# Apply "mailing list mode" per category
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [25 juli 2016 om 17:36 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772 "2016-07-25T17:36:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@LeoMcA](https://meta.discourse.org/u/LeoMcA)
#### Post date: [30 maart 2017 om 09:27 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/22 "2017-03-30T09:27:50Z")
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> Yep. It should be possible to set that as a default.
Being able to set this as a global default would be very useful for Mozilla.
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> Maybe yet another power user setting is the solution? I’m not sure yet.
I’m not sure you need to be sure, considering it already exists! (Which I discovered when looking for a place it would be sensible to place such a button)
Since neither of us knew it was there, maybe there’s a need to better expose it?
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> My hypothesis is that a lot of the category-level settings are really there because it’s for users who don’t visit the site often, but do want to hear about some particular subsection of the forum.
I’m not sure I agree with any of your hypothesis, at least as a reflection of the current state of Discourse. In terms of where we want to go, I definitely agree with the latter half but _strongly_ disagree with the first half.
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> For categories, the thing I think people really want is just “do not show this category in New and Latest”
Not being able to only hear about a particular subsection of the forum, through the web interface, would completely break Discourse for use within Mozilla. I reckon it would completely break Discourse generally.
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> In which case, I’d be willing to bet we could just eliminate the existing Tracking and Watching options for categories, whilst adding the “mailing list” mode per category. (regardless of what the name is).
Eliminating Tracking wouldn’t be much of a loss, since it’s rather useless at the moment (although I would say a better option would be to make it work properly). But Watching is essential for receiving notifications. In fact, your proposal seems to eliminate notifications altogether.
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> clear notifications that I’ve already been emailed about
This sounds like a good alternative to me.
---
### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [30 maart 2017 om 12:52 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/23 "2017-03-30T12:52:22Z")
I think I may have been unclear.
In the proposal, I’m only suggesting that these changes are made for _categories_ not _topics_:
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> So you’d end up still with 4 settings instead of the current 5:
>
> - mailing list mode / “email me every post but don’t notify me”
> - email me about the first post
> - normal
> - do not show this category in New or Latest
There would be no more global “mailing list” mode, _only_ the category one, so there would no longer be any need to mute a category in combination with mailing list mode. You would just opt in to mailing list mode on the categories you want to.
> [@LeoMcA](#):
>
> Watching is essential for receiving notifications. In fact, your proposal seems to eliminate notifications altogether.
Again, just to be clear, the suggestion isn’t to remove in-app notifications altogether. It’s only to eliminate them at the category-level.
Are you saying that you or other users on your site actually do rely on getting in-app notifications for each post in particular categories?
---
### Author:  [@LeoMcA](https://meta.discourse.org/u/LeoMcA)
#### Post date: [30 maart 2017 om 14:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/24 "2017-03-30T14:12:28Z")
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> Are you saying that you or other users on your site actually do rely on getting in-app notifications for each post in particular categories?
Yes, exactly that:
> [@LeoMcA](#):
>
> The only feature useful to me, on a category level, is watching and my notifications. Everything else is filled with things I have no interest in.
Without category-level watching, there would be no method of distinguishing topics in categories you’re interested in from those in categories you’re not, in the web interface.
I don’t think we want to move to emails being so decoupled from the “in-app” experience, hence why I proposed allowing users to be emailed for tracked topics (along with making tracking a category actually track the topics within, otherwise it’s a bit useless). This way users can choose whether email is just a push notification mechanism (and therefore only reflective of their in-app notifications), or whether it’s a mailing list mechanism (and therefore reflective of everything they’ve expressed an interest in on Discourse).
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [30 maart 2017 om 14:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/25 "2017-03-30T14:25:25Z")
> [@LeoMcA](#):
>
> Without category-level watching, there would be no method of distinguishing topics in categories you’re interested in from those in categories you’re not, in the web interface.
Regarding this issue, curious to hear your thoughts on this other idea:
> [@Topic list tabs for user-customizeable saved filters](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-list-tabs-for-user-customizeable-saved-filters/40953):
>
> On some forums with a large variety of content, users will be most interested in topics that fall into a subset of the categories or tags available. When this becomes the rule, rather than the exception, forum admins can configure the home page to be the category listing rather than the /latest page. But then users must choose which door to go down - and they may be interested in seeing a listing from multiple categories at once. A few topics have been posted about this in the past: [Specia…](https://meta.discourse.org/t/specialized-timeline/40840)
---
### Author:  [@JonahAragon1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JonahAragon1)
#### Post date: [20 april 2017 om 14:01 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/26 "2017-04-20T14:01:45Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> Perhaps we add an option for Mailing list mode:
>
> Send me an email for every new post except my own in the following categories…
>
> Once selected we add an extra category selector (like watching/muting etc)
This is EXACTLY the functionality I require for a community I’m trying to get moved to Discourse. I was coming here to post the same thing but it couldn’t have been said better, how can we get this working? 🙂
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [20 april 2017 om 14:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/27 "2017-04-20T14:03:40Z")
> [@JonahAragon1](#):
>
> how can we get this working?
You would have to implement it 🙂 We would accept a PR that implements that feature behind a flag.
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### Author:  [@JonahAragon1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JonahAragon1)
#### Post date: [20 april 2017 om 14:07 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/28 "2017-04-20T14:07:28Z")
Hmm I don’t know the first thing about Ruby, maybe I’ll see if I can pay someone to do that for me. Haha.
