# Notification behavior with replies
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [November 8, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920 "2019-11-08T13:07:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MarcP](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MarcP)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920/1 "2019-11-08T13:07:23Z")
Regarding the notification options - what actually is the difference between tracking & watching?
I assume with watching you will receive a notification for every new post in a watched category/topic, does this mean that users will get spammed for all new replies? Are there settings for this or some more information on the behavior of notifications, especially the email notifications?
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### Author:  [@dax](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dax)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920/2 "2019-11-08T14:47:17Z")
The descriptions of these settings are already exhaustive I believe:
> ### Categories watched
>
> You will automatically watch all topics in these categories. You will be notified of all new posts and topics, and a count of new posts will also appear next to the topic.
>
> ### Topic watched
>
> You will be notified of every new reply in this topic, and a count of new replies will be shown.
* * *
> ### Categories tracked
>
> You will automatically track all topics in these categories. A count of new posts will appear next to the topic.
>
> ### Topic tracked
>
> A count of new replies will be shown for this topic. You will be notified if someone mentions your @name or replies to you.
> [@MarcP](#):
>
> does this mean that users will get spammed for all new replies?
For **watched** categories and topics users will always receive **notifications** for each replies.
By default emails will also be sent **only** if the user is **not active** on the site for 10 minutes. Each user can modify this behavior from its user profile.
The most relevant site settings to check are:
- `email time window mins` for topics
- `personal email time window seconds` for PMs
- `max emails per day per user` (100 by default)
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### Author:  [@MarcP](https://meta.discourse.org/u/MarcP)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920/3 "2019-11-08T15:32:25Z")
Thanks I found all that documentary. Which leaves me with one specific question.
Will a user watching a category receive an email for every reply or only the first and then no more until the user has read the newer replies?
So for example, I want to them to default watch the news category, also the replies because I might reply on my own topics for further relevant announcements. But if a topic is open for replies in the news section, I don’t want them to get spammed by all the replies - but also not only the first one, because there might be more replies coming. I hope I’m being understood.
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### Author:  [@dax](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dax)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920/4 "2019-11-08T15:57:32Z")
What you ask is not possible by default. The simplest solution would be to close the topic after it has been created and not allow other answers from users (but only from the staff or specific groups) or close the category and set permissions for users to see, but not reply or open new topics. In this way you would have substantial control of the topics and replies sent via email.
Otherwise another solution could be to set the category to require moderation approval of all new replies.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2023, 8:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920/5 "2023-07-31T08:26:04Z")
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2023, 8:45am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notification-behavior-with-replies/132920/6 "2023-07-31T08:45:40Z")