Can you be more specific? quote the relevant text?
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But that said, thereâs an important nuance between âlearnabilityâ & usability. Generally, for things that expert users are using regularly, those users will take extra time to figure out how it works.
The watching vs. tracking debate is a more âexpertâ option for Discourse users, IMHO. Therefore, I wouldnât prioritize making it as learnable (intuitive terms) over making it easy to use the various options (which I think it is now, TBH).
Smart thinking for reference on this issue:
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The use of the word ânotificationsâ in the footer text is my main concern here. However, the fact that the Preferences text does not match the category notification level selector text is also odd.
Footer text:
You will receive notifications because you are tracking this topic.
Preferences text:
You will automatically track all topics in these categories. A count of new posts will appear next to the topic.
Notification level selector (category):
You will automatically track all topics in these categories. You will be notified if someone mentions your @name or replies to you, and a count of new replies will be shown.
Notification level selector (topic):
A count of new replies will be shown for this topic. You will be notified if someone mentions your @name or replies to you.
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So your complaint is about the footer text?
Iâm so very very tired of arguing over one or two words. I feel like there are literally hundreds of other things I could be spending time on that would actually drive this project forward and that is not one of them.
Extremely frustrated right now. 
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I think the reason why such a table doesnât exist is that there are so many dimensions to take care of that a flow chart would probably be the only way to depict all possible scenarios. But I leave that to someone else. I have made an attempt at a table below. It focuses on what happens when two different events occur (a new topic is created and a new reply is created) based on the settings that apply to that event (i.e. category notification settings, which, in the case of replies, can be overwritten by topic settings). The table ignores other events (@-mentions, replies to own posts, likes, or personal messages, âŚ)
I am not sure if the table is correct as it is, so I am making this post a wiki for anyone to correct or amend. Please explain your changes briefly underneath the table.
| user menu notification |
new replies count |
"new" indicator |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new topic | watching | yes | yes | n/a | yes |
| tracking | no | no | n/a | yes | |
| watching first post | yes | yes | n/a | yes | |
| normal | no | no | n/a | yes, if newness definition applies |
|
| muted | no | no | n/a | no (?) | |
| new reply | watching | yes | yes | yes | n/a |
| tracking | no | no | yes | n/a | |
| normal | no | no | no | n/a | |
| muted | no | no | no | n/a |
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âŚ
⌠âŚ
Now Iâm worried: 
Should I be âwatchingâ for the second coming of Jesus Christ or should I be âtrackingâ.
Thank goodness for the certainty and assurance of good theology. 
Just so you know that this is not a serious reply in this topic.
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When you look down and see one set of footprints, that is where Jesus was carrying you. Good luck tracking those footprints!
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Oooh, Iâve seen that poster. A great follow-up! 
I beg to differ.
The only way I know my dad jokes achieved perfection is when there is complete silence in the team chat channel, folllowed by a slow explanation from me, followed by by a loud team groan.
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A few years late but might I suggest you could just have stopped watchi⌠I mean tracking this topic? 
On the serious side: I ended up here because my students and I find the wording confusing too.
What matters are mail notifications yes/no because they can be so damn annoying.
And secondly menu notifications yes/no, but this is less annoying.
My two cents.
That is a completely different way for reasoning about notifications which is simply not in the base Discourse design. We sometimes email for âtrackingâ, we sometimes email for âwatchingâ. Reasoning about emailing is covered in user prefs.
Decoupling emailing would make for a gigantic can of worms. Are your students really after a pattern where they are never emailed (yet UI notified) about specific topics but are regularly emailed about others?
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I appreciate the flexibility this model offers. By using abstractions based on intent, such as âWatchingâ, âTrackingâ etc. you have flexibility in implementation.
Just saying that for regular users the UX/naming is confusing.
In the next Discourse forum Iâm setting up, Iâll be experimenting with using the flexibility of the 5 tracking levels in a much different way. If youâre interested I can expand a bit on that.
Hmm. Your question makes me think.
They better receive less mail notifications than more. Because they will quickly demote my mails to spam otherwise, not receiving any messages anymore.
In our case: I think they should mainly receive mail when:
- group message sent by teacher
- direct PMs to them
- when they are being replied to directly in a topic
And then be able to choose to receive mails about any topic/category to their liking.
But honestly I already think this can be configured. Itâs just that there might be more intuitive ways to give students access to notifications.
I donât know if Sam is, but I am
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