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### Author:  [@jd2066](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jd2066)
#### Post date: [16 maart 2018 om 22:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/29 "2018-03-16T22:29:46Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> I do not think those differences will be reconcilable. Wanting one view of the world via email and a completely different view of the world via browser – should probably be handled via their email client.
I agree that there fundamental differences between the web interface and the email interface via mailing list mode but it should be possible to apply mailing list mode to only specific categories.
I’ll use the [lists.samba.org](http://lists.samba.org) mailing lists as an example of “GNU mailman” lists and what I would expect a migration to Discourse to work like if they decided to switch to using it in the future:
1. Each list would become a category in Discourse
2. Each category would function as an independent mailing list via mailing list mode.
The “GNU mailman” install at [lists.samba.org](http://lists.samba.org) shows 19 total lists.
Right now the only one I’m subscribed to is [samba-announce](https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba-announce) which is a “Low volume list for Samba announcements” that includes announcements of when new releases of samba are released (which is why I’m subscribed to it).
If they switched to using Discourse then I would expect that mailing list mode works per-category to have the same type of mailing list experience I had before the switch to Discourse.
So in my opinion, the mailing list mode should be a per category feature instead of every message as core functionality to match the expectations of users including me that are used to the mailing list functionality provided by software like “GNU mailman”.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [16 maart 2018 om 22:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/30 "2018-03-16T22:46:01Z")
What do you think of that @sam?
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [17 maart 2018 om 13:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/31 "2018-03-17T13:14:52Z")
I’m not Sam, but most groups who are moving from mailman (or listproc?) have many lists, not one. I’m working with a group now (that I think will become a customer when they’re convinced that the 1990s are over) that needs to be slowly weaned from mailing lists and per category mailing lists would help.
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [17 maart 2018 om 13:22 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/32 "2018-03-17T13:22:09Z")
I’ve got a use case for mailing list mode per category: urgency.
I have two sites, one of which is a community housing association. When we have an onsite ‘incident’ like a burglary, it is assigned to a category called ‘Incident’. It would be nice to have this category mail everyone with urgency, whilst all other posts can be served by a less urgent Digest.
Perhaps there is another way to achieve this?
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [17 maart 2018 om 13:24 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/33 "2018-03-17T13:24:13Z")
You can force everyone to watch that category. You can do that with a plug-in.
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [17 maart 2018 om 13:24 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/34 "2018-03-17T13:24:36Z")
Thanks Jay I’ll try that.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [17 maart 2018 om 13:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/35 "2018-03-17T13:28:22Z")
There are a couple plugins that force group members to watch a category, but they must be configured in the plug-in code.
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [19 maart 2018 om 23:16 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/36 "2018-03-19T23:16:01Z")
I’m confused, what will be the difference between “enabling category-specific mailing list” and Watching a category?
I still stand by this:
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> Mailing list mode isn’t feasible on a large forum. That’s why you move to Discourse when your mailing list grows unsustainably large!
>
> Past that tipping point, the superior workflow is to Watch the categories that you want to follow. In mailing list land (see Mozilla’s lists for example) the comparable workflow would be opt in to however many mailing lists you want/need to follow.
>
> Strictly hypothetically speaking, maybe we’d be better off doing away with “mailing list mode” as this special different-from-the-rest mode, and replacing it with an easy way to “Watch all categories”, which can be granularly changed from there.
..provided we make sure no old topics are missed:
> [@Watching/Tracking old Topics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-tracking-old-topics/51606/7):
>
> Perhaps, one thing that is “cheap” that we could do. If a topic in a tracked category is bumped, add it back to “new” for whatever the new duration is. Still would feel somewhat odd.
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### Author:  [@jd2066](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jd2066)
#### Post date: [19 maart 2018 om 23:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/37 "2018-03-19T23:41:54Z")
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> I’m confused, what will be the difference between “enabling category-specific mailing list” and Watching a category?
The difference is that by watching a category, all topics in the category become watched in the Discourse and notifications appear for them.
The mailing list mode is solely about emailing topics in a category without affecting notifications.
If I’m looking at a category then I will either look at the category manually on the Discourse interface or use mailing list mode but I don’t want the excess notifications caused by watching a category.
My watched topics section in Discourse becomes a bit of mess when every topic in a category is watched as then I can’t find the topics that I primarily want notifications from.
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [20 maart 2018 om 00:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/38 "2018-03-20T00:03:32Z")
> [@jd2066](#):
>
> The mailing list mode is solely about emailing topics in a category without affecting notifications.
What if you were able to disable in-app notifications for Watching? (Or for any content that has already been sent by email, as also suggested earlier here).
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### Author:  [@jd2066](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jd2066)
#### Post date: [20 maart 2018 om 00:05 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/39 "2018-03-20T00:05:31Z")
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> What if you were able to disable in-app notifications for Watching?
Because I want the in-app notifications for my watched topics and have per-category emails.
This is no reason both features can’t be used at the same time.
Watching only specific topics with notifications on the web site and getting all emails for a category.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [20 maart 2018 om 00:05 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/40 "2018-03-20T00:05:52Z")
I think it’s fine to consider “mailing list mode per category” as an enhancement of our existing mailing list type support. I am still curious to hear what @sam thinks about it.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [20 maart 2018 om 00:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772/41 "2018-03-20T00:14:56Z")
I think it is fine but I would place this in the UI here:
By default when you enable mailing list mode “all categories” are included, if you don’t like that you can clear All and select the specific categories.
[Vorige pagina](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772.md?page=1)
[Volgende pagina](https://meta.discourse.org/t/apply-mailing-list-mode-per-category/47772.md?page=3)