# Watching group PMs by default
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [2017年一月6日 16:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285 "2017-01-06T16:44:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@alehandrof](https://meta.discourse.org/u/alehandrof)
#### Post date: [2017年一月6日 16:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/1 "2017-01-06T16:44:59Z")
I noticed there’s been some work around groups recently. But there’s a glaring omission still to make group PMs useful for my community: email notifications are turned off by default.
Is there a way to make users watch group PMs by default instead of just tracking them?
Users are already notified by email when a group is @mentioned – why not do the same for group PMs? Either by a site-wide setting or, ideally, on a per-group basis.
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### Author:  [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)
#### Post date: [2017年一月8日 10:13 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/2 "2017-01-08T10:13:27Z")
我相当确定 somewhere 有个 #contribute:功能请求 在流传……
我也觉得这点相当不足，尤其是因为只要没有消息发送到群组收件箱，用户就无法真正跟踪它。
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### Author:  [@alehandrof](https://meta.discourse.org/u/alehandrof)
#### Post date: [2017年一月9日 09:39 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/3 "2017-01-09T09:39:11Z")
Owie, that hadn’t even occurred to me. The UI around group PMs is clearly incomplete ☹
(And last time I checked [email notifications for group PMs were still confusing](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-notification-recipients-unclear-when-pm-is-sent-to-multiple-users/26934).)
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### Author:  [@rriemann](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rriemann)
#### Post date: [2017年二月2日 13:37 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/4 "2017-02-02T13:37:52Z")
This problem has already been addressed at least twice, but there is not yet a solution. I would pretty much be in favour of a setting in the admin board to make people watch per default groups right after they joined.
> [@Have everyone watching the group inbox](https://meta.discourse.org/t/have-everyone-watching-the-group-inbox/53252):
>
> Hello, I just found out that group inboxes are tracked by default and not watched. I thought messages are treated like personal messages and thus, watched by default. Is there a setting to change the default notification settings for group inboxes? How can I make everyone watching its groups that already got an account? Thank you! Robert
> [@Mailing list mode vs. group inboxes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/mailing-list-mode-vs-group-inboxes/46202):
>
> When mailing list mode is enabled, some of my users believe that they will also get an email for every new message in a group inbox, which is not what actually happens. I think this is not an unreasonable expectation. Would it make sense to change that? If no, maybe we can clarify the messaging on the settings page? Also, Discourse itself is spreading that rumor: On messages, Discourse is showing You have mailing list mode enabled, so you will be notified of replies to this topic via email. …
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### Author:  [@rriemann](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rriemann)
#### Post date: [2017年二月6日 12:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/5 "2017-02-06T12:33:34Z")
Please Discourse [@team](https://meta.discourse.org/groups/team), consider this feauture for your todo list.
This is the behaviour expected from other networks, e.g. Facebook. As soon as one gets a group message, it is pushed to the user.
Proposed spec:
- add option to settings (either globally or per group): default notification level as a drop down with all levels to choose from
- as a user is added to a group, the notification level is set the the configured value
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [2017年二月6日 13:15 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/6 "2017-02-06T13:15:51Z")
Sure I support this feature #pr-welcome
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [2017年三月9日 21:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/7 "2017-03-09T21:03:48Z")
A hearty ➕ 1️⃣ for anyone willing to work on this. Tracking by default is not useful for any of the scenarios we can see. Watching is the way to go!
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### Author:  [@rriemann](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rriemann)
#### Post date: [2017年三月10日 09:08 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/8 "2017-03-10T09:08:48Z")
As long as we do not have a pull request, one could maybe find the one-liner to monkey patch the source using _pups_.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Newsom](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Tom_Newsom)
#### Post date: [2017年三月10日 09:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/9 "2017-03-10T09:48:56Z")
I didn’t even realise this was a thing. It explains why a group member I talk to is so tardy with replies (because he mostly uses email to interact with discourse). Seems crazy to me not to be the default!
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [2017年三月13日 11:40 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/10 "2017-03-13T11:40:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Newsom](#):
>
> It explains why a group member I talk to is so tardy with replies
Same here. I thought I was just surrounded by slackers but they didn’t even know they had a message waiting for them. 😉
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [2017年三月13日 12:58 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/11 "2017-03-13T12:58:23Z")
@codinghorror what if I turn the default volume up for now and default to watching, it seems less bad than the alternative of people confused why groups don’t get emails.
I can special case moderators to tracking
Otherwise we need to add a global default and group default, not against it, but its more work.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2017年三月13日 16:28 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/12 "2017-03-13T16:28:48Z")
Sure there seems to be consensus here.
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [2017年三月13日 16:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/14 "2017-03-13T16:42:43Z")
I am happy about this development but concerned because the group messaging UI is otherwise still a work in progress. It just doesn’t seem ready to me for use by ordinary civilians.
We have many groups we use for mentioning already and prefer not to encourage people to use for messaging.
My main issues, documented elsewhere, ( ~~will add links to relevant meta topics when I get to a computer~~ update: added links when I got to a computer..) are..
> [@Messaging: Group inboxes and archives show even after all messages deleted](https://meta.discourse.org/t/messaging-group-inboxes-and-archives-show-even-after-all-messages-deleted/48467):
>
> On my site, I have a dozen or so old group inboxes showing up in my messages even though I decided not to use them and have deleted all the messages that were in them. Other users who are in these groups also see the group inboxes. Is there anything that can be done to make them go away? I’d be grateful. pray
> [@Split into two settings: "Who can message and @mention this group?"](https://meta.discourse.org/t/split-into-two-settings-who-can-message-and-mention-this-group/41203):
>
> We use groups actively in our community but are only gradually rolling out group messages, especially while [some key messaging features are not yet in place](https://meta.discourse.org/t/whats-the-timeline-for-improving-messaging/41202). We also don’t intend to use all of them for messaging anyway, but rather use them for permissioning and mentioning in discussion topics. So it would be a big help to be able to have separate settings for mentioning and messaging so they can be different.
