mcwumbly inquired about adding a link to the email footer to set a topic status to “Watching.” The goal is to allow infrequent visitors to easily follow a topic after being mentioned or replied to directly. codinghorror expressed concerns about adding another choice to the email footer, while downey countered that people only read the footer when they want to think about their email preferences.
mcwumbly noted that footers are now customizable and plans to experiment with adding the link. However, they need a route to change the tracking status to “Watching” for a topic and asked if this would be a welcome pull request.
DeanMarkTaylor pointed out that the email is typically received when a user is mentioned, watching a category, or in mailing list mode, making the need for a “Watch” link less pressing. downey confirmed this assumption, highlighting that the link’s primary use case would be for users who visit the site infrequently and want to follow a topic after being mentioned or replied to directly.
In the default email footer, there is a link to unsubscribe from a topic, which turns the volume down on a topic from “Watching” or “Tracking” to “Normal” (or from “Normal” to “Muted”), eg:
https://meta.discourse.org/t/duplicate-email-notification/40444/unsubscribe
Is there a similar route/link to set a topic status to “Watching?”
I’d like to experiment with adding a link so users who visit the site infrequently can easily follow a topic after they are mentioned or replied to directly.
Eh, this is adding another choice that will Make Me Think. I am already unhappy we present three links there, though we did amp up the “Visit Topic” to a full blown blue button (you showed a deeper nested reply here for some reason) to make it clear that’s the default action.
People don’t read the footer unless they want to think about what the receive. (Or don’t receive.)
Footers are customizable now, right? I think I can try some things there and report back so we don’t have to debate it here.
I’ll just need a route to change the tracking status to watching for a topic. Is that something that would be pr-welcome?
Am I right in thinking that you would only get this email in the first place (as default) if:
So unless it’s that you’ve been mentioned, it seems like you are “watching” / going to receive email for the topic anyway?
That’s a correct assumption:
