User who sends the automatic Welcome Message has overflowing PM box

I send an Automatic message to all of my users, so I send out thousands (every time someone signs up they get one). But, when I want to search through messages I can’t and I have to scroll and hope I find it among the thousands of automated ones…I want an easy way to search for messages - any ideas?

Thanks,
Alex

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You can use the search function in the top bar when on the messages page.

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There is a topic on this, I have the same problem here on Meta – as all welcome messages come from me.

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I had a bit of an issue with that on IC as well, when Akismet went nuts one day and I got a whole bunch of messages from System. It was annoying that I had to scroll past a couple dozen of them to find the conversation I’d been having earlier that day. I wouldn’t mind being able to archive that type of message so that I don’t have to sort through them. My annoyance is obviously not on the same scale as the person sending out the automated messages, but it’s still less-than-convenient to deal with.

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I +1 that @AmiAthena

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Expending on that thought, if some sort of archive mode were added, maybe automated messages could land there by default, and only appear in the normal area if there are replies?

I think we should probably change it so

  1. Welcome goes from system.
  2. If anyone replies to welcome all moderators are automatically added to the conversation.

Its a huge edge case, but when it hits you (like it does hit @codinghorror here) it makes your Messages kind of useless.

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Would that also apply to the PM sent when a moderator agrees with a flag? I know there was at least one case on IC where someone complained that they never got an answer when they tried to get clarification on what about their post was violating the rules. The problem is, the person that message gets sent from (Sarah) is much too busy with the main site to be able to see and respond to forum replies in a timely manner. It would be incredibly useful to have those sent to all of the moderators so they can be handled expediently. (It would also save a bunch of steps in the moderation process if the mods didn’t have to relay the private conversations to each other, but that’s a side benefit.)

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If you’re implementing this, can you make it so that the message appears to come from the administrator? I don’t think people would like it if it looked like the Welcome messages were being sent by a bot, and it would also be unclear that replying to that message would make it go to the administrators. Besides, is it worth notifying every moderator for a reply to the welcome message?

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I think it could be. Someone replying to a welcoming message is usually a brand new user. Chances are that person is someone you’re still trying to entice to stay and become a member of the community. Having their first query responded to quickly is going to make them feel more welcome than the welcome message itself did. I know some Discourse forums aren’t concerned with encouraging new user retention, so maybe that should be configurable.

Same problem here, my personal messages are lost among welcome messages! Really unhandy

Yes we need to change this. Probably not a 1.3 thing though.

Perhaps it should be that any message from system cannot be replied to.

I really don’t want the welcome message coming from a bot; I want it coming form me - or at least replies go to me. I also don’t want the craziness of having all of those PMs.

I definitely want the personal touch of that message coming from a human, not from system.

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I would suggest an option in the CP for this (unfortunately). For me, I’d want the message to come from system because I do like to load balance these separate actions. I also plan on giving the system account a persona so it’s not so much seen as simply a bot but a kind of in-community character. Like a mascot, per se.

Please no.

There’s massive emotional value in getting a wcone message from a Real Human rather than a lifeless bot. Changing our contributor interest forms in this way nearly doubled our rate of short-term conversion from passive interest to active contributor.

Anyway I thought admin could choose the user account that sent these?

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And I feel it should stay that way. I know we have ours customized to one of our admins, so any responses can be dealt with.

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Can we filter messages? Or something like use label/folders?

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How do I setup the Welcome message. One of the admins account is the ones sending the messages, but it should go out from the organization account.

I believe that’s the setting “site contact username” under admin/site_settings/category/required

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