I've just posted this poll, I'd be grateful if you'd take a moment to give me your opinion. (That page has a link back to this page.)
Basically, and this will surprise some of you, email notifications take ongoing time to maintain (and are a pain in some other ways). I think that time would be better spent improving the site in other ways, like fixing the DHTML games (my solid-gold top priority), adding other ways to be notified when it's your turn (RSS/Atom, tweets, etc.), new games, better mobile/PDA support, clubs, better graphics, better layout, and any of a hundred (actually, 312) other things on the To Do list.
But that's me. I come to the site every day, so what do I need notifications for? About 28% of you have notifications enabled; maybe you can take 'em or leave 'em, maybe you really rely on them. How would I know? :-) So give us your opinion via the link above!
Thanks in advance. As always, enjoy your games, -- T.J. Crowder First Primate Pocket-Monkey.com
myself i dont like them and if had it i wont want it.. i dont need my own email cluttered up with emails telling me its my turn.. thats a reason why i dropped (its your turn). its not like i go to my email everyday. so when i get there i dont want alot of emails telling me it was my turn.. i say stick with your priorties. emailing is not 1 of them.. thats my oppinion..
:-) No, but I probably should have sent one. The results will be biased toward people who don't use notifications for the first couple of days, I suspect. But hey, that's why it's running for nearly a week.
I dont need e-mail notification, it so easy to check in to pocket monkey to check games.. play PM more than I check e-mail.. :-) thx TJ
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16771 Replies: 1
posted by bozoid (Neal (first name)) on 08/13 at 16:23
Did not even know they existed and I turn them off on other sites every chance I get. Pocket Monkey is very usable even on a dialup connection (yes I am a dinosaur) so email notes not needed.
I'm like Neal in that I turn notifications off at any site that provides them by default.
I actually check my email so infrequently that, in order to ensure that I'll get it in a timely fashion, I tell people who send email to me to notify me some other way - like sending me a message on PocketMonkey! ;O)
I agree....people should be responsible for themselves to check to see if they need to take a turn or not....should not have to be sent an email notification!!
Since I opt out of them, obviously they don't mean anything to me.
If your time can be better spent by improving/fixing things, or even better, adding new game variations (I'd love a mega-salvo version with more boats and a 20x20 board) that would be great.
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16778 Replies: 0
posted by pint of beer (john shields) on 08/13 at 17:46
i think that game notifications pile up in e-mail boxes and serve no real purpose and even somtimes hide an inportant site message. I play all over the inter net and every game sites i play on i turn game notifications off
I don't need them...I hit the site several times a day. I disabled mine a long time ago.
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16781 Replies: 0
posted by spin003 (Simon Tunstall) on 08/13 at 18:37
I used them for a few weeks when I first joined the site. Once I added more games and started checking the site daily, I turned the notifications off.
I see value for those who do not check daily, play only a few games, or play games with multiple days between turns.
So my vote is to discontinue e-mail notifications.
poll vs. on/off stats
Message #16784 Replies: 1
posted by petr.pavel (Petr 'PePa' Pavel) on 08/13 at 20:21
Hi T.J., I'm curious in which aspect will the poll provide more information than simply counting players who have switched on their e-mail notifications (against total)? Counting only players who have logged in within say, the last two weeks.
I imagine that the pain in the you-know-where for you is mostly switching off notifications for invalid e-mails. So I'm sure that those who still have the notifications on, do receive their e-mails.
All right, I'm assuming that they're not junking the e-mails on their side (either server or client). But I don't think players who connect often (and thus would be covered by your poll and counting) would do it.
I know how many of the active players have notifications enabled (about 28%), but not how many think they're really important. The poll will (hopefully) tell me that. So far, the vast majority (80%, in fact) of the people who do have notifications turned on have voted that they're not essential. So that's useful to know. The number is higher if you include people who don't have them turned on.
The pain is multi-fold. Certainly there's the bounces. There's also the issue of being classified as a spammer (which has been recurrent, despite the fact that notifications are double-opt-in). And the fact that the kind of messages we send (e.g., overwhelmingly these notifications) make it awkward to get our email handled by an email provider (and running a secure, well-maintained, spam-free email server is not for the faint-hearted).
All in all, there are serveral reasons I'd ditch them if people don't want them. If people do, though, then we'll persevere. :-) -- T.J. Crowder First Primate Pocket-Monkey.com
if 80% of the 28% have voted no, then I think it would be fair to say that the people who want email notifications is 20% x 28% = 5.6% (approx 1 in 18 people)
This would mean you have a tough choice TJ. Do you go against 1 in 18 to benefit the other 17 in 18?
As always, decisions will never satisfy everyone. Good luck in your outcome.
You already know about the people who don't get notifications and their opinion is predictable, so not really useful as information.
I'd have thought that sending an email directly to the notifyees was better than an open poll (which may not even attract the attention of some of them).
