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You are here: Home > Forum > A Place of Safety > General Talk > Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription
Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70872] Wed, 20 January 2016 13:11 Go to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



I expect you know that you can subscribe to threads and the forum and that the forum software will then send you every thread change or every forum change by email.

That is a pain in the arse, sometimes, especially when people click the "Subscribe" links by accident and then cannot find them again to turn them off.

I suppose I could say "You found them once, so find them again!" That is severely tempting. But, here is a guide for that link in a thread:


  • Go to the FORUM
  • Log IN to the FORUM if you are not logged in
  • Go to the POST concerned
  • Look for a link "unsubscribe"
  • Click that link
    It looks like this:

    http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=2285&private=0

    See it? Bottom right hand side, one in from the right.

    When you subscribed it said Subscribe, unsurprisingly!

    Now, for those who have subscribed to the entire forum, what a mistake to make! Find your CONTROL PANEL

    http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=2286&private=0

    It's somewhere like that at the top of the forum

    Click SUBSCRIPTIONS

    http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=2287&private=0

    See? You can do a GLOBAL UNSUBSCRIBE here. I can not ever control what you have chosen to subscribe to. I can not subscribe for you, nor can I unsubscribe for you. You will receive stuff form the forum because you have, knowingly or not, subscribed to it.

    As you can see, I am subscribed on ONE topic, and NO forums

    This is absolutely separate from the main site email notification list. For reasons I have never understood, folk manage to confuse the two

    Now, if you just want to know when new matwerial has been posted, use the RSS feed:

    Use something like Feedreader, or maybe your browser can do the job

[Updated on: Wed, 20 January 2016 13:14]




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70874 is a reply to message #70872] Wed, 20 January 2016 14:40 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



Also please see our help pages.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70884 is a reply to message #70874] Thu, 21 January 2016 02:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Matthews is currently offline  James Matthews

Toe is in the water
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: May 2015
Messages: 93



I must admit after logging on to my outlook inbox a couple of days ago to find it completely blitz'd with thread submissions from IOMFATS I had to spend a good 5 minutes on the site trying to figure out how to turn the thing off. As much as I felt I went in blind, I can say that i did not require an IT degree to work it out. None the less, had I found your post above Timmy I could have cut that time by around 46%

I thank you!
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70885 is a reply to message #70884] Thu, 21 January 2016 02:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Matthews is currently offline  James Matthews

Toe is in the water
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: May 2015
Messages: 93



PS, I do wonder after being a member and subscriber for some time now, why suddenly I started getting e-mails in the first place?

Erm....
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70888 is a reply to message #70885] Thu, 21 January 2016 08:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



"Quote:"
WestcliffWriter wrote on Thu, 21 January 2016 02:24PS, I do wonder after being a member and subscriber for some time now, why suddenly I started getting e-mails in the first place?

Erm....

--
All I can conclude is that the "subscribe" link was under your mouse when you clicked 'something else', or that you clicked by accident, and it subscribed you. All that happens is that it refreshes the page, but changes "Subscribe" to "Unsubscribe" and who would notice that? The forum software is unchanged and folk can not subscribe other folk to threads.

The unsubscribe process is a pain in the arse. It hides in plain sight. It took me ages to find it and I own the thing!!! It's truly hard if you subscribe to the forum itself. The "Help" link kind of covers it, but boys never read the instuctions, not even gay boys!

[Updated on: Thu, 21 January 2016 08:43]




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70893 is a reply to message #70888] Thu, 21 January 2016 15:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Nick Deverill is currently offline  Nick Deverill

Toe is in the water

Registered: November 2012
Messages: 78



Quote:
timmy wrote on Thu, 21 January 2016 08:30 ish
The unsubscribe process is a pain in the arse. It hides in plain sight. It took me ages to find it and I own the thing!!! It's truly hard if you subscribe to the forum itself. The "Help" link kind of covers it, but boys never read the instructions, not even gay boys!

Pah, read the manual/instructions? That's for wimps and normal folk. I'm special...
Or so the rationale goes.

