"Interesting permies threads you might have missed" - what do you think of this email feature?

I'm sure most of you will have had some of these emails by now, with the the title Interesting permies threads you might have missed followed by a list of threads that you, hopefully, will find interesting.

Mine is currently set to send the top 12 threads every day but you can change your settings to however many or how often you like.

This thread is you all to share your thoughts and opinions on this feature.

How is everyone finding it? It it helpful to you for finding interesting threads?

Oh cool! I had not enabled this on my email preferences yet. (Or it wasn't enabled for me.)

So at the bottom of today's daily-ish was this (which of course would be individualized for the recipient's email address - don't try to use mine! )

to fiddle with your email settings: https://permies.com/forums/email/preference?email=jocecampbell%40gmail.com

When I clicked that link, it took me to my email preferences per this picture. So now I see how you were getting top 12 threads when you wanted them, Burra!

My first interesting threads email came today.
It had quite a few interesting things I had missed.
Great feature!

I love this! I could not possibly have found all of the great threads that get sent to me through this. Thanks so much!

This is FANTASTIC!

I take it that this is ready for prime time?

I'm enjoying this feature and for the most part they are topics I'm interested in.
In today's, though, the top three of the 12 were my own threads not sure if there is a way around that...I am interested in them

I think the upside of this feature is that you get to know that your threads made the top 12 list. Damn you're good!

Devaka,

I think it might be time to activate this for everybody.

I have not tried it myself, but I imagine that there are instructions at the bottom of each email telling people how to modify their settings. Right?

paul wheaton wrote:I have not tried it myself, but I imagine that there are instructions at the bottom of each email telling people how to modify their settings. Right?

That's right!

Okay, for everybody who has not yet turned it on let's turn it on for them to be 12 posts 12 days.

I got mine today. I made some suggestions to devaka about some small formatting stuff. Overall, I liked it.

Mine is set to the default of 12 threads every 12 days.

First time I've gotten this (I never signed up, but it looks like Paul having it sent out to everyone is working--or at least it worked for me). All in all, I liked it, especially knowing what posts I got "likes" on, as this is rather difficult information to find out. I do wish, however, that the links to the "liked" posts contained the information about the threads. For example, instead of saying "https://permies.com//forums/posts/preList/0/407328", it'd be nice if it said, "https://permies.com/t/52406/cascadia/Cascadia-Bloggers-Websites-Facebooks-Project#433240." The 12 threads above the "apple" and "like" posts were listed in the latter format, so I could tell what they were about before clicking, but not so with the "apple" and "like" posts. I don't know if it could be changed or not, but it would be nice!

Nicole Alderman wrote:First time I've gotten this (I never signed up, but it looks like Paul having it sent out to everyone is working--or at least it worked for me). All in all, I liked it, especially knowing what posts I got "likes" on, as this is rather difficult information to find out. I do wish, however, that the links to the "liked" posts contained the information about the threads. For example, instead of saying "https://permies.com//forums/posts/preList/0/407328", it'd be nice if it said, "https://permies.com/t/52406/cascadia/Cascadia-Bloggers-Websites-Facebooks-Project#433240." The 12 threads above the "apple" and "like" posts were listed in the latter format, so I could tell what they were about before clicking, but not so with the "apple" and "like" posts. I don't know if it could be changed or not, but it would be nice!

there is a box to check at your profile to be notified when you get an apple and another for when "someone liked your post" Both have links to the post where it happened.

I think it was better than the dalyish. It also included posts of mine that had likes

Thank you, These emails are good.

It's nice to get this feature! I do have one suggestion though... A little more space between each topic would better facilitate scrolling on my touch screen device without inadvertently hitting links and being diverted to them unwantedly. Thank you!

I'm afraid I am not a fan of anything that sends extra email. I'm having trouble figuring out how to edit the email preferences. What are those check boxes nested under?

*Update* I found the link in the email, but is there an easy way to navigate to that page without having that email link? I would find it easiest to find under the "My Profile" tab.

I'm not sure, but after Cassie's "Daily-ish" stint ended there was a lull, but then the "Daily-ish" feature has since gone wild. Is there some sort of competition on getting Daily-ish" posts out, because my inbox is stacked full of them? I prefer a few good posts over mediocre posts every day.

I like it! One issue I have though is that I follow the link, see something cool, want to reply, need to log in, log in, then get shuttled to the main page, and can't find the thread again. Weekly is about right for frequency for my preferences.

Hello Paul.

Very much like the active threads list. Short, sweet, easy to read and decide whether or not to stop in.

Thanks.

The Daily-ish is still my favorite. I know that there are bound to be links to things I don't normally think about, which keeps me 'diverse' which is something I like. There are many competitors but the "Permies" brand rings true for me. Some of the others get sent straight to the waste-can being too much one thing or another. The digest is a little redundant to me, but still serves to prompt me to read it, as I do not seem to follow the mainstream, even for the "Permies" brand, which is not too surprising. Doesn't hurt to see it though, as I may want to dive deeper into a thread that I blew-off in the Daily-ish.

Geoff Lawton seems to be doing similar with the Friday Five. Another 'brand' I follow. Some of the others are too purple, beginner oriented or redneck for me. Keep up the good work.

Starr Brainard wrote:I'm afraid I am not a fan of anything that sends extra email. I'm having trouble figuring out how to edit the email preferences. What are those check boxes nested under?

*Update* I found the link in the email, but is there an easy way to navigate to that page without having that email link? I would find it easiest to find under the "My Profile" tab.

