Angus Edwardson
complete
Hi everyone, we've just released the update which fixes this!
You can now choose to 'subscribe' to a conversation, so that you receive updates every time someone replies, or when it is resolved.
When you make a comment yourself, you'll be subscribed by default.
Thanks so much for your input and conversation around this, it was seriously helpful and makes sure what we're building really works for you.
Let us know what you think and keep sending in any feedback 馃檶
Matt James
Angus Edwardson: Hi there Angus - I realise this is an old thread now, but is it possible to look into being able to switch off the default setting for adding a comment automatically subscribing you to that comment's replies? I leave an awful lot of comments and get even more replies (and therefore emails) in my editing, to the degree that I have to just delete the emails en masse and work through the comments when I come to take a look at the full draft. But I don't want to just do a full divert of these emails straight to my trash in Outlook as I worry about missing out on other emails from Gather which are helpful.
Angus Edwardson
Matt James: thanks for raising this up again, Matt. I think your feedback is really valid, and can see how your situation could be massively improved by this!
We have actually been reviewing commenting recently and so I'll make sure your feedback gets added to our notes for consideration. James Peacock may follow up with you some questions.
I can imagine how a notification center in the app would really help your workflow, too? This is also something we have not-so-distant on our roadmap.
James Peacock
Hi Matt James - as Angus has said, our upcoming notification centre update will certainly be your saviour here. The plan is to split the notification centre into two parts - Inbox and Alerts. That way, everything related to conversations can be viewed and actioned in one place, with the Alerts tab containing everything else - item assignment, exports being ready, etc.
We just have some other product updates on the horizon before we start development on it, but I'm confident it will really help a lot of people manage their notifications better.
Matt James
James Peacock: Thank you for picking this up. Much appreciated.
James Peacock
in聽progress
Thanks everyone for your input on this! We're now working on a small but exciting update to conversations, specifically conversation "subscriptions".
Rather than us automating who gets notified of replies, you will be able to control which conversations you want to be kept updated on via a simple "Subscribe" toggle. Subscribing to a conversation will notify you of all replies regardless of being mentioned, and and you will also be notified when it's resolved.
The creator, or original poster, of a conversation will be subscribed by default. Existing notifications won't be affected i.e. you will still receive a notification if you aren't subscribed but are mentioned.
We hope you find this update useful! As always, keep your suggestions coming, and contact us if you have any questions via the usual channels.
Thanks!
Joe Armstrong
James Peacock: I would argue it should be opt out instead of opt in. People won't remember to subscribe to relevant threads and updates will be missed.
James Deer
Joe Armstrong: +1
James Peacock
Joe Armstrong: Hi Joe. How do you see opt-out working? In other words, at which point should people automatically be subscribed? People can still be notified of updates by being mentioned (@'d) regardless of whether they're subscribed or not. Also, people who start a conversation are automatically subscribed.
Our reason behind not auto-subscribing people to threads when mentioned is to prevent them receiving notifications of follow-up replies that aren't always important. This gives that person the choice, rather than us making it for them, of whether to receive all notifications or not.
Joe Armstrong
James Peacock: In my view, if someone is mentioned in a thread, they are automatically subscribed to all updates to the same thread until they opt out, which they could perhaps best do via a link in the notification email. Alternatively from within the thread itself. In our work, we have a lot of back and forth between copywriters and SMEs - and people often miss receiving or giving feedback because people don't always remember to tag/mention. In the context of such conversations, there's rarely communication that isn't important.
James Peacock
Joe Armstrong: Interesting. It's actually something we discussed but made the decision as per the reasons I mentioned earlier, but you make a really good point. I think there's going to be strong arguments for both. Really appreciate your feedback though. We are still in the early stages of development with this and we'll definitely take your feedback on board, so watch this space.
Joe Armstrong
James Peacock: Thanks, James. I appreciate the chance to provide feedback and how open the team is to considering and responding to that feedback. Best of luck!
James Peacock
Joe Armstrong: Hi again Joe. I thought I'd give you a bit of an update with regards to this subscribe feature.
We've reached a bit of a compromise that I'm confident will please everyone. We haven't gone down the path of auto-subscribing people when they're mentioned, but they will become subscribed when they leave a reply themselves.
We feel this interaction is really important. It would be bad practice for users to receive notifications without any interaction on their part, especially when it involves emails. Not only that, but it could open the door to potential malicious behaviour with our notifications system.
We hope you understand this decision and find this subscribe feature worthwhile. As you know we're open to feedback and we always strive to make continual improvements to features we release, so by no means consider this as a final implementation.
We'll be releasing this update very soon! Thanks for your input.
Joe Armstrong
James Peacock: That does sound like a good compromise, James. How will I know when the update goes live?
S
Sian Fording
I also think it would be useful to be able to subscribe to comments on an item - so you receive a notification event if you've not been included in an '@'
James Peacock
planned
Angus Edwardson
under聽review
This definitely makes sense in terms of how other tools work. We're reviewing it now, and so we'll keep you updated with our progress. Thanks so much for all the voting.
Something else we're exploring is the ability to @mention a group (for example: @legal or @copywriters), or also to be able to @ everyone assigned to the item, so @item. What do you think of this in terms of notifications and communication?
Shelly Bowen
Agreed.