[forum] Subscriptions not working for me

Bloke · 2013-03-11 21:04:44

Els wrote:

I never log out and I always get the emails.

Ditto.

I am never automatically logged out and I have lots of inactive time when I forget to close a tab.

And ditto again. Well, I do get logged out automatically if I log into another browser on another machine, but I still get one notification in my inbox per topic I’m subscribed to, whether I’m logged in at the time someone posts or not.

Can’t fathom why it works for some and not others. Is it a workflow thing? I’m old skool and don’t use any of this newfangled mobile junk that’s too slow for any serious coding, so maybe that has some bearing on it?

Last edited by Bloke (2013-03-11 21:05:01)

uli · 2013-03-11 21:08:10

Els wrote:

Uli, that must be a user (browser?) setting, I am never automatically logged out and I have lots of inactive time when I forget to close a tab.

I wasn’t quite sure how to name it, so I simply called it “log out”. I actually meant the state when your name is listed on the front page of the forum (wich is the case when you’re logged in and are assumed to be “active”). In this “state” you receive each and every forum notification for active topics.
As soon as you’re inactive for 10 min you’re kinda “logged out” for the forum emailer and you’ll only receive one email until you get active again. Quite complex mechanism, quite hard to depict.

tye · 2013-03-11 22:40:46

I’d put money on server side spam prevention – Gmail auto spam etc

Gocom · 2013-03-11 23:20:20

What Uli said about online users does play apart in email delivery. I took a quick look in the source code, and this is the query PunBB uses for selecting addresses it sends email notifications to:

SELECT u.id, u.email, u.notify_with_post, u.language 
FROM '.$db->prefix.'users AS u
INNER JOIN '.$db->prefix.'topic_subscriptions AS s ON u.id=s.user_id
LEFT JOIN '.$db->prefix.'forum_perms AS fp ON (fp.forum_id='.$cur_posting['id'].' AND fp.group_id=u.group_id)
LEFT JOIN '.$db->prefix.'online AS o ON u.id=o.user_id
LEFT JOIN '.$db->prefix.'bans AS b ON u.username=b.username
WHERE b.username IS NULL AND COALESCE(o.logged, u.last_visit)>'.$previous_post_time.' AND (fp.read_forum IS NULL OR fp.read_forum=1) AND s.topic_id='.$tid.' AND u.id!='.$pun_user['id'])

The $previous_post_time variable in the above query is populated with a timestamp that is result of:

SELECT posted FROM '.$db->prefix.'posts WHERE topic_id='.$tid.' ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1, 1

It’s the second to last post’s date in the current topic.

All emails for a topic are always sent right away when a new reply is posted. There is no queue system involved, or anything of that kind. You will not get emails you’ve missed since your last login.

In short, this means that you will only get one notification per topic until you re-log in. This system tries to prevent you getting massive number emails. You will not get any new notifications after the second to last post in the topic you are subscribed to exceeds your last login/visit date.

Last edited by Gocom (2013-03-11 23:22:30)

springworks · 2013-03-12 09:40:59

OK, that’s interesting, but I am subscribed to this topic, I last visited the forum at 08:28:57 yesterday (11/03/2013) according to the report at the top of the page.

I’m now looking at this page at 10:32 on 12/03/2013 and, as you can see, there have been several posts since my last visit and I have not received any emails from the forum in the intervening period.

After my visit yesterday, I quit my web browser (Safari 5.1.7) without clicking the logout link on the forum. When I visited again this morning I was already logged in and didn’t need to enter username/password.

My domain is hosted on Textdrive and I use their standard email, using either Apple Mail on my Mac or Mail on my iPhone to check email. I use SpamSieve on my Mac to filter out spam and just live with it on my iPhone. I have checked and there are no forum notifications in the Spam folder on my Mac.

Forum notifications used to work fine for me, but they haven’t done so for the last few months. I’m wondering now if it is related to when I migrated from Joyent to TextDrive II, but I can’t be certain and I;m not sure why they would have suddenly stopped working then as all my other email appears to be coming through without a problem.

uli · 2013-03-12 15:05:03

springworks wrote:

all my other email appears to be coming through without a problem.

That sounds quite similar to my forum email experiences from last November, it’s only been this forum that didn’t come through. I then changed the email address in my forum profile to a completely different email service, and received forum emails as ever before.
Choose one that you know sends you each and every garbage, but choose another one than your current. Don’t let Spam Sieve filter that account, if possible. And wait what happens.

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#13 2013-03-11 21:04:44

Re: [forum] Subscriptions not working for me

#14 2013-03-11 21:08:10

Re: [forum] Subscriptions not working for me

#15 2013-03-11 22:40:46

Re: [forum] Subscriptions not working for me

#16 2013-03-11 23:20:20

Re: [forum] Subscriptions not working for me

#17 2013-03-12 09:40:59

Re: [forum] Subscriptions not working for me

#18 2013-03-12 15:05:03

Re: [forum] Subscriptions not working for me

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