Asking them how much of a sacrifice it would be to give up that service is one way to do it. That's a rather leading question and would probably steer a few responses your way but then, you clearly do want to give up sending notifications, so no harm in it. If you don't get a timely reply you could tick them off as a player who probably doesn't make much use of the emails.
It's the negatives to such a question that would be most useful for they give the people who really do see a benefit from the notifications. And they, after all, are the ones who will be making the sacrifice, not those of us who never use them. It's too easy for us to say "scrap them"!
You can post notifications of games etc....on the site....as on iyt.com....u get a choice either email notifications or not...u click if u want them or not...they notify u on the site of any changes via an instant message....I am not on the site due to hell issue's but check in once in a while to see if I have a message... Have a wonderful...day n w/e....
Re: poll vs. on/off stats
Message #16808 Replies: 0
posted by petr.pavel (Petr 'PePa' Pavel) on 08/14 at 12:44
Thanks for the explanation T.J. I knew you had a solid reason and I knew you did the math prior to posting the poll - you're too much a stats lover not to :-)
I'd just like to say I absolutely agree with the spammer classification argument. I have my own experiences (as a programmer) and it's really a very time consuming issue to deal with. It's not only that many people are lazy and they simply click Junk instead of unsubscribing from something they willingly chose to subscribe to before. It's also bounced e-mails for people who just can't type their e-mail address right, or quit a job and their old work e-mail no longer works, or stop using an e-mail address for some other reason without updating their account here on P-M. In some cases, you can get negative points even just for sending e-mails that many people don't read (this is my educated guess).
So people, please be good Pocket-Monkey citizens and keep your e-mail addresses up to date. :-)
Howgh.
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16787 Replies: 0
posted by patty131152 (Patricia Leck) on 08/13 at 21:13
i dont need them when i am on net i am always checking for turns
I don't use the notifications. it wouldn't bother me to see them go.
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16803 Replies: 0
posted by bogus diamond (bogus diamond) on 08/14 at 08:21
Personally I am here dail mostly so the notifications wont do anything for me, but there are some people that play those longer time out games where they are not on all the time so in that case they would need it.
tj spend time on more important things let people fend for themselves when it comes to making their moves if they really want to play they will check their games
I turned off the Notification after receiving only a few emails, and I agree that it isn't that difficult to check the site and see if there are games ready, which is what I do.
I would like to suggest, though, that you go ahead and send out an email so that everyone knows (I know that I don't always pay attention to the note near the top of the screen, but happened to read it this time). And you may want to think about extending the time period of your poll because there are bound to be those out there who don't accept invitations to games for less than 30 days and those that do probably do so for a reason. Just a thought.
Please don't mark email that isn't spam as "spam," it makes your provider look at us funny (depending on what email software you use and what provider). :-) -- T.J. Crowder First Primate Pocket-Monkey.com
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16834 Replies: 0
posted by thumbclaw (Thumb Claw) on 08/18 at 21:45
It would be nice if one could turn off 'subsequent notification'. I like receiving the 'invites' and the 'it's your turns', but I only need one notification.
I'm new- but so far I think the site is pretty awesome.
Re: Do we really need email notifications?
Message #16836 Replies: 0
posted by Purrson (Cheryl A'Purrson) on 08/20 at 04:22
I dont find it necessary, I admit I dont come here every day, cringing down as people throw rotton eggs =( but I dont do emails daily either, actually come here way more often then email. I never use the email as prompt that I have game waiting.
I say away with the notifications:)Thank you guys for all you do,this is my favorite game site:)
Re: get rid of them... mostly
Message #16782 Replies: 1
posted by Ageless (Renato Marcondes) on 08/13 at 19:16
Get rid of it! No need.
Re: get rid of them... mostly
Message #16785 Replies: 1
posted by robin (Happy Johns other half x) on 08/13 at 20:30
i never use them either, they infact clogged up my inbox when i first started on pm so turned them off. most people go on at least once a day especially if they are in tournis. So id say use the time else where for other things more needy.
Paully: That's not how we approach it. When the poll closes, we'll look at the percentage as well as the public and private comments, and make a decision from there.
-- T.J.
Re: email notifications
Message #16821 Replies: 1
posted by moonstone (Caroline Bryson-Peart) on 08/16 at 08:57
Gemini566 and Moonstone don't need the emails thanks
Never have gotten email notifications from this site, and I don't find them necessary. I'm on here every several days and don't need extra stuff in my inbox.
personally I feel that they are unnecessary - however - that being said - if there are problems we should know about - ie: the site is being closed for changes/updates etc. that we should still be notified of?
- if there are problems we should know about - ie: the site is being closed for changes/updates etc. that we should still be notified of
We don't do notification emails of planned outages (we just put a banner on the site for a couple of days in advance, and show a "we'll be back soon" page when the site is down). But we'll still have the ability to send email if needed, it's just that sending out thousands and thousands of notifications every week make us look a lot like spammers to email hosting services (and recipient systems)...
Like some of the people have said sometimes I don't even go to my email account and just come here.. so to me ditching the email notifications are all good with me.. and I do have them turned off in my profile.
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