# Sticky  Forum Subscription Emails



## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

As of this morning, I have disabled all forum email notifications. With people accidentally subscribing, people not updating their email address, people responding to the emails and not in the forums, and just problems in general, it has become a risk to keep them active. I have been getting complaints from large ISPs about the mail. The complaints finally made it up to my data center provider and they have threatened to terminate my service if complaints continue. As a result, I have disabled all forum subscription notices. If you want to know what is going on in a thread, you'll have to log in and look at it, as you will no longer receive emails about updates. I apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause, but it is unfortunately necessary.

Thanks for your understanding,

Shad


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## Robert (Jan 2, 2008)

Understood. Thanks for all your efforts as usual.


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## Rail Planet (Jan 22, 2012)

I understand your reasoning but this is a real bummer for me. With school, etc. the emails are the best way for me to follow the MyLargeScale world. Replies would go to my inbox which is pushed to my phone... It saved me a lot of time. 
Regardless, thanks for keeping this great resource alive and well!


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I know you are swamped, but maybe a future solution would be verification of email addresses, both at subscription time, and on an ongoing basis, deactivating accounts with bouncing email addresses. 

That would also probably reduce the spammers, but we really don't have a spammer problem that I see, it's rare here. 

Greg


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## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

I don't see this as a permanent thing.. There are a few things that need to be done before it comes back though. Like Greg mentioned, email address verification is a big one. I'm not sure how to take it on just yet, but I have some ideas in mind. There also needs to be a way to easily unsubscribe with a link in the emails. That is something that I requested from the developer a long time ago. Now that it is going open source, the option to have that added in is definitely higher.


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

Shad, 

Okay with me. 

Best, 
TJ


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I kinda miss it already... 

What if it became part of First Class membership? That would eliminate the need to verify by 99% and might tip some undecideds off the fence and join up.... 

Before all the Regular guys complain, it's not like I am taking it away, it's already gone. I'd like him to return a frill here where it can safely fit in. Dat's All 

John


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Totalwrecker on 13 Sep 2012 11:10 AM 
I kinda miss it already... 

What if it became part of First Class membership? That would eliminate the need to verify by 99% and might tip some undecideds off the fence and join up.... 

Before all the Regular guys complain, it's not like I am taking it away, it's already gone. I'd like him to return a frill here where it can safely fit in. Dat's All 

John 

Ditto


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Shad 

I would like it as part of my 'fee for service" membership. It helps immensely to be able to set the notification flag for a limited number of threads of special interest. Often a thread will go dormant for a couple of weeks, or even months and then someone posts which causes it to resurface. The email lets me know "It's baaack". Without these, I have missed reactivated threads as i scan through the "active topics" list. 

Being able to just have Every post on every forum sent to your mail box is not practical. One should have to individually initiate the request on each thread. Greg E is probably the only guy I know reading every message that gets posted on MLS


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Hey, I resemble that remark (hahahahaha) 

It's not true, I swear, why just the other day I missed a post... 

Greg


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## Dr. J (Feb 29, 2008)

Gee... Sorry to hear this. Please add my name to the list of people who would like this function restored, if it is technically feaasible. 
Thanks 
Jim Coplan (aka Dr. J)


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

This is definitely bad news. E-mail notification is a must.


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I had to find out from a third site that email notifications have been suspended on MLS. 
It would have been nice if MLS had sent out an email notification about that to members who use email notification. 

MLS has no problem sending me half a dozen reminders that my 1st class membership will expire, the first one months before the expiry date, but when one of the key features, at least for me, suddenly gets dropped - no notification other than on MLS itself. 

In any case, E-mail notifivation for me is a "must" as well. 
Also good for the net because it cuts down on unnecessary traffic. 
If valid email addresses is the problem, then tying into 1st class membership, at least as a temporary work-around, sounds like a good option. 

Knut


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Del Tapparo on 16 Sep 2012 09:30 PM 
This is definitely bad news. E-mail notification is a must.








It's a must?
(and now, for the opposing viewpoint)
I have been on MLS almost 10 years..check in nearly every day..
I have never even once, ever, used email notification! 
never will..
don't even know why I would want it..

Shad, no problem here! 

Scot


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Scottychaos on 22 Sep 2012 05:16 PM 
Posted By Del Tapparo on 16 Sep 2012 09:30 PM 
This is definitely bad news. E-mail notification is a must.








It's a must?
(and now, for the opposing viewpoint)
I have been on MLS almost 10 years..check in nearly every day..
I have never even once, ever, used email notification! 
never will..
don't even know why I would want it..

Shad, no problem here! 

Scot
Scot,
I've been a member since 2001 and I have to agree with you on all points.








NO problem here Shad.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

I agree with Scott and Gary, I get to many emails as is. I check in daily and can usually catch up without too much problem.

I have never used the email notification .

Chuck


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By chuck n on 22 Sep 2012 05:34 PM 
I agree with Scot and Gary, I get to many emails as is. I check in daily and can usually catch up without too much problem. I have never used the email notification . Chuck 

I must have hit quote rather than edit all I wanted to do was correct the spelling for Scot's name.


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## Slagmar (Apr 4, 2012)

I see your problem with traffic volume. However, in the future please let us know what you are doing. I use a smart phone to monitor the site and thought I had a phone problem! Personally, I liked the notifications as they let me respond in a timely manner to answers coming my way. I have a lot of irons in the fire besides trains - so I don't always think to check the site. Slagmar


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By Slagmar on 22 Sep 2012 05:46 PM 
I have a lot of irons in the fire besides trains - so I don't always think to check the site.

Same here...

If people have the time to check MLS and any other forum they are interested in on a daily basis, great for them.
I don't have the time to do that - with email notification one can stay up to date on what is going on, one gets notified in a reasonable time frame about a discussion or replies and can comment in an appropriate time frame.
And even correct wrong information before it gets spread too widely.

I would pretty much consider email notification a "must" as well - one doesn't have to use it but it should be available.

I don't really know what the problem with email notification is on MLS, I get it from many forums and they don't have any issues.
I'm sure Shad can bring it back without too much of a problem.

BTW - Some sites even let one reply via email rather than having to log into the web site each time - that is really nice and saves even more time but I wouldn't consider that a "must"

Knut


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Some sites also just send one e-mail requiring you to visit the site again before you get any more notifications. Nothing to do with Shad's problem, just a comment.


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## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Any possibility of ever getting e-mail notifications back? I really miss the old MLS.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I would think, after reviewing the reasons Shad gave in September, that you could restrict the email notification to first class members. 

That would seem to eliminate many of the problems that Shad listed. (Also an incentive to add more first class members). 

On other forums that I don't review all posts each day, email notification to interesting threads is very helpful. 

You can add security when emailing (the "captcha" stuff). 

Greg


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Any movement on Greg's suggestion?


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Shad, 

Not sure how there could be a "SPAM" thing since this is a pure OPT IN group. Now if someone was getting emails listed as "SPAM" then they need to whitelist the domain. So obviously the thought process is if we are listed as a SPAMMER we just won't send emails. Somehow that seems self defeating. I do agree that the option for having emails sent be limited to first class (which requires email verification).


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Shad, 

Any update on this?


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## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

No, I've been quite busy lately. Sold a house, moved to an apartment, bought a house, moved to the new house. In the middle of all that, got laid off from my job and found a new job. I just haven't had a lot of spare time to look at things. Hopefully I will be able to look at a lot of the ongoing issues soon.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks for all you do here, Shad!


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Shad, I also thank you for all of your help. Make this an OPT in and that should cover you. I do 40K emails a week so if you need help, let me know.


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