Changing notification defaults

[kcarmody]

I don't know if this question belongs here or in the mods area.  I have recently installed SMF 2.0.10 and so far it works fine.  As an admin, I would like to change the default values for notifications in member profiles.  A member can change this by clicking on Profile / Forum Profile and then Modify Profile / Notifications.  There are 5 settings here:

• Receive forum newsletters, announcements and important notifications by email.
• Turn notification on when you post or reply to a topic.
• When sending notification of a reply to a topic, send the post in the email (but please don't reply to these emails.)
• For topics and boards I've requested notification on, notify me:
• For topics and boards I've requested notification on, notify me of:

SMF's default values are:

• checked
• unchecked
• unchecked
• Instantly - but only for the first unread reply
• Moderation only if I started the topic

I would like the defaults to be:

• checked
• checked
• checked
• Instantly
• Replies and moderation

So I want to change the default values of these settings for all but the first item.  I could recommend that each user that they change these settings themselves, but I think most of them would prefer my defaults to SMF's defaults.

I am an experienced programmer and have done a little bit of PHP and JS programming.  I have already successfully modified an SMF PHP file to tweak one of the registration emails.  I have tried to find out where the defaults for the above settings are set, but I have not been successful so far.  I cannot find any admin option to change these defaults, so I thought that they must be hard wired into the PHP somewhere.  But I can't find this anywhere in the code.

I don't know why SMF doesn't default to these values already.  Every non-SMF forum I've been to in the past 20 years has defaulted to notifications on for all messages.  I don't even see the option for turning on notifications in this support forum.  I find it pretty annoying to have to check back on this site all the time just to see if someone has responded to a post I made.  I definitely don't want to put the users on my forum through this, and I don't want to have to tell my users to step through a rather long series of clicks to set notifications on.  I want the forum to default to it instead.

Can anyone tell me how to get SMF to default to notifications on?

[Kindred]

well, we don't default to those values -- because those are the first things that most of us TURN OFF on EVERY SINGLE other forum...


seriously, I truly believe that having those values to to ON is nothing more than SPAM...  if I want notifications, I will turn them on or request them -- it is not up to some random admin to determine what notifications I should receive.


for number two...
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Themes_and_Layout#Member_Options


for number 3 and 5 -- I don't think there is any way to set that for global default...


as for turning them on for yourself... you already found the proper spot.
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?action=profile;area=notification

[Steve]

well, we don't default to those values -- because those are the first things that most of us TURN OFF on EVERY SINGLE other forum...


seriously, I truly believe that having those values to to ON is nothing more than SPAM...  if I want notifications, I will turn them on or request them -- it is not up to some random admin to determine what notifications I should receive.

This is spot on. I absolutely HATE having to go to my profile to turn off things that should have been MY choice in the first place. jmo

[kcarmody]

well, we don't default to those values -- because those are the first things that most of us TURN OFF on EVERY SINGLE other forum...

seriously, I truly believe that having those values to to ON is nothing more than SPAM...  if I want notifications, I will turn them on or request them -- it is not up to some random admin to determine what notifications I should receive.

OK, I guess we have different preferences for receiving emails.  It looks like you are very active in this forum and so I can see why you might not want to get an email every time someone responds to one of your posts.

But on every forum I've been on, I'm not nearly that active, at most one or two posts a day.  Sometimes several days go by with no action and then someone responds.  So I want to know via email when that happens.  The forum I'm setting up will probably have a low amount of activity, so I think notifications will be useful.

I don't think it's accurate to say that I want an admin to decide what notifications a user will receive.  We're talking about defaults here, not final values.

What I want to avoid is a new user who is not aware they will not receive any notification of a reply and might think there is no way to turn them on.  I was such a user a few days ago.  I figure that if notifications come and you don't want them, then you will be motivated to turn them off.  But if notifications don't come and you do want them, you may not even notice it for a while, and then you may not realize it's possible to turn them on.

Either way I guess I'll have to post a sticky topic that explains the situation.  IMO it would be better if SMF were to ask for notification preference at registration, rather than having it buried deep inside the configuration menus.

I do not regard notifications of replies to a topic that I posted on for a forum that I signed up for as spam.  In my book, spam is email about things you don't care about.  I care about people responding to one of my posts.

for number two...
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Themes_and_Layout#Member_Options

Thanks!

for number 3 and 5 -- I don't think there is any way to set that for global default...

Sorry, what I meant was how to modify the source code -- the PHP files -- to get these defaults.  I would like to modify the default for number 4 also.

[br360]

Also something else to consider... if you plan on having a smaller forum, I'm guessing you are probably going to start out on shared hosting. A lot of those hosts limit the amount of emails and notifications that the sites can send out on an hourly/daily basis; and once those limits are met, no more emails get sent out at all (including copies of pm's to emails, notifications to moderators about reported posts, and other important emails)

If you had 100 members, and say 10 posts a day, that would be 1000 notifications by email going out and that could be more than your host allows per day.

Personally, I think your idea of a sticky post letting people how to set up their notifications to their own personal preferences is a pretty good one.

[Jbilderbeek]

I want the same thing for my small forum (180 members) and not so active forum maybe 1 post each month).
Because of the small amount of posts it's important that all members are aware of the post and get a notification.
Now I sent emails that there is a new topic, and I tell people they can enable notifications.

But most of my forum users are really new in using a forum and need all the help they can get.

So: Is there a way to enable notifications for all the members for a certain topic. Of course it would be nice that members can also put it off again if they want.
When I can not find a way it maybe a reason to quit using SMF for my users and switch to a mailing list sort of thing..

Please let me know!
Thanks!

[Kindred]

the only way to do it would be to MANUALLY put lines into the database... and it would not be a pretty query


Why not just ASK your users to turn on notifications for board ABC?

[Jbilderbeek]

Thanks for your reply.
I did ask serveral times...but just doesn't work...

I just installed this mod and seems to work fine, now have to test it!

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=2310