I keep getting topic reply notifications i didn't ask for...

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I do appreciate the Mods' efforts to help me today, and I thank you for it. Trouble is, only an Admin has the necessary permissions to investigate and remedy a situation like mine. That's why it is their duty. The position is voluntary. Someone who doesn't want the duty should not volunteer for it. An admin has a lot of power, and with that power comes a lot of responsibility. When I contacted Alex, he referred me to Lau, and assured me that the problem was being looked into..

I'm not demanding that Lau do anything for me. I only expect him to fulfill the Admin responsibility he accepted along with his admin powers.

I also note that his communications to me were rude, dismissive and condescending. I did nothing to warrant this behavior. The only conclusion I can come to here is that the administration of this website does not value my contributions to it in any way, is not interested in helping me solve this problem and is not concerned with my feelings in the slightest. As such, I no longer feel that I am respected as a part of the WrongPlanet community, nor do I feel either welcome
or wanted here.

I can take a hint.

This shall be my final visit to this site.

Please delete my account and remove any personal information about me on this site.

Any further email that comes to me from this website will be treated as unsolicited spam, and dealt with accordingly.

It is my sincere hope that the administration achieves the result it desires from persuing these policies and initiatives..

As jrknothead has announced that he no longer wishes to visit WP, and he had changed his email address to prevent any communication with him, I have reset his password, to enable me to see what his problem has been.

I logged in as him and went to the first page of "BANNED (The Game)", which I had told him he was still watching.

Indeed, it still said he was watching the topic, so I clicked on the link "Stop watching this topic", got the page saying "You are no longer watching this topic", clicked on the "Click Here to return to the topic" and saw that the link at the bottom of the page had changed to "Watch this topic for replies".

I also verified that the count of watched topics had decreased by exactly one, from 176 to 175, with topic 100526 no longer on the list.

I then re-watched the topic, and verified that taking the link that was in the notification email jrknothead had forwarded to me also removed him from the watched list.

I do not know why he would not do this himself.

I will check that the watch list does not suddenly re-acquire user_id 12918.

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There are, in fact, several way to get on the watch list of a thread. I suppose the most visible method would be by clicking on the "Watch this topic for replies" link (but with the bug, that means this will only work on the first page of the thread). Thereafter, assuming that your profile states that you wish to do so by default, there are various other ways. Obviously, by starting a new topic, but the typical way is by making a reply (or quote) on a thread. Also, voting in a poll will start you watching a thread. Editing a post you have made will cause you to start watching that thread.

The only ways to stop watching a thread are to use the "Stop watching this topic" link on the first page of the thread, or take the "unwatch" link from the notification email. Naturally, for the latter to work, you must either already be logged in to WP or have your browser set up to automatically log you in. I will try, with this post, to see if un-checking the "Notify me when a reply is posted" box on this post entry page does actually remove me from the watch list of this thread. (PS. It did remove me from the list - which surprised me, particularly as jrknothead insisted it did not do so. The box is now checked, as per my default, so I will be going back on the list when I post this edit... which is exactly what happened.)

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As the email notifications state, if you do not visit the thread you have been notified about, you will receive no more emails. This is because the system is pretty simplistic. It would be nice (but somewhat expensive in server time to implement) to send out at least one "reminder" email, when you did not visit the thread for some time. On examination, I discovered that I am watching 1,447 threads, but 45 of them are ones that I have (presumably) received a notification for, but haven't visited the thread (an oversight, on my part). I.e. they are waiting for me to visit the thread concerned.

This does seem to suggest a new "feature" - somewhere you can ask for a list of threads that WP is waiting for you to visit.

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No. We do not delete accounts. This would have been clear to you before you posted anything, as you were obliged to read the "Terms of Service" before doing so.

All notification emails that you received were solicited by you (unlike the many copies of them which you decided to forward to me).

Last edited by lau on 22 Jan 2010, 9:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

PS. Of the 175 threads being watched by jrknothead, I would expect to receive 98 notification messages. The remaining 77 are ones that he has not visited after an email, and hence will send no further emails. As none of the threads will be visited, that will be the end of the notification emails.