platform transition pain relief: a prescription for “subscriptions”
On the old blf platform (drupal), one tool—subscriptions—served four distinct purposes: (1) to send an email notification when a new post was added to a thread of interest, (2) to set a placeholder to easily return where you left off reading a thread, (3) to gather a collection of useful/interesting threads, and (4) to keep a list of threads you participated in.
the new blf platform (discourse) fulfills these same functions through five discrete methods.
(1) “normal” - no action required. when you revisit a topic you’ve previously viewed, discourse automatically returns to where you left off reading.
(2) “tracking” - when you select this option on the “bell” (notification) widget, discourse automatically returns to where you left off reading the topic, and adds the topic to the “unread” tab when a new post is published.
(3) “watching” - when you select this option on the “bell” (notification) widget, discourse automatically returns to where you left off reading the topic, adds the topic to the “unread” tab when a new post is published, and sends you an email when a new post is published.
(4) “bookmark” - click on this widget to add a topic (or an individual post, or a private message) to your collection of useful/interesting forum content.
(5) “activity” - no action required. when you create or reply to a topic, discourse automatically collects this in one place.
you can find the “bell” (notification) and bookmark widgets at the bottom of each topic.
once you have used these methods, you can view the results here:
you may find, as i did, that with new tools like tracking, bookmarks and activity, you need fewer email notifications (via watching) than you did before on the old platform. but notifications are still great for time sensitive topics like sales threads and news on your new favorite torch.