Help - Forum Issues with alerts

This website is built using the XenForo platform, which is a generalized forum software. In order to include support for level uploads, @NeoCHI included the XenForo Media Gallery plug-in. Since the plug-in is provided by the same company, you'd think that it would perform seamlessly. Unfortunately not.

This is what we know so far:

• View number still at zero: This is not really a problem, but more of an observation. If you "like" a level or after leaving a rating and/or comment, you'll notice that the statistics for that level get adjusted immediately. The "views" counter for the level, however, only gets updated hourly. So you may notice some statistics for a level while the view number is still at zero. [Credit to @meko.]

• Thumbs down: If you've ever "liked" a level and then were browsing through the levels listings, you may have noticed some levels that have a thumbs down icon on them. After further inspection, you may also notice that those thumbs downs are in fact only on the cards which you've liked. Although not intuitive, it seems the intent is to have a thumbs up icon available that you can click to "like" the level right from the level listings (without having to go to the level page and like it from there). After liking a level (whether from the level page or the level listings), the thumbs down icon appears such that you can click it to then unlike the level (should you have changed your mind - really handy if you clicked the thumbs up icon by mistake). [Former discussion on this topic was had on this thread.]

• Rating disappears: If you rate a level and leave a comment, then go back and try to edit your comment, it may seem as if the rating disappears. Visually all the stars go blank, but if you refresh the page, the stars re-appear. So this is just a page rendering issue that is likely true in every browser.

• Can't delete a rating: This is true - once you rate a level, you cannot delete the rating - but you can revise it. Rating a level or updating a rating are the same procedure: Click on the set of stars either below all the comments, up in the top right Information section, or the star icon on the level card in the levels listing page and up pops a dialog box where you can set the number of stars and optionally leave a comment (which by the way is very appreciated). You'll notice that neither with this pop-up dialog or anywhere else is it possible to delete the rating. [Former discussion on this topic was done on this thread.]

• I left a comment and a rating, but they are not together: The stars awarded are associated with the comment put in the same pop-up dialog box - meaning that if you previously left a comment, the stars will move to the new comment (written in the pop-up). And if you do not leave a comment in the pop-up, the stars will only be included in the overall average stars for the level. So if you make a comment and then add a rating, the two will not be together. You can still see your rating (and those of others) by clicking on the link right above the stars in the Information section (which only appears obviously after the first rating is made).

Getting "alerts" on levels is a more prickly subject. First of all, it is important to understand the difference between notifications and alerts (which you can do from your preference settings). There is a separate page just for alert preferences. And, even if you have every box checked in the Levels section on this page, you may not get alerts as most of these settings have to do with the levels you personally upload (i.e. your media). Getting alerts on other people's level comments is more dependent on whether you have "Watch Media" toggled to on for that particular level. You can find this setting right above the top right corner of the card image on the respective level page - and it usually gets automatically toggled to on after you make a comment or rate a level. So this leads to some more issues:

• "Watch Media" magically toggles off: This may deserve its own new thread as it has not yet been discussed, but I for one have noticed that some media that I was "watching" is no longer being "watched." It is possible that I made a comment on a level and the watch media did not automatically turn on in the first place. Either way, many of us, I think, have felt that we're missing alerts for new comments - and it may be because the watch media is toggled off.

• New comment alert links to page 1: A new comment on a watched level will create an alert, but following the link in the alert will take you to the upload (first) page of the level - even if the new comment is on page 2 or more of the comments. Maybe the alert is associated with the media and not the comments themselves. Just the same, it's a known nuisance at times. :mad:
  
  
• Alerts for “likes” on level comments: If someone likes your comment that you've made on a level, the opposite in this case happens. Clicking the alert will take you to the last page of comments - even if the liked comment is the first comment in one of many spanning pages. Argh! :mad:

• Only one alert: Sometimes you'd expect that a new comment could trigger more than one alert. For example, a new rating with a comment on your media that also tags/mentions you. Despite three possibilities, you will only receive one alert. We believe that the website software will apply a ranking algorithm and only alert you once with the highest ranking alert.

• No alerts for tags in a comment: The often end result of the "only one alert" is that this means that if someone tags you in a level comment, you should get an alert for the mention as long as you're not "watching" the media. If you are already watching the media, then you will instead get an alert for the fact that a new comment was made. Not only does this not seem right in our own thoughts of priorities (i.e. how the ranking should be done), but it's the opposite of how forum messages create alerts. [Former discussion on this topic was attempted on this thread.]

 

That's great, thanks for the feedback @sawdust! My memory is not clear (nor obviously perfect). I could have this wrong and we could all very well be receiving two alerts, particularly when made on our own levels. When rates and comments are made on watched media, then perhaps there is only the one alert. The point of this thread is to have a discussion.

Can anyone else contribute?

 

@trids - Have you been able to determine whether the media that you're finding un-alerted comments from is being "watched?" What I am finding is that levels that I rate/comment no longer automatically toggle the "watch media" flag. So far I think it is behaving randomly for me and I'm finding that I must go and manually set the flag to on to ensure that I am getting alerts for new comments.

 

Exactly for me to. What I noticed was that the more recent media (that I would comment or rate) wouldn't automatically toggle the "Watch Media" flag. (You can check that above the card image.) And hence why I wasn't receiving the alerts on more recent media.

 

No, there is no setting (i.e. in your Alert Preferences) that gives you the option to automatically toggle off the media watch flag after an alert is sent. Alerts on media just keep coming - or at least they should.

In forum threads, however, the opposite is true: the alert system automatically only sends you one alert (i.e. automatically toggles off some magic flag for more alerts) until you've seen your alerts (and then automatically turns back on this magic flag). Very similar to the email example you gave.

But again, there is no setting which allows you to control either of these behaviours.

The closest to control that we have is:
1. The "Automatically watch albums that you create or when you comment..." setting in Browsing Preferences; and
2. Manually toggling the "Watch Media/Thread" setting near the top right of the respective pages.

Wow, that's weird! Unless of course the Watch Thread toggled itself off since the last alert. - WHICH IS EXACTLY MY PROBLEM.

Great! But... again, weird. In my case, mine are all set to off (for emails), but I remember setting them that way.

 

Nope, sorry. My permissions were extended, but then not by that much. Even then, based on what else there is, that type of feature seems too detailed for the Admin Control Panel to manage.

Of note, I rated six levels tonight and none of them automatically set the "Watch Media" flag like it used to do.

 

@laurence.gr - your issue may be explained by the above. Another thing to pay attention to in case it is a factor is whether the alert is from an upload to a level in a Category or a private album. The latter causes issues with some Moderator activity as one example.