# 'Watching' for first messages only

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-for-first-messages-only/35143
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** notifications
**Created:** [31 Octubre, 2015 23:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-for-first-messages-only/35143 "2015-10-31T23:09:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 10

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### Author: ![wesochuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/wesochuck/32/108706_2.png) [@wesochuck](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wesochuck)
#### Post date: [2 Noviembre, 2015 19:32 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-for-first-messages-only/35143/10 "2015-11-02T19:32:10Z")

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> [@Barry\_Chertov](#):
>
> What I and @duozmo want (and I am sure many others) is a way to track a category but only get an email for the first post of a new topic

You’re saying that Tracking a category, doesn’t generate an email notification for new topics? If so, that explains something I’ve been digging into for a little while trying to figure out why folks weren’t getting emailed on new topics.

So the benefit of Normal vs Tracking is just that tracking includes the count of new posts?

> [@sam](#):
>
> We already struggle explaining the diff between default, tracking and watching… adding one more state makes it even more complex.

I totally agree and don’t have a silver bullet solution, but I can confirm that _Watching First Posts_ is actually what I thought Tracking was already doing. Time to go update some of the internal documentation I’ve created for our users.

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