Someone's talking about you / Alerts

[hub2dee]

Hey, would anyone like some kind of system where you could message someone to get there attention - say next time they log on / read a post etc. ?

Today, for example, I hadn't read a lot, I wasn't checking mail etc. and RTKM wanted me to advise ripley on something which I didn't hear about till much later in the day. Now I know she could have CATed me, but it involves head office (I think), and not everyone checks their mail very regularly. I was just wondering if it might be neat that RTKM could set an 'alert hub2dee when he next reads a post' type of thing. This would then cause the server to insert a message when I next refreshed / loaded a mumsnet page: "RTKM says 'join us on blah blah thread'"

Does anyone get what I'm going on about ?

(Only other way to grab someone's attention, if they're having a non e-mail day is to post threads with their name on and keep bumping, which isn't ideal.)

Also, wouldn't it be nice if MN servers could insert some kind of message into a page you were loading to say 'your name has been mentioned on blah blah thread' (I doubt many of us religiously search the current messages for our name in the text.... or am I wrong ?)

Answers on a postcard please.

Like private messages you mean?

I sometimes put "Demented" into the search feature, just in case , and find the usage of the word Demented to be very high on MN but very rarely is it anyone actually speaking about/to me.

Hello Demented

No, I wouldn't want the alert about your name being mentioned. It's not as though it's always going to be complimentary when someone's talking about you, is it?

Yeah, mm, maybe.

I haven't ever spent any time on forums (fora ?) before MN, so I'm not sure how it might be done.

Some message at the top of the page:

RTKM says 'Quick ! Look at this thread now. Where on earth are you'

... that would grab your attention.

(Tech: how about a server side include or would that make the whole system crawl ?)

a bit stalkerish in the wrong hands maybe?

Personally, I'd probably like to know either way, tamum.

Only as stalkerish as them being able to CAT you, no ?

(I suppose Head Office uses CAT to precisely prevent direct convos of loons...)

They have private messages on handbag although sometimes this gets abused.
Nasty messages get through on occasions especially with trolls etc, can be unpleasant.

trefusis: Use hubTWOdee to say nasty things about me I'll never be able to find, but all ye who use my full name will be search-ed

Yes, that's exactly why they use it. I like MN the way it is really.

LOL, I think I'd need to change my name if I got an alert everytime "demented" was mentioned!

Yes. Not good for trolls. And I suppose dozens of well-meaning people might flood you with one-liners instead of making posts, for example when we were crossing fingers for Lou33 last week, or thinking about misdee's dh etc. etc.

And everytime someone inserted a web address (as www) I'd get alerted! No thanks!