Chris: Will you have email announcements of updates and important information

[ralford]

If you were used to browsing YahooGroups on the web, perhaps this is a useful format. However, if you are used to receiving emails from yahoogroups, this is not a useful replacement. (If you can receive emails I couldn't locate the place in the settings...)

I certainly cannot dedicate time to "checking" this forum and the others for important news, and there are certainly other places to "chat".

WHat are the plans for keeping customers informed of updates, changes, etc.

Sincerely,

Rusty

[Chris Breeze]

I haven't decided what is the best way make announcements yet. I think the forum software allows moderators to email announcements which is one way of doing it. My main ISP also has a mailing list function which could be used. You can also select "Check for updates" from the Help menus of the various apps to check if you're using the latest version.

Regards,

Chris

[wsmoak]

If you were used to browsing YahooGroups on the web, perhaps this is a useful format. However, if you are used to receiving emails from yahoogroups, this is not a useful replacement. (If you can receive emails I couldn't locate the place in the settings...)

You can subscribe at the thread or forum level. For example, I went into the 'BreezeBrowser Pro' forum, clicked on 'Forum Tools' chose 'subscribe' and chose 'daily updates'. I assume that will produce a daily digest. (I'd rather have individual emails, but this is better than having to come to the forum to check messages.)

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Wendy Smoak

[hollies]

I also liked to view the "old" forum by email because it was faster than web based forums and you could delete any that were not relevant and keep only the ones that were.

It does save time and it is easier than trawling through the web.

However, I run my own forum, music related, so I understand why Chris has gone for this type of forum and perhaps when we get a little more used to it, we may find it better.

[Zero-Point]

Another way of distributing announcements is have forum users subscribe to the Announcements forum and posts updates there. But this will only apply to users who are registered on the forum (and subscribed) and not all who have purchased the program(s).

Thanks for the forum.

[Evo2Me]

My main ISP also has a mailing list function which could be used.

I like to support this. I always liked mailing lists as they gave me the most flexibility and best reaction time. A Web forum has to be visited if one is interested in Q&A. Doesn't sound like much but with a mailing list I just got an e-mail with a question and could (if I knew it) answer, and answers to my questions were as immediate. A Web forum cannot be as timely.

For announcements I don't need to check as often, once a day would be alright (although RSS feed comes to mind). It is the community support that I like.

BTW, with e-mail server speed isn't an issue at all ...

[ralford]

You can subscribe at the thread or forum level. For example, I went into the 'BreezeBrowser Pro' forum, clicked on 'Forum Tools' chose 'subscribe' and chose 'daily updates'. I assume that will produce a daily digest. (I'd rather have individual emails, but this is better than having to come to the forum to check messages.)

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Wendy Smoak

I could not find "Forum Tools" and it appears Chris doesn't know of that functionality. I did see that I could receive email when I reply or am replied to on a tread I am involved with - presummably you need to get on the web. Think this approach will Isolate BB from its customers.

I'll wait for email from Chris - spent too much time to get back to what he/we had.

rma

[wsmoak]

I could not find "Forum Tools" and it appears Chris doesn't know of that functionality. I did see that I could receive email when I reply or am replied to on a tread I am involved with - presummably you need to get on the web. Think this approach will Isolate BB from its customers.


If you are looking at the list of topics in this forum, you'll see a 'New Thread' button, and beneath it, "Threads in Forum: General discussion". Look all the way to the right, and you'll see: Forum Tools and Search this Forum

Under Forum Tools is the 'Subscribe to This Forum' option.

However... it doesn't seem to be working. I'm subscribed to three Forums, and haven't gotten any emails. Chris, is this feature turned on?

Thanks,
Wendy Smoak

[Chris Breeze]

I'm still exploring the functionality of the forum software but I'm pretty sure it won't work as a mailing list. I think it is possible for moderators to email announcements to all users but not to send an email for every posting. Some people prefer web based forums and others like emails. Unfortunately it isn't always possible to please everybody.

Regards,

Chris

[ralford]

google phplist....

[wsmoak]

It works! Today I got three emails listing new/updated topics in BBPro, DLPro and this General forum.

No message content, unfortunately, just the thread titles, but at least it's better than having to remember to come here. If something looks interesting you can click on the thread title in the email and go straight to it.

What's a little weird is that when I click Forum Tools->Subscribe to This Forum, it shows 'no email notifications' even though I have 1) turned it on previously and 2) actually received emails already.

Chris, is there some reason you are not allowing us to edit our posts? Down at the bottom left it says (for me, at least):
You may post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
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Wendy Smoak

[Chris Breeze]

I'll check the options for allowing users to edit own posts. I wanted to err on the side of caution and enable features once I get a better feel for running the forum rather than enabling everything then have to take things away later.

[mcalthrop]

I notice in the FAQ that if the moderator enables RSS, you can keep up to date with and RSS feed reader - but I went to the URL specified, and got a blank page, so I assume Chris has not turned it on.

For me, that would be a really good solution. And you can get RSS readers built in with both Firefox (browser - excellent! - www.getfirefox.com (http://www.getfirefox.com)) and Thunderbird (email client - excellent too! - www.getthunderbird.com (http://www.getthunderbird.com))

The other thing that would be really useful is to see how many unread posts there are in each forum... is there any way of doing this?

cheers,

Matt

[Chris Breeze]

I'm willing to give it a try and have enabled the RSS feed. The FAQ on RSS is here:
http://www.breezesysforum.com/forums/faq.php?faq=vb_board_usage#faq_vb_rss_syndication

And there are some notes on live bookmarks using FireFox here:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/live-bookmarks.html

I manually added a live bookmark by adding the link:
http://www.breezesysforum.com/forums/external.php?type=rss2

[mcalthrop]

Fantastic! Works really well.

Helps a lot with the problem of knowing which posts have not been read yet, so I only get an update with the new posts. Can scan & read/delete as required - just like the yahoo system.

Thanks Chris!

Matt.