Replying to PMs

[Matt. K]

When I reply to a PM it seems to sit in my outbox for days??? I currently have 4 messages that have been there for 3 days. Is there a way I can force them to post immediately???

[gstark]

That's the correct behaviour, Matt.

They sit in your outbox until the recipient reads them. Try sitting on the recipients.

[Matt. K]

Thanks Gary
Hell that was quick!!
Now I get it!

[gstark]

Hell that was quick!!

Just wait till we start posting answers even before the questions have been asked!

[Matt. K]

Just wait till we start posting answers even before the questions have been asked!

You've gone into politics?

[gstark]

Just wait till we start posting answers even before the questions have been asked!

You've gone into politics?

The correct question would be "You've descended into politics?", but no.

[Greg B]

Just wait till we start posting answers even before the questions have been asked!

1. Generally that is correct, except on Tuesdays
2. Between 17 and 29
3. Late November
4. No

[ATJ]

One reason the PMs stay in the outbox for so long is that most of the time email notification of PMs doesn't happen. If the recipient doesn't have "Pop up window on new private messages" set to "Yes" (or worse, they disable pop-ups in their browser), they would have to notice that it says something other than "[b]0 new messages" at the top of each forum page to know they have a PM.

[gstark]

One reason the PMs stay in the outbox for so long is that most of the time email notification of PMs doesn't happen.

This is not the case. I get several of these emails daily. Two last evening, and two PMs, for instance.

If the recipient doesn't have "Pop up window on new private messages" set to "Yes" (or worse, they disable pop-ups in their browser), they would have to notice that it says something other than "0 new messages" at the top of each forum page to know they have a PM.

Your browser should have an option to allow pop-ups from named sites, and that should be set to permit pop-ups from dslrusers.com.

Then, as a user, you have to notice them ... my experience with many users is such that many would not even know if a brick hit them in the head, let alone if a window popped up to alert them of a message.

I was just reading a blog post on issues that users have with Mac OS X. Many of the issues were items that I recognised, but they were issues that were user issues. That basically reflects my professional experience. Often the problem can be resolved by having the person understand the issue, as is the case with Matt in this thread. Often though, the problem is that the user suffers from RCDD.

My comments here are not intended as an attack on anyone: they are merely my observations ...

[ATJ]

One reason the PMs stay in the outbox for so long is that most of the time email notification of PMs doesn't happen.

This is not the case. I get several of these emails daily. Two last evening, and two PMs, for instance.

It is the case for me. I get emails for thread notifications but very few if any for PMs.

During the lead up to the dinner last weekend, Greg, Colin and I were sending each other PMs to organise lifts. I received 8 PMs in that time and not one email notification for them. At the time of PMA we were also sharing PMs. I think I did get one notification at the time but I received more PMs than email notifications/

If the recipient doesn't have "Pop up window on new private messages" set to "Yes" (or worse, they disable pop-ups in their browser), they would have to notice that it says something other than "0 new messages" at the top of each forum page to know they have a PM.

Your browser should have an option to allow pop-ups from named sites, and that should be set to permit pop-ups from dslrusers.com.

Of course, but my point was if people don't use the option to allow pop-ups, they may not know they have PMs.

[gstark]

One reason the PMs stay in the outbox for so long is that most of the time email notification of PMs doesn't happen.

This is not the case. I get several of these emails daily. Two last evening, and two PMs, for instance.

It is the case for me. I get emails for thread notifications but very few if any for PMs.

What about in your spam traps?

[ATJ]

One reason the PMs stay in the outbox for so long is that most of the time email notification of PMs doesn't happen.

This is not the case. I get several of these emails daily. Two last evening, and two PMs, for instance.

It is the case for me. I get emails for thread notifications but very few if any for PMs.

What about in your spam traps?

I don't believe so, but it is too late to check now. emails identified as spam get deleted within 2 days. Send me a PM and I'll see if I get the notification and/or it ends up being identified as spam.

[gstark]

Send me a PM and I'll see if I get the notification and/or it ends up being identified as spam.

Sent.

[ATJ]

Send me a PM and I'll see if I get the notification and/or it ends up being identified as spam.

Sent.

