Feature request: PM status, Read/unread indication

Feature
1

Would it be hard to change the display of Private messages so that the sender can tell if the recipient has read the message? Not that I want to see delivery confirmation or notification or such (perish the thought!) but how about a simple indication at the top right corner of the sent message, similar to the way that Discourse indicates if a post on a public forum was sent via the web interface or email?

Usage:
I just sent a user a PM, and not long after, I think. “Damn, I forgot something”. If I could see that the user(s) haven’t read my message, then I’d just edit my original, otherwise I’d reply to my original.

1 Like
2

I’m sure it could be improved and customized with some tweaking, but this query works OK using the Data Explorer plugin

WITH unread_messages AS (SELECT topic_users.user_id AS tuui
    , topic_users.topic_id AS tuti
    FROM topic_users 
    WHERE topic_users.last_read_post_number IS NULL 
    AND topic_users.highest_seen_post_number IS NULL 
    AND topic_users.notifications_reason_id = 2
    )
SELECT unread_messages.tuui
     , users.username
     , unread_messages.tuti
FROM unread_messages, topics, users 
WHERE topics.archetype LIKE 'private_message'
AND topics.subtype LIKE 'system_message'
AND topics.id = unread_messages.tuti
AND users.active 
AND ( users.suspended_till IS NULL
   OR users.suspended_till < NOW() )
AND NOT users.admin
AND NOT users.moderator
AND users.id = unread_messages.tuui 
ORDER BY unread_messages.tuui

tuui		username		tuti
15		TrollGuy1		55
15		TrollGuy1		54
15		TrollGuy1		115
21		PersecutorGuy1		109
1 Like
3

Thanks, I was thinking more for POS (Plain Old Users) seeing it built into the GUI.

1 Like
4

I have thought about adding this sort of feature, but I am scared that the UI can become very cluttered if we are not super careful, especially if 10 people are involved in a PM.

This though is a big problem, we don’t do any tracking of what goes on in your email client. Unless we added tracking gifs or something like that this can be very misleading.

Even if we add a tracking gif, tracking gifs clearly have issues

2 Likes
5

Sam,
Tracking emails would be a whole other world of hurt.

For PMs, there are other platforms which distinguish between “Outbox” and “Sent”, but this is a bit propellorheadish for many users.

Multi recipient PMs: How about a symbol placed next to the time, when the user clicks on it it shows a list of who the PM was sent to, with “Read” or “Unread” next to each username, added bonus points if it also indicates “Mail sent” for a user who has email list mode, or notifications enabled.

(I am aware that earning the bonus points won’t be particularly easy).

If it can’t be done in a way which doesn’t preclude partially correct information, then it isn’t worth doing.

1 Like
6

Are there any plans to make this feature available?

1 Like
7

There’s plenty of other message apps that have read status.

Pretty important feature for a realtime message system.