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Site update: Notification system updated

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I have done some changes to the way that the notification system works today, so be sure to read up on what's changed.

Note: I highly suggest wiping your notifications just to be sure.

The way it originally worked, was that each single comment would generate an additional notification on an article you follow. Unlike "likes" which were bundled together, this created a bit of hassle after testing it for a while, especially if you didn't come back for a few days, or if an article was super popular. Imagine an article with 100 comments after yours, that would have been 100 notifications = dumb.

So now, comments are bundled together in one row for each article, so it works the same way as likes do. I feel this will work a lot better and prevent notification spam. As well as keeping our database size down a wee bit too. Not that that's a really big issue, I just like things tidy.

Let me know of any issues you find right away, but my local testing worked fine. Also, if you have any further feature requests for it, let me know, but this was one of the only real requests for it I can remember. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
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15 comments Subscribe

catskinsox 15 Dec 2016
Great idea. Thanks! I'll let you know if I have any issues.

Carl
Liam Dawe 15 Dec 2016
  • Admin
Update: Usernames in quotes will now be a link to that persons profile.

Edit: Although I need to work on this some more due to the way quotes work, it's not working 100% of the time atm.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 15 Dec 2016 at 10:42 pm UTC
DrMcCoy 15 Dec 2016
This is not about the emails, just the site notifications, right? Because I'd still want a separate mail for each and every comment to articles I'm subscribed to.

However, I kinda wish the notification emails for the same article were together in an email thread. I.e. all of them have the same (fake) In-Reply-To set.
Liam Dawe 15 Dec 2016
  • Admin
Yes, notifications, emails were not mentioned.
WorMzy 15 Dec 2016
Cool. I disabled the notifications after getting so many. I've re-enabled them now, but it's immediately reported that I have 40 notifications. This suggests that the system is storing the notifications even though they're disabled, is this by design, or an oversight?

Also, disabling "Turn on notification area for: Comments" also disabled the notifications for likes. Is this a work in progress, and comments and likes are supposed to be controllable individually?
STiAT 16 Dec 2016
Yeah, thanks Liam :-) ...
That was really annoying to read the past days.

Thanks for listening!
boltronics 16 Dec 2016
I've never used the website notifications, just e-mail notifications. I would rather one e-mail per reply, but it was impractical since the e-mails are not threaded together so had to turn it off.
Guppy 16 Dec 2016
Any chance that your merging of notifications could somehow be related to the disapearing posts?

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/2468?page=1
Liam Dawe 16 Dec 2016
  • Admin
Any chance that your merging of notifications could somehow be related to the disapearing posts?

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/2468?page=1
Fixed that, let me know if you see any other weird issues. Sorry for the trouble, overhauling lots at the moment.
Philadelphus 16 Dec 2016
A nice change! I like it. Good work Liam. :)
Liam Dawe 16 Dec 2016
  • Admin
Okay, quoting people should work 100% again now! Usernames in quotes are now a link to that person's profile (fixed it always being a link to the first quoted person). It should also generate a notification when you're quoted.

Sorry if anyone saw multiple "you were quoted" notifications, it happened if you were quoted multiple times in the same post, I needed to remove duplicate username finds from the array of username matches.
minj 17 Dec 2016
I had my comment liked and the thread was replied to (both notifications lead to the same place, essentially)

I followed the reply notification but the like notification still remained unread.
MayeulC 17 Dec 2016
Thanks for these new features / improvements. It makes the notifications a lot cleaner indeed.

Edit: test quote
Thanks for these new features / improvements. It makes the notifications a lot cleaner indeed.

Edit 2: thanks for fixing the display of names with an "@" in them when quoted.


Last edited by MayeulC on 17 Dec 2016 at 2:29 pm UTC
tuubi 17 Dec 2016
  • Supporter Plus
Great stuff. The notification system is shaping up nicely.

I do think it's a bit unnecessary to get two notifications every time I'm quoted. One for the quote and another for the reply if I'm subscribed to the thread. (I usually am.)

Could you prevent the reply notification to any user who was quoted, as they've already been notified?
Liam Dawe 17 Dec 2016
  • Admin
I had my comment liked and the thread was replied to (both notifications lead to the same place, essentially)

I followed the reply notification but the like notification still remained unread.
Well those are two completely different types of notifications.
Great stuff. The notification system is shaping up nicely.

I do think it's a bit unnecessary to get two notifications every time I'm quoted. One for the quote and another for the reply if I'm subscribed to the thread. (I usually am.)

Could you prevent the reply notification to any user who was quoted, as they've already been notified?
Yep, next on the list is notification priority, so then we can add in username tagging too.
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