PM received in my Inbox on DSLRUsers. No email notification received (as at 11:33am). No email notification in my "Graymail folder" with my email account (as at 11:33am).

*****Update*****
I just received the email for the PM. First one in weeks.
From the header it was sent: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:11:54 -0600 (which is 11:11:54 +1000).
It didn't get to me email host until: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:53:37 -0600 (11:53:37 +1000).

I have no idea why it takes 40 minutes to be delivered.

*****Update*****

[DaveB]

In your User Control Panel -> Board preferences -> Edit global settings, is "Notify me on new private messages" set to Yes or No?
It's separate from the question about pop-up windows.

[ATJ]

In your User Control Panel -> Board preferences -> Edit global settings, is "Notify me on new private messages" set to Yes or No?
It's separate from the question about pop-up windows.

Of course I do. Thanks for your vote of confidence.

[DaveB]

In your User Control Panel -> Board preferences -> Edit global settings, is "Notify me on new private messages" set to Yes or No?
It's separate from the question about pop-up windows.

Of course I do. Thanks for your vote of confidence.

Just checking.
No one had actually covered that point, and sometimes it's worth going back to basics.

[DaveB]

Back to something else related to Matt's initial query about the progression of messages from your Outbox to Sent (when the user reads them), I gather that once the recipient deletes the messages they disappear from your Sent and thus you lose your record of having sent the message.
Is this correct?

[gstark]

Back to something else related to Matt's initial query about the progression of messages from your Outbox to Sent (when the user reads them), I gather that once the recipient deletes the messages they disappear from your Sent and thus you lose your record of having sent the message.
Is this correct?

I don't think so.

[DaveB]

So I sent a PM to gstark, it sat in my Outbox, then it disappeared.
I'm sure it's happened twice now. Wassup?

[gstark]

So I sent a PM to gstark, it sat in my Outbox, then it disappeared.
I'm sure it's happened twice now. Wassup?

Is it (are they) in your Sent box?

When you create a new PM, it goes into your Outbox, where it will sit, until it's read by the recipient, or you delete it.

Once it's been read, it moves to your Sent box. My understanding is that it should stay there until either you delete it, or it scrolls out of your sent box's storage capacity in a FIFO manner.

[DaveB]

Ah. Problem somewhere between eyes and keyboard...
Is working now.

[gstark]

Ah. Problem somewhere between eyes and keyboard...
Is working now.

There ya go!

[phillipb]

Gary, to find out if the pm system is working, send a PM to everyone telling them their free D300 has just arrived, see how many reply.

[gstark]

Phillip,

[ATJ]

Something has definitely changed in the last couple of weeks. I just received another PM and I got the email notification for it. This is very different from 2 weeks ago when I didn't get one email notification for any of the 8 PMs.

The last two email notifications I have received have my email address in the To field of the email, just like the thread notifications do. The previous PM email notifications, at least those few that I had received in the last month or so, only had my email address on the cc or bcc field (I don't have a stored copy to confirm which). I know it is different because of the view I use to display received email. And, no, the view would not stop me receiving the email, just how it gets displayed.

Now, I happen to have a PM email notification dating back from March and that was sent with my email address in the To field, but it was sent from a different email address (forumowner@dslrUsers.net) - I haven't put the actual address in so as not to encourage spam bots. The latest emails now come from email2.dslr@a completely different site. This has been happening since at least late July (I can't confirm how much earlier than that as I only happen to have kept a couple by accident).

So, someone is changing things of late and I suspect some of the changes have worked and some have not. It appears the PM email notifications are working now, but weren't 2 weeks ago (at least for me).

[gstark]

The last two email notifications I have received have my email address in the To field of the email, just like the thread notifications do. The previous PM email notifications, at least those few that I had received in the last month or so, only had my email address on the cc or bcc field (I don't have a stored copy to confirm which). I know it is different because of the view I use to display received email. And, no, the view would not stop me receiving the email, just how it gets displayed.

This I have trouble accepting. For this to occur, it would require a code change, and no such changes have occurred.

