# Alerts not alerting?



## coffeejo (24 Nov 2011)

I've noticed this a few times now: new posts in threads I'm watching aren't always being picked up by the Alerts thingywotsit (tm) ... 

Sorry if anyone else has posted this.


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## Shaun (24 Nov 2011)

Do they come in eventually, or just not appear at all?


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## potsy (24 Nov 2011)

Just noticed in the tea thread that Arch's post from 12 minutes ago gave me an alert, but Speicher's a minute later still shows nothing.
Now I know most of her stuff is not worth reading but it would be nice to know she was still with us 
ps it then alerted for the Doc's post 10 minutes after that.


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

I had an alert 21 mins after the event


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## potsy (24 Nov 2011)

phil_hg_uk said:


> I had an alert 21 mins after the event


Admin needs to know how important the stuff talked about in 'tea' is, that alert could be the difference between getting a biscuit or missing out  (especially if Jo's in there.


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

Damn  Dam Too right


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## Shaun (24 Nov 2011)

AFAIK it works by alerting you to the *first reply after you've read* a thread, but not any subsequent ones - on the assumption you'll see them when you respond to the alert.

If it alerted you to every single new post on every watched thread you'd be overwhelmed with the flippin' things.

After you've read the thread again (_in response to the initial alert_), the very next reply will prompt another alert and so on.

Does that make sense? ...


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## Speicher (24 Nov 2011)

potsy said:


> Just noticed in the tea thread that Arch's post from 12 minutes ago gave me an alert, but Speicher's a minute later still shows nothing.
> Now I know most of her stuff is not worth reading but it would be nice to know she was still with us
> ps it then alerted for the Doc's post 10 minutes after that.


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## coffeejo (24 Nov 2011)

Admin said:


> AFAIK it works by alerting you to the *first reply after you've read* a thread, but not any subsequent ones - on the assumption you'll see them when you respond to the alert.
> 
> If it alerted you to every single new post on every watched thread you'd be overwhelmed with the flippin' things.
> 
> ...


Yes ... but it's not _always_ working like that. For example, I'll contribute to a thread and go and read something else, click the "what's new" link and see that someone else has contributed to the same thread but the alert hasn't told me. There are so many updated threads that it's easy to miss them - I caught up on one thread this morning that people had been posting to yesterday evening but the thingywotsit never told me.


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## Shaun (24 Nov 2011)

I'll double-check on the XF site tomorrow and try to find out the technical details of how they work - it may be that they need adjusting or fixing ...


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

Admin said:


> I'll double-check on the XF site tomorrow and try to find out the technical details of how they work - it may be that they need adjusting or fixing ...


 
Passes Admin the extra large forum adjustment hammer


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## Shaun (24 Nov 2011)

Actually - can you all check your Alert Preferences (under your username drop-down) to make sure all the alerts are selected?


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## coffeejo (24 Nov 2011)

I did before starting this thread


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

Sits down and watches developments  i do love all these new smileys


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## coffeejo (24 Nov 2011)

Admin said:


> I'll double-check on the XF site tomorrow and try to find out the technical details of how they work - it may be that they need adjusting or fixing ...


 


phil_hg_uk said:


> Sits down and watches developments


 
It'll be a long night


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

coffeejo said:


> It'll be a long night


 
Thats ok I have plenty of popcorn  have a seat


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## coffeejo (24 Nov 2011)

phil_hg_uk said:


> Thats ok I have plenty of popcorn  have a seat


Ssh, don't say that too loudly, Potsy will hear


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

coffeejo said:


> Ssh, don't say that too loudly, Potsy will hear


 
I think he is working, well attending a place that pays him to turn up anyway


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## Speicher (24 Nov 2011)

phil_hg_uk said:


> Thats ok I have plenty of popcorn (even allowing for how much Potsy will snaffle from me) have a seat


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## Speicher (24 Nov 2011)

Teapotsy  does not read my posts, so I can say what I like about him.


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

Ay up is this a defection from the tea room


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## coffeejo (24 Nov 2011)

My Spider Senses tell me he's online now. Serve up this popcorn and All Will Be Well:


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## Shaun (24 Nov 2011)

The irony being that I keep getting alerts every minute about the failing alerts thread ... or alternatively I've had too much beer and it's all merging into one ....


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## phil_hg_uk (24 Nov 2011)

I keep getting loads of alerts at the moment ........... I feel so popular


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## Shaun (25 Nov 2011)

It seems I missed a step when I imported all the data and some of the threads we've participated in don't indicate the fact properly - perhaps this is impacting on the alerts too.

The "fix" is fairly processor intensive so I'll run it in the early hours when it's a bit quiter and we'll see if it sorts out the missing/quirky alerts - which, BTW, should be instant - not delivered on a time-cycle.


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## coffeejo (25 Nov 2011)

Admin said:


> It seems I missed a step when I imported all the data and some of the threads we've participated in don't indicate the fact properly - perhaps this is impacting on the alerts too.
> 
> The "fix" is fairly processor intensive so I'll run it in the early hours when it's a bit quiter and we'll see if it sorts out the missing/quirky alerts - which, BTW, should be instant - not delivered on *a time-cycle*.


 
Is that like a time trial?


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## potsy (25 Nov 2011)

Admin said:


> It seems I missed a step when I imported all the data and some of the threads we've participated in don't indicate the fact properly - perhaps this is impacting on the alerts too.
> 
> The "fix" is fairly processor intensive so I'll run it in the early hours when it's a bit quiter and we'll see if it sorts out the missing/quirky alerts - which, BTW, should be instant - not delivered on a time-cycle.


