Subscription Questions 5.1.10

[GRAYTech]

Can someone explain exactly how the subscriptions work for Email notification?

I have a VB setup with a number of forums, sub-forums, articles and so on. What does a user have to subscribe to in able to get notifications of any new topic or reply anywhere on the site ? What level do you have to subscribe at to get everything ?

Similarly, is there a way to do this using SQL so when any user signs up I can run a script that subscribes lust them to everything automatically ?

VB 5.1.10

[glennrocksvb]

There is a "Subscribe when posting" option in User Settings. If it's enabled, user will be auto subscribed to a thread he posted to. There are other settings like if user mentioned or quoted them they can choose to be notified.

In AdminCP > Settings > Options > User Registration Options, you can set default notification options.

[glennrocksvb]

For existing users, you can change their notification settings via AdminCP > Maintenance > Execute SQL Queries. You can see preset queries in the dropdown including notification-related options. Your admin account should have canrunqueries permission to access this tool in AdminCP. You need to edit the core config to add your admin userid to canrunqueries setting.

[GRAYTech]

Thanks for your replies. I do have the core config file updated and I'm able to run queries. I also have the notification options turned on for the users but I think the problem may be more fundamental than that.

For example, I'm subscribed to a forum and when someone makes a new post I get notified. However if someone else replies to that new post I don't get notified unless I specifically subscribe to the new topic. Is that the designed way it's supposed to work? What I need is anytime anywhere on the site some new topic is created, added or replied to users should get email notification without having to subscribe to new topics. Similarly I'd like to be able to set that using SQL for new users so they don't have to go into everything and manually subscribe on 20 different pages.


So again, is what I described (get notified of new topics because I'm subscribed to the forum but don't get notified of replies to the new topic unless I specifically subscribe to the thread) the way it is supposed to work?


It also appears you don't get Email notifications of your own original posts. (I do have auto subscribe to your own threads turned on) I'd also like to get notifications of everything I post including new topics and replies I make. Is this possible? What if I made all users moderators to get Emails for every post but take away most of the permissions for moderating ?

[glennrocksvb]

I tested it in my local install and notifications for replies and comments posted on a subscribed forum work as expected.

Not getting notifications for your own posts is by design for obvious reason.

[GRAYTech]

I tested it in my local install and notifications for replies and comments posted on a subscribed forum work as expected.

Yes but what is "as expected". Is it "get notified of new topics because I'm subscribed to the forum but don't get notified of replies to the new topic unless I specifically subscribe to the thread".

Is there a way to get ALL users notified of ANYTHING posted in ANY forum or channel ? Can I use the moderator function somehow ?

[glennrocksvb]

It notified me when a new topic, reply or comment is posted in the forum I'm subscribed to.

[GRAYTech]

That's what I'm looking for. Isi t because you are subscribed to the forum or are you a mod or super mod that has the Email buttons checked to get all Emails?

For "registered users" I'm seeing what I described. They get notified of new topics in a forum subscribed to but they are NOT automatically subscribed to the new topic and therefore don't receive emails alerts to the replies to the new topic. Version 5.1.10

[GRAYTech]

I managed to solve the notification problem using a mail relay. I hope this helps someone since vBulletin support was less than helpful. Apparently my license does not include the ticket system support so the response I got back from them was no the software doesn't send notifications for replies and please don't use the ticket system again.

I setup a new VB admin user who's Email address is really a group identified on my Email hosting provider. Then under Channel Management, Moderator Permissions set the bottom two fields "Receive Email When a New Topic is Created" and "Receive Email When a New Post is Created" to yes.

The Email group contains the Email addresses of those users that wish to get the notifications. It's a manual process to keep the group updated but I have a relatively small site (150 users) that is pretty static. Now anytime anyone posts something an Email is sent to the group address which in turn forwards it to the users listed in the group. Users really like it because it now sends notification of their own posts too.

This isn't prefect but it solved my problem. vBulletin should really make this an option in their software. Since it's available for Mods / Super Mods why not make it available for all users ?