Now, I happen to have a PM email notification dating back from March and that was sent with my email address in the To field, but it was sent from a different email address (forumowner@dslrUsers.net) - I haven't put the actual address in so as not to encourage spam bots. The latest emails now come from email2.dslr@a completely different site. This has been happening since at least late July (I can't confirm how much earlier than that as I only happen to have kept a couple by accident).

This is correct; it's a setting within the forum configuration, and I did make changes to my personal email handling paradigms in July. This was one of those changes.

So, someone is changing things of late and I suspect some of the changes have worked and some have not. It appears the PM email notifications are working now, but weren't 2 weeks ago (at least for me).

The only other changes may be the changes at the server, but, as a general observation, they should not be affecting email handling. Certainly not in the manner that you're suggesting here.

I have noticed that there seems to have been a server reset of some sort overnight. I'm not yet sure how that will manifest itself, but my recent poss view has been reset, as if I'd logged out, and then back in again. Odd

[ATJ]

The last two email notifications I have received have my email address in the To field of the email, just like the thread notifications do. The previous PM email notifications, at least those few that I had received in the last month or so, only had my email address on the cc or bcc field (I don't have a stored copy to confirm which). I know it is different because of the view I use to display received email. And, no, the view would not stop me receiving the email, just how it gets displayed.

This I have trouble accepting. For this to occur, it would require a code change, and no such changes have occurred.

Damn, I wish I thought to keep one of the notifications so I could post the header. I have no doubt in my mind it was different.

I have noticed that there seems to have been a server reset of some sort overnight. I'm not yet sure how that will manifest itself, but my recent poss view has been reset, as if I'd logged out, and then back in again. Odd

Mine now says: [ Last visit was: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:35 pm ]

[gstark]

The last two email notifications I have received have my email address in the To field of the email, just like the thread notifications do. The previous PM email notifications, at least those few that I had received in the last month or so, only had my email address on the cc or bcc field (I don't have a stored copy to confirm which). I know it is different because of the view I use to display received email. And, no, the view would not stop me receiving the email, just how it gets displayed.

This I have trouble accepting. For this to occur, it would require a code change, and no such changes have occurred.

Damn, I wish I thought to keep one of the notifications so I could post the header. I have no doubt in my mind it was different.

My mind's not that reliable, which is why I rely upon the files' timestamps.

I have noticed that there seems to have been a server reset of some sort overnight. I'm not yet sure how that will manifest itself, but my recent poss view has been reset, as if I'd logged out, and then back in again. Odd

Mine now says: [ Last visit was: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:35 pm ]

Yep. That's similar to what I'm seeing. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like this evening.

[gstark]

The last two email notifications I have received have my email address in the To field of the email, just like the thread notifications do. The previous PM email notifications, at least those few that I had received in the last month or so, only had my email address on the cc or bcc field (I don't have a stored copy to confirm which). I know it is different because of the view I use to display received email. And, no, the view would not stop me receiving the email, just how it gets displayed.

This I have trouble accepting. For this to occur, it would require a code change, and no such changes have occurred.

Damn, I wish I thought to keep one of the notifications so I could post the header. I have no doubt in my mind it was different.

My mind's not that reliable, which is why I rely upon the files' timestamps.

I have noticed that there seems to have been a server reset of some sort overnight. I'm not yet sure how that will manifest itself, but my recent poss view has been reset, as if I'd logged out, and then back in again. Odd

Mine now says: [ Last visit was: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:35 pm ]

Yep. That's similar to what I'm seeing. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like this evening.

Interesting ....

Overnight my monitoring service reported some downtime .... and we had the search reset as noted above.

I just saw another downtime report from the monitoring service ... and my searches appear to have been at lease partially reset again. The last login time hasn't changed, but the search results certainly have. Of course, it's late night in Colorado, where they may be undertaking some maintenance.

[gstark]

Whatever Bluehost have done, it's now back to the original behaviour. Clearly this is some sort of server setting ....

Go figure.

[ATJ]

I received two PMs last night (7:56pm and 10:22pm). I have not yet received any email notifications for them. I checked my spam folder and they weren't there either.

Update: Three more PMs this morning and still no email notifications. I have been receiving email notifications for new posts in subscribed threads so this has to be an issue with PM notifications as I originally raised.