Just to be clear, you did find where you can edit all the stuff you want to edit, right?

I agree, it is a little difficult to figure out when you click on "profile". I feel like we should copy and paste what is on the email page over to the profile page. So that little subset is available at either location.

Is this what you mean?

I'm curious how the results are determined. If I say update me every 365 days, will I get the top 12 posts for that year? Or are they the top 12 posts for one day out of 365?

What is the criteria for being the "top" threads? Views? Replies? Apples? Thumbs up? Exclamation points? Some combination that reflects overall engagement?

Tim Skufca wrote:I'm not sure, but after Cassie's "Daily-ish" stint ended there was a lull, but then the "Daily-ish" feature has since gone wild. Is there some sort of competition on getting Daily-ish" posts out, because my inbox is stacked full of them? I prefer a few good posts over mediocre posts every day.

We are currently evolving a lot of email stuff.

The dailyish is now attempting to be a bit more daily. Soon we will have a "weekly" option that people can do if they like. Instead of the daily.

Frankly, I think the dailyish is currently looking really great!

Aly Sanchez wrote:I like it! One issue I have though is that I follow the link, see something cool, want to reply, need to log in, log in, then get shuttled to the main page, and can't find the thread again. Weekly is about right for frequency for my preferences.

Checking to see if this is something we can mend.

Ty Morrison wrote:The Daily-ish is still my favorite. I know that there are bound to be links to things I don't normally think about, which keeps me 'diverse' which is something I like. There are many competitors but the "Permies" brand rings true for me. Some of the others get sent straight to the waste-can being too much one thing or another. The digest is a little redundant to me, but still serves to prompt me to read it, as I do not seem to follow the mainstream, even for the "Permies" brand, which is not too surprising. Doesn't hurt to see it though, as I may want to dive deeper into a thread that I blew-off in the Daily-ish.

Geoff Lawton seems to be doing similar with the Friday Five. Another 'brand' I follow. Some of the others are too purple, beginner oriented or redneck for me. Keep up the good work.

I kinda felt like a person could dramatically customize this. Especially by selecting which forums you like and how much you like them. So maybe your tastes might be quite different from the staff and you can get updates on stuff that most others don't see.

I know some people configure this for every day. And some people might want it once a week. I felt like every twelve days was far enough apart to make it "about right" for somebody not currently on the dailyish.

Chad Sentman wrote:I'm curious how the results are determined. If I say update me every 365 days, will I get the top 12 posts for that year? Or are they the top 12 posts for one day out of 365?

What is the criteria for being the "top" threads? Views? Replies? Apples? Thumbs up? Exclamation points? Some combination that reflects overall engagement?

You will get the best out of that 365 days.

We currently have a pretty rich algorithm to determine "best". An upcoming feature for PIE users is to be able to modify that algorithm.

You don't have to limit it to 12 - it can be 100 or 10 or whatever.

Yes, I did figure out how to edit my preferences. I found the page by clicking the link in the email.

I'm not sure what you're referring to Paul, but my ideal setup would be to not have to depend on the emailed link to adjust my preferences, but instead have a clear tab or button available somewhere when I log in.

In an attempt to add some clarity to our current email stuff, devaka and I have come up with better descriptions for each option. Please take a look and tell me if this helps:

https://permies.com/forums/email/preference

(you can only see it if you are logged in)

I like the added descriptions, it definitely adds some clarity to what those emails will contain.

I think what Starr may be referring to though is to make those email preferences more easily accessible - I've noticed a lot of sites have a discreet unsubscribe link at the bottom of the screen.

I think where a lot of people get stumped and frustrated is that they have to log in when they click the link to unsubscribe, and aren't automatically redirected to their email preferences.

Is there any way Devaka can work some magic there to make it so when the unsubscribe link is followed from an email, the process is a little more direct?

A one-click unsubscribe link is indeed possible. But it comes at a price for the user. If they forward their email to a friend, the friend can click on the link and unsubscribe them.

After a large amount of discussion between devaka and I, we decided to do something to make sure that any attempt to unsubscribe would be safe. It could be done either through a password or through an e-mail verification.

If you go to some website and order lollipops and they ask for your email address so they can send you your lollipop receipt... And then they start sending you an email every day about other lollipops you might order... I think it is fair that they offer a one click unsubscribe link.

I guess the important part is that the one-click unsubscribe could be forwarded to somebody and that somebody could click on it. We explored the idea of how often do we think that might happen versus how often somebody might want a one-click unsubscribe instead of a secure unsubscribe... In the end we decided to go with two options of secured unsubscribe.

The added descriptions are a big improvement.

I don't see the described option of choosing which forums I want updates on, for example if I want the top weekly posts from the critters forum. Is that aspect still under development?

You can specify which forums you like and how much you like them.

Chad,

Have you seen the stuff so that you can go to a forum and express how many acorns you give that forum? If you give a forum 10 acorns than anything in that forum will be considered better than anything in a forum that has the default of 5 acorns. And much better then anything in a forum that you have given one acorn. And any Forum where you have given it zero acorns will never show up in your best list.

Paul,

I must have missed it. I certainly don't know how to give acorns. I assume there's a thread I can find to figure it out.

Thanks for clarifying!

Go to the main forum page. https://permies.com/forums/

Look on the right edge a couple inches from the top for a gray button that says "rate forums". Presto! Everything you need to rate the forums that are showing up at the moment.

To be able to rate all the forums, go to each category and look for a similar button.

I like it!

Unsubscribe
This should be opt-in, not opt-out.