Knew it would be your fault


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## coffeejo (25 Nov 2011)

potsy said:


> Knew it would be your fault


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## coffeejo (2 Dec 2011)

Not wanting to to be a pain or anything, but the alerts are still not being particularly reliable. Scanning the "what's new" list, I've seen three threads with new posts that I'm watching but haven't received an alert for.


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## potsy (2 Dec 2011)

coffeejo said:


> Not wanting to to be a pain or anything


 
Bit late for that turkey features


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## coffeejo (2 Dec 2011)

potsy said:


> Bit late for that turkey features


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## Shaun (4 Dec 2011)

coffeejo said:


> Not wanting to to be a pain or anything, but the alerts are still not being particularly reliable. Scanning the "what's new" list, I've seen three threads with new posts that I'm watching but haven't received an alert for.


 
Can you do me a favour - go to each thread and click "unwatch" and then click "watch" again to see if it restarts the alerts?

Whilst the watched threads were imported from the previous software, I'm wondering if the alerts aren't triggering properly based on the imported watch statuses.

For example, did you get an alert about my posts here in this "new" thread (post migration)?

Cheers,
Shaun


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## coffeejo (4 Dec 2011)

I am very  so I've deferred any action til tomorrow


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## Shaun (5 Dec 2011)

Okay, after checking with the XF chaps, and testing here - here's how the new posts alert works:

An alert is only triggered for the _next reply_ to a watched thread after you've last read it - subsequent replies don't trigger further alerts (_which stops your alert box filling up with hundreds of alerts_).

So, if you view a thread you are watching (_or post a new thread and watch it_) - the *next* reply will generate an alert.

If you don't respond to that alert you won't be alerted again - no matter how many people reply to the thread.

When you _do_ go back to read the thread again the alert process is reset and the _very next_ _reply_ will trigger an alert.

So ... if you're expecting to get an alert for _every single reply_ to a watched thread, that's _not_ how it works and why it may appear that the alerts are broken!!

In practice - you get one alert to tell you there's something new on the thread, and until you read the thread again, you don't get any further alerts.

Hopefully that makes sense ... ?

Cheers,
Shaun


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## albion (5 Dec 2011)

I'd just prefer a link to to my postings in 'date I last posted' order.The watched threads seems as strange as what we had in the old software.


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## coffeejo (5 Dec 2011)

Admin said:


> Okay, after checking with the XF chaps, and testing here - here's how the new posts alert works:
> 
> An alert is only triggered for the _next reply_ to a watched thread after you've last read it - subsequent replies don't trigger further alerts (_which stops your alert box filling up with hundreds of alerts_).
> 
> ...


Yup, that makes perfect sense, but as I said before, that ain't what's happening! I posted on this thread yesterday and didn't look at it again until I saw it just now in the what's new section - your response didn't generate an alert.


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## Shaun (5 Dec 2011)

coffeejo said:


> Yup, that makes perfect sense, but as I said before, that ain't what's happening! I posted on this thread yesterday and didn't look at it again until I saw it just now in the what's new section - your response didn't generate an alert.


 
Interestingly I've got a database entry to show the alert being triggered to you - so something is odd if you're not seeing it.

Can you PM me your user account password so I can look into it further.

Thanks,
Shaun


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## coffeejo (5 Dec 2011)

Will do


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## Shaun (5 Dec 2011)

coffeejo said:


> Yup, that makes perfect sense, but as I said before, that ain't what's happening! I posted on this thread yesterday and didn't look at it again until I saw it just now in the what's new section - your response didn't generate an alert.


 
However, the alert _is_ there in your list:








Just to confirm - if you look via your own browser, can you see that alert in the list?

Cheers,
Shaun


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## coffeejo (5 Dec 2011)

I'm going to shut up, crawl under my sofa and wait til the  has gone away.


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## Shaun (5 Dec 2011)

coffeejo said:


> I'm going to shut up, crawl under my sofa and wait til the  has gone away.


 
He he ... it's an easy thing to miss, especially as the red balloon disappears when you hover over the list.

What might helps is the little yellow star - you might not have noticed it, but when you have multiple alerts the new ones have a little yellow star at the bottom right to indicate it's a new alert - they'll stay there for a little while to give you chance to catch up with all your new alerts.

Cheers,
Shaun


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## potsy (5 Dec 2011)

How embarassing


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## ianrauk (5 Dec 2011)

potsy said:


> How embarassing


 
I'd say!!!


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## coffeejo (5 Dec 2011)




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## Jezston (15 Dec 2011)

Hi - I'm having some issues with alerts not alerting here too.

I've set the forum to alert me to any changes on any threads I participate in.

Went to check on a thread I hadn't had any replies to, but it appears I'd had quite a few replies, but no alerts.

It's this thread:

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/si...-computer-recommendations.91693/#post-1641904

This is what my alerts page looks like:






As you can see I had two replies on Monday, which I read, but nothing since.

Am I missing something?


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## Shaun (19 Dec 2011)

Jezston said:


> As you can see I had two replies on Monday, which I read, but nothing since.
> 
> Am I missing something?


 
No, you're not missing anything.

You got an alert, visited the thread (and replied), then got a further alert when HLaB replied.

You won't get any further alerts until you go and read the thread - whereafter the very next response on the thread will prompt a new alert.

Cheers,
Shaun


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## Jezston (24 Dec 2011)

Admin said:


> No, you're not missing anything.
> 
> 
> You won't get any further alerts until you go and read the thread - whereafter the very next response on the thread will prompt a new alert.


 
OIC

Cheers!


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