Not a bug Alerts show for content already seen.

[Alpha1]

The purpose of an alert is to notify the user of unseen content and events.
Currently alerts are served up even if the content has already been read by the user.
This defeats the purpose of the alert and by serving up useless alerts it devalues the alert system.

I know this is caused by how the system is designed so if this is not considered to be a bug then please move this to the suggestions forum.

 

[Paul B]

Do you mean existing alerts are not cleared automatically when reading the content?

 

[Chris D]

I'm not 100% sure if this is what Alfa1 is reporting, but here's a good example that I have noticed:



I got that alert after I had already viewed and responded to that thread (before it was moved into a forum I am watching).

I know this behaviour is quite new and it pertains to the new checkbox when moving posts. That function in itself is fine. But I would argue that I probably shouldn't get the alert if I have a xf_thread_read record against that thread already. If I've already read it, why would I care that it's just been moved?

 

[Paul B]

I seem to recall Mike said he was going to look at suppressing some of the alerts generated by moderator actions.
I can't remember if that was one of them - I don't think it was.

 

[Mike]

No, it was for the case where you watched the original and the destination forums.

 

[Chris D]

I think there's possibly quite a few cases. That being one of them. Maybe Alfa1 has some others.

 

[Alpha1]

Do you mean existing alerts are not cleared automatically when reading the content?

When I access threads i am subscribed to and see new posts or quotes before I check my alerts, and then later review my alerts (even if I leave the site first) there are alerts for the posts and quotes that I have already seen.

 

[Paul B]

A suggestion has already been made related to that.

 

[Mike]

That's not exactly a bug per se - the alert would have been given before you saw it. The system doesn't really have any concept of marking alerts as read without you viewing the alerts. (Even FB is the same, based on my experience.)

What Chris brought up is an edge case where you could get an alert for a thread you've already seen, though one could argue that you should still get the alert as it was deemed to be relevant to a forum you watch (maybe it wasn't when you saw it?).

 

[Alpha1]

Yes, I realize that this is more a matter of the system not tracking if you have seen the content. But what is the purpose of an alert for something you have already seen?
On an active community users will get lots of alerts. If the alerts drop down has many alerts for content already seen then it become an annoyance, instead of something helpful. The user then needs to go through the list and check what has been seen and what has not. This is not really clear because its not visible if the alert is for a new reply or the same already seen. The same user may have posted another reply, especially if you have just added new content. So you need to click it, only to find that it was a waste of time. With dozens of false alerts this becomes a handicap to an otherwise addictive system.
I have seen various webmasters complain about this on admin forums.

 

[Alpha1]

Even FB is the same, based on my experience.

If you receive a fb alert on your phone, but view the message on desktop then the phone alert disappears once you start using the phone app. While this is not exactly the same as using browser only it does illustrate intended behavior.

 

[Mike]

XenForo would have the exact same behavior - look at the alerts on your phone and they'll be read on the desktop. Presumably what you're reporting relates to seeing the content and marking the alert read.

If I'm understanding what you're saying, I'm about 99% sure this has already been suggested.

In terms of what @Chris Deeming mentioned, I have tweaked the behavior relating to generating alerts when moving a thread. (Though that's not the same as the original report.)