When having new messages in the New, Unread… category, there is a dismiss button that dismiss all the messages in them but it would be great if there where a way to dismiss single message (without needing to opening them)
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We have no plans to do this at the moment. Why not read the ones you want then Dismiss on the rest that remain?
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Agreed.
Maybe if there are too many / more messages to be dismissed, there’s actually a need to review your tracked items.
Because, for example in my case, I haven’t got the time to see all the new topics I want to see at once, so I remain them as “new” but I see them when I have time. There are others that I know I don’t want to see because of any reason, I just want to dismiss them (actually I open them to simulate de dismiss) without dismiss all of the unread topics (to read them any time soon).
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So you’re wanting something like the Admin Bulk wrench where you can select checkboxes?
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We already have keyboard shortcuts for bookmark / unbookmark (j + b) … I would be fine to add another shortcut for “r” or something if someone wants to do a PR, its pretty simple.
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I am new to this forum, and frankly am only here because of this particular issue. I am not an admin, I am a user. However, this seems to be a simple interface issue, but having read through several threads on this, it seems every time someone brings it up, there is an assumption made that reading all the messages you want to read and then dismissing the ones you don’t is the only proper way a user should use this system. So much so, that it is built into the design. I find it interesting that this request comes up over and over again in the discussions, and yet there is significant resistance to implementing a means to dismiss a single new topic without reading the topic.
For the consortia I am part of that is using Discourse, I do not have the luxury of the time to review all of the new topics to eliminate only the ones I want to read. However, I ALSO do not have the luxury of not seeing all of the new topics created in almost all of the categories designed on the site. Almost all of the topics are likely to have information I need to maintain my awareness for the collaborative work being done. This means that on every occasion I have to engage the Discourse the consortia has developed, I fall further and further behind in catching up with information posted that I might need to see.
Having the ability to use the New Topics list as an “unread” list that I can whittle down by dismissing individual Topics I don’t need to read or want to read leaves me with a better chance of getting to a point where I can use the Dismiss All option at all. I currently have over 250 new topics. Trolling through that many new topics is tedious to do in one session or even a few sessions, particularly knowing that I will be seeing many more new topics appear if I happen to leave the site for a while.
Unless this is a hard thing to accomplish on your site, I suspect that it would be a rather useful addition for many people, as it fits a very common way that many individuals manage lists. Most people don’t manage a list by checking off a few items, then scratching through the whole list when they decide they don’t want to do all of the rest. The New Topics section of the site is very similar. It is a list of things to review.
To be honest, I am fairly confused as to the response that continues to appear. Why is deleting ALL the new responses after having to read each and every new topic subject (as opposed to only a few you have time for) a solution to the problem that so many seem to have noted on your site over the years?
Also, making the option part of the interface, not a keyboard shortcut would be appreciated.
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I do appreciate the concern, and you expressed it well, but it does not come up that often in my experience. As an example, this topic is from 2015 and currently has 7 replies.
This is indeed a bit of a dilemma, one idea is that you could mute certain categories (or tags) that are not of interest?
I think most people adapt reasonably well to the “scan the list of topics, enter the particular topics you may find of interest, then dismiss the rest” approach:
Note that, as an intentional convenience, the Dismiss… button will appear at both the top and bottom of the list if you have enough items in the New or Unread lists.
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Is it possible to define how many items it takes for the Dismiss button to appear?
The Dismiss button always appears, but only at the bottom if the list of topics is small enough. For a larger list of topics, it will appear at both the top and bottom of the list.
I see. Dismiss is visible in /Unread but not from the landing page or from within Categories.
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Ah yes, sorry, I should have clarified that. It is also visible on /new. Dismiss IS visible in categories provided you are in the /new or /unread views within that category.
Apologies, as I didn’t realize that this conversation was 5 years old. At basic glance it looked as if it was recent (as in June 15, 2020). My bad.
Also, I realize my perception of the regularity of the concern being brought up has to be balanced with what you see as often given the requests you get. In searching for the issue here, it seemed often enough to me to merit change, but I can understand if my perception of what is often enough is not sufficient from your perspective. You have the expertise, in this case.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what I don’t have the option of doing in this particular instance. It’s why the Dismiss option is almost useless to me. It actually is counter-intuitive to how I need to be able to work.
The Discourse community I work regularly with is not actively tagging each topic in such a way that muting by tag would eliminate what I don’t want to see, while also not eliminating things I need to be aware of. Topics in this instance are more like e-mail threads, even though they are posted in categories. My role in relationship to the topics crosses many of the lines of the categories, so it is not possible to mute most of the categories. I have done so where I could. I still have too many new topics.
What would it require for you to consider such a change in the interface i.e. essentially allowing for dismissing of individual topics from the New or Unread list? Is there a threshold of requests needed to get this enhancement on your development schedule, or is this more or less counter-intuitive to the underlying philosophy/operating methodology of Discourse as a solution?
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Perhaps this is something that could be discussed with the site owners? Even as a “site feedback” topic in that Discourse instance? Adding tags and additional categorization could benefit many of the users, so they could segregate the topics they are interested in, from those they are not interested in?
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One effective approach I’ve seen folks take for cases like this is to first develop the feature as an extension to Discourse (e.g. a plugin or a theme component).
If you or someone else in your community is motivated it is possible to do this independently. Otherwise, you could spec it out and seek help in marketplace. If the extension becomes popular and/or proves to be a good fit for the product more generally, it could get rolled into the core product.
That’s not to say that advocating for the feature like you’ve done here isn’t a good first step to take. But when it is difficult to get consensus or buy-in from the core team initially, the extension route can be an effective alternative to consider.
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