Re: PM topic
I think the reason why centralized PM topics haven't worked out so far is because they don't offer much advantage when compared to the inbox system we have.
Individual PM topics are much more conspicuous. Let's say there is a topic called "Mayana, check your damn inbox already!" If I log in and scroll through the new topics, I will eventually get to that topic and ... huh? Wait, this topic title has my name in it! Time to pay attention.
Now, I suppose this topic does offer some of that advantage. If I scroll by it, I am more likely to think "Hmm, when have I last checked my PMs? Let's go do that, I guess." And since every topic on here has an RSS feed, I suppose I could subscribe and be aware of new PMs even while offline:
https://forum.audiogames.net/feed/rss/topic/37789/
But why do that? The signal-to-noise ratio isn't ideal. I'd have to read through many posts of people PMing other people that aren't me, not to mention posts saying why this isn't going to work (yes, guilty). And then I'm still likely to miss a PM anyway, because obviously, not everyone is going to use this. So, this topic is of most benefit to me if I just see the title, become reminded of the PM feature, and go check the actual inbox. And I think that can be accomplished just as easily with other forms of reminders.
But don't individual PM topics have the same problem? Or perhaps they're even worse? With this topic, people who don't care about PMs to other people can just skip it and be done with it. With individual ones though, there's one, like, every minute, and they clutter up the "Topics With New Posts" list so much!
Not really. Or well, at least I don't see how they are *more* problematic. Most of us navigate through this forum by heading, right? Each of these PM topics is just one unneeded H press. You press H, you hear the title, realize it's not for you, move on. We do that for other topics that don't interest us, so this really isn't a huge addition.
I obviously can't blame anyone for opening them anyway. I did that for Wing of Eternity's topic, since it had a few more posts than a PM topic should, and I got curious. But when I posted, I didn't do so to complain about how annoying these topics are or how little I care about who is sending emails to Nocturnus. Because the title was clear and honest. Just like if you find a container of rat poison, you shouldn't swallow it and then blame the company for making rat poison poisonous. It's rat poison; meant for someone else, but obviously still potentially dangerous to you.
Wait. This comparison implies that Wing's topic was actually most dangerous to Nocturnus ... look, you know what I meant, OK?
So, how about we just get used to these? Instead of getting offended that there are topics out there that aren't meant for us (sounds different when I put it that way, doesn't it?), we could all treat them the same way I'm going to treat this topic: as gentle reminders to check our own inbox, too! Suddenly it's a kindness, not an annoyance!
You know what the rule is, don't you? Always look on the bright side of life!
(By the way, my inbox is always open, and I am a very attentive reader indeed. Wink wink, nudge nudge ...)
-- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