> [@Only display group archive once you click on a group inbox](https://meta.discourse.org/t/only-display-group-archive-once-you-click-on-a-group-inbox/38610):
>
> We are starting to look at groups in our community, and can see that many of our users will be in 10+ groups. That each one has an archive directly under it will make for a very long, pontentially cluttered page. Suggest only showing the group archive once you have clicked on a group’s inbox, and maybe add a bit of vertical space between the first group and the personal message archive to differentiate them. Comment from a member: re: the archives, maybe we can put in a request for either of …
> [@Suggested messages list includes archived messages](https://meta.discourse.org/t/suggested-messages-list-includes-archived-messages/53707):
>
> When reading and managing private messages in my group inbox, I am finding that the suggested messages at the bottom include archived messages. I think this is a bug because it should only include messages from the inbox. When I’m reading archived group messages I’d expect to see more archived messages in the suggested messages.
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### Author:  [@rriemann](https://meta.discourse.org/u/rriemann)
#### Post date: [2017年三月14日 09:22 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/15 "2017-03-14T09:22:30Z")
I see that there is room to push things even further, but I do not see why the proposed change in this topic should be postponed. Nobody has to send messages to groups.
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### Author:  [@scombs](https://meta.discourse.org/u/scombs)
#### Post date: [2017年三月14日 10:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/16 "2017-03-14T10:04:55Z")
I agree. No need to wait but don’t forget this feature on email notification footer so users know it’s a group PM
> [@Email Notification recipients unclear when PM is sent to multiple users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-notification-recipients-unclear-when-pm-is-sent-to-multiple-users/26934/34):
>
> [Adding recipients to the bottom of the mail](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-notification-recipients-unclear-when-pm-is-sent-to-multiple-users/26934/13), combined with adding group names to group PMs, is no doubt the best solution to the topic at hand; “Email Notification recipients unclear when PM is sent to multiple users”. I think both of those UX elements ought to exist, regardless of whether or not we expand upon our mailing list parity. Personally I’m not too enthused about the “multiple duplicate reply keys” mailing list feature. I’ve always found it confusing and I’ve seen people mess it up mu…
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### Author:  [@steko](https://meta.discourse.org/u/steko)
#### Post date: [2017年三月24日 06:36 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/17 "2017-03-24T06:36:53Z")
I can add my support for improving this, after I had to deal with some confused users. I also note that in my case (rather small group) I would have been happy to change tracking state manually, but that doesn’t seem to work, as per:
> [@Changing tracking state of group inbox updates your own tracking state instead](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-tracking-state-of-group-inbox-updates-your-own-tracking-state-instead/59101):
>
> As an administrator, you can see the tracking state another user has for a group inbox. You can also update it, which is useful [because the default is just “Tracking”](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285). However, this updating no longer works. Reproduction steps: Be an administrator. Be in a group. Have another user that is also in the group. Visit /users/the-other-user/messages/group/the-group. See the tracking state in the upper-right corner. It is accurate. Update the tracking state. Expected result: The user’s tracking st…
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [2017年四月15日 20:44 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/18 "2017-04-15T20:44:30Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> what if I turn the default volume up for now and default to watching, it seems less bad than the alternative of people confused why groups don’t get emails.
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> Sure there seems to be consensus here.
Unless I missed it, I don’t believe this happened. The concern about missing emails just came up again:
> [@Notify about flags after Bug?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notify-about-flags-after-bug/61034/5):
>
> Instead of sending an email to the contact email address, we changed it so it sends a private message to all admin and staff.
> [@Notify about flags after Bug?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/notify-about-flags-after-bug/61034/5):
>
> If you want to get emailed about every staff message like that, you should change your notification level from “Tracking” to “Watching”.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [2017年四月15日 20:49 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/19 "2017-04-15T20:49:18Z")
Yeah, this is on my list and assigned to me… I will get to it.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [2017年四月20日 19:49 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/20 "2017-04-20T19:49:16Z")
Per:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/7a9eee1b71cf298210ee9a258e9f17ae1a8a9af7](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/7a9eee1b71cf298210ee9a258e9f17ae1a8a9af7)
All groups except the “moderators” group have default tracking state of watched, in admin groups you can customize this to whatever.
Note, the default applies when people are added to the group, to apply retroactively simplest thing to do is add/remove user from group, or visit user profile page and change it there.
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### Author:  [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)
#### Post date: [2017年四月21日 07:56 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285/21 "2017-04-21T07:56:09Z")
Wohoo, thank you so much 🎉
> [@sam](#):
>
> or visit user profile page and change it there
Note that this will not work right now:
> [@Changing tracking state of group inbox updates your own tracking state instead](https://meta.discourse.org/t/changing-tracking-state-of-group-inbox-updates-your-own-tracking-state-instead/59101):
>
> As an administrator, you can see the tracking state another user has for a group inbox. You can also update it, which is useful [because the default is just “Tracking”](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watching-group-pms-by-default/55285). However, this updating no longer works. Reproduction steps: Be an administrator. Be in a group. Have another user that is also in the group. Visit /users/the-other-user/messages/group/the-group. See the tracking state in the upper-right corner. It is accurate. Update the tracking state. Expected result: The user’s tracking st…
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