Notification Mail for New Private Message

[+PereSant]

For some weeks, or even months, I have noticed that there seem to be no more notification mails for new private messages, as there used to be in the past. It is quite a nuisance when for instance a cacher is on tour, has a question for the owner of the cache he is looking for, sends a message and the CO doesn't even notice his request befor late in the evening, when he happens to open the website and sees the yellow marker. Is it a bug, or is it a new feature?

[+niraD]

12 minutes ago, PereSant said:

For some weeks, or even months, I have noticed that there seem to be no more notification mails for new private messages, as there used to be in the past. It is quite a nuisance when for instance a cacher is on tour, has a question for the owner of the cache he is looking for, sends a message and the CO doesn't even notice his request befor late in the evening, when he happens to open the website and sees the yellow marker. Is it a bug, or is it a new feature?

Where did this expectation come from? Do geocachers really think they can contact the CO and get answers to questions immediately?

[+Max and 99]

15 minutes ago, PereSant said:

For some weeks, or even months, I have noticed that there seem to be no more notification mails for new private messages, as there used to be in the past

I'm still getting my notifications.

[+barefootjeff]

15 minutes ago, PereSant said:

Is it a bug, or is it a new feature?

 

I've noticed the Message Centre email notifications to be hit and miss for some years, perhaps all the way back to the inception of Message Centre itself. Sometimes I'll get an email, maybe 70 percent of the time, but sometimes I don't and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I have geocaching.com whitelisted on my service provider's spam filter and they're not being flagged as spam anywhere, they just don't appear sometimes.

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, barefootjeff said:

 

I've noticed the Message Centre email notifications to be hit and miss for some years, perhaps all the way back to the inception of Message Centre itself. Sometimes I'll get an email, maybe 70 percent of the time, but sometimes I don't and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I have geocaching.com whitelisted on my service provider's spam filter and they're not being flagged as spam anywhere, they just don't appear sometimes.

 

Having said that, it does seem to have become much less reliable of late. On the 5th of December, I received a Message Centre message from another cacher. I didn't get an email for their initial message (fortunately I did get a notification on my phone) but their second message, about an hour later, did generate an email, as did the third about an hour after that.

 

Yesterday, I received three messages from another cacher, spread over a couple of hours. I didn't get an email for any of them nor even a phone notification, I just happened to notice the yellow dot on the envelope at the top of a cache page I'd opened.

 

I have the incoming Message Centre email preference set to "notification after 30 minutes of inactivity" so I'd expect to always get an email for the first message from a cacher.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by barefootjeff

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, niraD said:

Where did this expectation come from? Do geocachers really think they can contact the CO and get answers to questions immediately?

 

Maybe not, but I'd still like the recipient to get some sort of notification that I've sent them a message, beyond just an inconspicuous yellow dot on the website or in the footer of the app. As a CO, I'm happy to help immediately with any questions a searcher might have, as it's a better outcome for them than if they have to wait days or weeks for a reply. Sometimes I can't, though, like if I'm driving at the time, but even so I'd still like to get a notification that there's an incoming message so I can check it when I can and, if possible, reply before the searcher's given up and gone home.

[+PereSant]

14 hours ago, niraD said:

Where did this expectation come from? Do geocachers really think they can contact the CO and get answers to questions immediately?

@ niraD, no, they don't really expect it. But if a call for help reaches me, I try to oblige in a timely manner. And barefootjeff exactly described my intentions.

[+Isonzo Karst]

13 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

I have the incoming Message Centre email preference set to "notification after 30 minutes of inactivity" so I'd expect to always get an email for the first message from a cacher.

 

Per a Lackey who responded to this issue some time back, it's better to do it the other way, ie, "Send me a notification every time I receive a message".

[+barefootjeff]

9 minutes ago, Isonzo Karst said:

 

Per a Lackey who responded to this issue some time back, it's better to do it the other way, ie, "Send me a notification every time I receive a message".

 

If the "notification after 30 minutes of inactivity" is irretrievably broken, to the extent that it can't even generate an email from the very first message someone has sent to a recipient, shouldn't the option be removed?

[+fuzziebear3]

I think the 'expectation' is because in the app, message the owner is right next to hint.  So the app user expects an immediate reply.  Not going to happen from me, I'm not so tethered to my phone.  If I do catch it, that's great, but I really am not likely to notice it until a bit later.