Topic Reply Notifications

Is there any way to have the subject line of the Topic Reply Email Notifications reflect the subject line of the topic? Currently, if 5 notifications come in, all the emails say:

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Topic Subscription Reply Notification ( What the Tech )

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Topic Subscription Reply Notification ( What the Tech )

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Topic Subscription Reply Notification ( What the Tech )

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Topic Subscription Reply Notification ( What the Tech )

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Topic Subscription Reply Notification ( What the Tech )

It would be great for those of us that "work" the forums if they said something like:

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Reply to Post: "Reporting Bad Posts"

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Reply to Post: "Irs.gov"

From: What the Tech ([removed])
Subject: Reply to Post: "Beware"
…

Interesting idea Bill. Might not be possible. But we might never know, if we don't ask. Doug

But we might never know, if we don't ask.

Well asking is one thing. But if we organize and collectively demand descriptive reply notifications, correct site time, and a 10% pay raise with 2 weeks annual vacations, then we might get somewhere!

FTR, Neowin forums, running the highly modified Invision forum software, sends notices with descriptive subjects. For example, I just received a notice of a reply to a thread titled "laptop heating". The notification email subject is:

laptop heating . ( Neowin Forums )

So apparently it can be done, however, I recognize that modifying software can also introduce undesirable results and the trade-off and/or manhours needed to make it work may not be worth it. Then again, it may be a simple modification.

Blair is probably seriously considering out-sourcing Software/Hardware Tech help to India. Maybe we should only ask for 5%, and promise to empty our own trash cans.

Blair is probably seriously considering out-sourcing Software/Hardware Tech help to India.

In that case, I want a 20% pay raise.

This is a example of what I receive:

From : What the Tech
Sent : Saturday, October 6, 2007 7:21 AM
To : (removed)
Subject : Topic Subscription Reply Notification ( What the Tech )


LDTate,

paws has just posted a reply to a topic that you have subscribed to titled
"Directions to Post a HJT Log (for review)".

The topic can be found here:
hXXp://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=83545&view=getnewpost

There may be more replies to this topic, but only 1 email is sent per board
visit for each subscribed topic. This is
to limit the amount of mail that is sent to your inbox.

I see no problem with that.

Apparently, I did not make myself clear as you missed the point. You are looking at the whole message. I am looking that the subject. The way you determined what the topic was, you either had to open the email, or you have your email client configured with Preview set to "on". That may work for you and others, but it is not practical, safe, or convenient for everybody.

Setting aside, for the moment, the security ramifications of having preview set to on, I work several forums and 50+ forum responses/day is not unusual.

Note the following image of my MailWasher Pro message box:

[external image: Posted Image]

How is the WtT email subject helpful? How can users decide/prioritize their email without opening each email? They can't, unless they have preview turned on, and I note there are many on the security side of IT, including me, that recommend against that practice, or at least stress very careful implementation of that practice to prevent malicious code activity.

I see no problem with that.

Okay. That's good. But your bold emphasis gives me concern that the thought is since it works fine for you, you feel it must be good for everyone else, so why all this fuss?

Certainly, if the subject of the notification reflected the subject of the topic, it would not impact how you manage your email. And I don't see how that would be a problem for you either. But it would make it easier for others - in particular, those of us that don't wish to open each notice just to see the topic, or those of us that don't have preview set to on, for whatever reason.

I like the idea, and will see how much effort is involved to make the change. However, every forum modification means more work every time the forum is updated, and that happens every few months. Neowin has a team of coderators and if you've noticed, they are usually down for many hours or even days every time they update the forums. Anything is possible, but the reward needs to be greater than the effort.

Here's what I do. Click on My Controls, and then under Options select Email Settings. (see image below):

[external image: Posted Image]

Tick the checkbox:

Include a copy of the post when emailing me from a subscribed topic
Enabling this option will send a plain text version of the post in the subscription email.

Then I use the preview pane to view the content of the reply without even having to visit the site. It's especially useful when viewing email on my phone.

Thanks Blair and yes, your CP option will reveal the topic. And with MWP, the preview pane shows the first few lines of the notification email and so the topic is displayed that way too - but in both cases, that forces you to select that email out of the list of many identical looking emails. So it does not really help under these circumstances. Certainly, I agree the payoff has to be worth the effort - and the reality is, it will only help us responders who get many notification emails/day, and not the general poster who is hoping to get one. Nevertheless, it would still be nice.