

WorraLiberty · 04/08/2015 16:53

Grrrr! My colours have gone too and now I've got pages, whereas before I used to have one long thread Angry

Even opting back in hasn't changed it back.

ouryve · 04/08/2015 16:51

I'm more bothered about the colours than the watched threads thing, tbh.

ouryve · 04/08/2015 16:50

OK, I've sorted out what was going on with my watch list (found some of the older threads in the list and realised that others might have been deleted, since the OPs are no longer around), but my colours used to be OP highlighted green all the way through the thread, with me in purple. Now the OP's OP is grey and nothing is highlighted in the thread. This makes a long thread just a solid block with no reference points in it.

MNHQ
JessicaMumsnet · 04/08/2015 16:45

Hello BertieBotts,

We're having a look but can't replicate the switched off option not working for you. Can you confirm that it remains checked on new pages (i.e. ones you don't navigate back to using your browser back button)?

We haven't changed anything on Threads I'm on so think that's a different issue entirely.

We'll look at that separately. Would you mind emailing us the details of what threads you were on that seemed to have changed? Screenshots would be really helpful too if possible.

Thanks

MNHQ
JessicaMumsnet · 04/08/2015 16:40

Hello ouryve sorry that definitely doesn't sound right! We'll dig deeper for you.

Would you mind posting a screenshot please?

Also could you let us know what colours you had previously set and are expecting to see and what you're actually seeing?

ouryve · 04/08/2015 16:32

And my colours have gone, now I've turned off the automatic watch option.

Well done on making long threads impossible to wade through, MNHQ.

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 16:32

And now a thread I've recently posted on has disappeared from Threads I'm On, where it should be right at the top. I definitely haven't hidden it!

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 16:29

I'm really confused as to why this has been done, TBH. We already have Threads I'm On, which you can sort by recently active.

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 16:28

Oh. OOH. You've snuck out the option to view MN in classic mode. That WILL rile them up. This ought to be interesting.

ouryve · 04/08/2015 16:25

Improvement? Just managed to customise after realising that I'd added 2 threads to my watch list inadvertently, only to find a total of 28 random threads that I've posted on in the past few weeks/months added to the list and none of the threads that I've deliberately watched because I wanted to be able to refer to them Angry

If it aint broke...

BertieBotts · 04/08/2015 16:24

Aww, my colours have gone too :( I don't get mine and the OP is grey.

And the box is automatically staying checked even though I've clicked NOT to auto-watch threads I post on.

And Threads I'm On is now showing masses of preview replies under each thread rather than the usual five.

Nooooooooooooooooooo what is happening?

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