Why won't users dismiss notices?

[gambler]

I was helping one of my regular users with an issue, and to do so I used the 'login as user' add-on to see what they were seeing. To my surprise this long time member of the forum still had several old Notices showing, so they are clearly not dismissing them for some reason. I decided to check other users who are posting regularly, and many of them also don't dismiss their notices.

So, I created another notice that said, "Did you know you can dismiss most of these notices after you see them, by clicking the "X" on the right? --->"

I let that percolate for a week or so, and still these regular posters don't dismiss them. It seems obvious to me to dismiss them once read.

I suppose I am not really asking for a solution, but thought it was odd and wondered if anyone else noticed this (no pun intended ) I may try Paul B or ActorMike's suggestions in this thread and change the X to say "Dismiss".

I could use the scheduling option, but many of these are addressing forum features, etc., so I always want them coming up for new members.

 

[Mr Lucky]

change the X to say "Dismiss".

I’ve done that. Many still don’t dismiss them.

 

[Paul B]

Change the text to "Do not ever click the X".

 

[Mendalla]

Most of the notices I put up are time limited anyhow, e.g. announcements about maintenance downtime or new features. Even if they don't dismiss them, they go away after expiry date. But I don't know if anyone has old permanent, dismissable notices kicking around (there are a couple, e.g. a welcome notice). Not something I ever thought of.

 

[Mendalla]

I’ve done that. Many still don’t dismiss them.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot...

 

[cwe]

 

[zappaDPJ]

Some people don't dismiss notices because the notice is verbose. They don't want to spend time reading it but also don't dismiss because it might have some importance. Eventually the unread notice simply becomes a familiar part of the layout and no thought is given to purpose or options.

The only way I've found to circumvent that type of member behaviour is to make the notice succinct and/or intrusive, or as already indicated you could just make it time limited. One question I would ask though is it really a problem that needs a solution?

 

[Forsaken]

I did track this to some extent over a number of websites with different purposes, primary demographics and interests.

I used 4 different notices that we rolled out (all the sites needed similar notices anyways), and they were implemented in different ways.

2 notices above forum list and thread list.
1 notice above message list.
1 notice floating on the right side of screen.

I also tracked based on account completion status (using Naz add-on); primary tasks are easy to complete and are not difficult, but I tracked on whether or not people completed the primary tasks and whether or not they completed optional tasks, and what tasks were completed. I also tracked whether or not people ignored the optional tasks entirely.

Age wise it broke down fairly cleanly:

<24: ~20 dismissed notices, and ~15% completed optional tasks.
25-35: ~60% of users dismissed notices, and ~40% completed optional tasks.
36-45: ~60% of users dismissed notices, and ~55% completed optional tasks.
46-50: ~35% of users dismissed notices, and ~35% completed optional tasks.
50+: ~15% of users dismissed notices, and ~10% completed optional tasks.

Gaming focused sites generally ignored notices, and completed tasks.

IT/tech focused sites generally dismissed notices, and completed tasks.

More general topic sites generally ignored notices, and usually ignored tasks.

Notices above forum and thread list were often ignored.

Notices above messages were usually dismissed.

Notices on the right side of screen were usually dismissed on tech/game sites, but ignored on general sites.

Of the task completion, I saw a ~40% completion of introduction task, and about a ~20% of joining the Discord. For the gaming site that was actually much higher, with about ~60% for introduction, and about ~50% for Discord. For IT/tech communities, we had a higher number of users associating external accounts. General sites saw lower results overall on tasks.

Percentages are mostly from memory, and rounded up but are still mostly accurate to the actual results, though not as cut and dry or clean.

 

[Suzanne O]

I have my small welcome notice up and it's not one you can dismiss. I can always change the settings but i don't think people will get the message.