I used to have a job where I'd deliberately try to get stuff to work without reading the instructions. But one of the facets of that job was then helping the general public who ask the BBC on the grounds they must know how to work their TV/radio/doofa. One VCR that recorded subtitles took me 30 minutes and I had to use the book, absolutely no chance without it. Still impressed the salesman who was trying to sell the thing in his shop though, it took him two hours...
Oddly, I don't think many were sold!
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70909 is a reply to message #70872] Fri, 22 January 2016 16:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



One area folk seem to trip up is their profile. There is a radio button which autosubscribes you to every thread you post in. If that is what you want, fine. If not, go in and sort it out via your control panel



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70915 is a reply to message #70885] Sat, 23 January 2016 10:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ray is currently offline  Ray

Getting started
Location: Sydney, Australia
Registered: July 2014
Messages: 26



I agree.
I also never clicked on any such "subscribe" button, but for several days my e-mail has, for the first time, been inundated with unwanted reminders that someone has added to a thread. This prompt me to suspect that something is amiss in the system.
I haven't touched my profile in ages, so that can't be the problem.
I find it illustrative that this thread need to be opened by Timmy - clearly many have made the same error at the same time.
Odd?
Idiots, perhaps?
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70916 is a reply to message #70915] Sat, 23 January 2016 11:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



"Ray wrote on Sat, 23 January 2016 10:27"
I agree.
I also never clicked on any such "subscribe" button, but for several days my e-mail has, for the first time, been inundated with unwanted reminders that someone has added to a thread. This prompt me to suspect that something is amiss in the system.
I haven't touched my profile in ages, so that can't be the problem.
I find it illustrative that this thread need to be opened by Timmy - clearly many have made the same error at the same time.
Odd?
Idiots, perhaps?

--
You are the third, only.

Note that there is also a place where one can volunteer to receive stuff:

http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=2301&private=0

The "Post Notification" box, which some may tick inadvertently when they post. Nothing has changed here. All I can conclude so far is unwitting finger trouble.

If it were that much vaunted 'someone' getting in and doing something our intrusion monitors would have told us. It's never impossible to break site security, but it's very hard to do it without being noticed. This is why we run this site on our own server, unique to us, configured by us, secured by Megaman's devious mind.

Whatever the cause your personal control panel is the place to undo this thing

[Updated on: Sat, 23 January 2016 11:56]




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70918 is a reply to message #70916] Sat, 23 January 2016 17:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ChrisR is currently offline  ChrisR

Likes it here
Location: Western US
Registered: October 2014
Messages: 136



Just for the record, mark me as the fourth.

I haven't touched the control panel in ages but starting about a week ago was getting notices. The "new message" balloons also didn't change color in the threads indicating the posting had been read. Just now I went to the control panel and discovered I had somehow been subscribed to every thread I've visited. Yikes! Fortunately the "unsubscribe all" button in the lower right hand corner does seem to work.

CR
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70919 is a reply to message #70918] Sat, 23 January 2016 18:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
solsticeman is currently offline  solsticeman

Likes it here

Registered: November 2012
Messages: 109



nope, with respect I am sure you are the fifth, I claim the honour of being the fourth. btw Timmy, did you mean that leaving "Include signature" ticked provokes this problem, because I think I can recall not bothering to untick something but thought I was going to see just reactions to my comment, but got notifications of everything that happened in that thread instead, wha'eva, my bad
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70920 is a reply to message #70919] Sat, 23 January 2016 19:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



Quote:
solsticeman wrote on Sat, 23 January 2016 18:02nope, with respect I am sure you are the fifth, I claim the honour of being the fourth. btw Timmy, did you mean that leaving "Include signature" ticked provokes this problem, because I think I can recall not bothering to untick something but thought I was going to see just reactions to my comment, but got notifications of everything that happened in that thread instead, wha'eva, my bad

--
The only dangerous(!) option is "Post Notification"

The graphic I have enclosed shows what my panel looks like. Logic says that, had we had a gremlin it would have been universal. I would also have been affected.

It's unlikely that any putative database corruption would just have affected that one bit. We would have expected the entire forum to have been scrambled. Equally unlikely is the fact that several folk have been affected.

Larkin was the first to report it, but it was in his old and dormant account. His current account was entirely unaffected.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Thread and Forum Subscription and unsubscription  [message #70921 is a reply to message #70919] Sat, 23 January 2016 20:32 Go to previous message
ChrisR is currently offline  ChrisR

Likes it here
Location: Western US
Registered: October 2014
Messages: 136



If you're offering me a fifth, I accept. Make mine a Stroh's. That's Stroh's RUM, mind you. 160 proof. Ahhh.
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