Notifications for PM's

Been surfing the site for the past half-hour or so, and I just noticed a moment ago that I have a PM. Perhaps an option for a pop-up and/or e-mail notification saying "Hey, you have a new PM at PointBuzz!".

--C/O 2004--

Or just have the "Private Messages (n)" link at the top of every page show up in a contrasting color (say, bright orange...) instead of looking just like the "Private Messages (0)" link.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Or since you know to look there, look there.

Still, just as with over at Coasterbuzz, it would be mucho helpful if there were something attention grabbing about the PM link.

I never get PMs on CBuzz, so when I got one last week I found that it had been sitting there for over a week unread because I never noticed that the "0" had changed to "1".

The PM notification link is in an even harder to notice location here than it is there.

I have to agree with them there. I got my first PM last week and I just noticed it today. An email would help out.

A {WONTFIX}? That makes it sound like a Lazy Programmer error... :)

Anybody who designs user interfaces needs to look at the rantings and ravings of the principals of the Nielsen Norman Group. And when I say "user interface" I mean anything from a computer program to a doorknob.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

IIRC, Campusfish has been plagued by those {WONTFIX}'s, too. The response to every suggestion for improvement was "I'll do it when I get more members." Which made me wonder how more members would be snagged without the features people want.

The PM notification isn't much of a big deal for me, since I only get one every six months or so. However, for the folks who use them, why make it harder than it needs to be? Even just throw a tag around it when >0 or something.

Well, John, when you run as many sites as I do and have the experience to know how changes affect software development, you can let me know what I should be doing.

I may not know all the coding reasons behind not changing things, but most people who don't know code won't give a flying crap why things aren't changing. It's all about the product you're delivering. If you buy tires from Firestone that explode after 10k miles do you stop to think about how changing the formula for the rubber would affect the production? No, all you want is that it changes so that your Ford Explorer doesn't roll over again.

This site is a product that you are delivering to us for a fee in the form either us shelling out cash for the premium service or viewing ads. Just like my tires, cell phone, PDA, refridgerator, and other products that I have paid a fee for, I'd like the product that I'm receiving here to work the best it can with the best features it can.

If you've set up a forum for feedback and don't either impliment some of the suggestions that come up or give reasons for not doing so, that's bad customer service. And remember, that's what we are. We are your customers.

I don't need to make music or movies to tell you I think a band or a movie sucks so why do I need to know .net to tell you that a feature in your software is lacking?

*** Edited 6/2/2004 7:24:59 AM UTC by Michael Darling***

You mistakenly think that I do this, or any other site, for the money. That ain't the case. Honestly, the only thing you ever contribute anymore is what you don't like. I can take feedback, but if you don't like the answers I give you, don't give the feedback.

You're not a customer, you're a guest, and you're free to not visit the site.

Mr Jeff,

I beg to differ. You have both guests (the ad viewers) AND customers (premium site buyers) in the house.

In My Humble Opinion, this site serves both well.

Keep up the great service!

MrScott

Even then, I'm not going to make changes to satisfy six people who knew what they were buying ahead of time. What I've sold to paying members is not misrepresented in any way. I appreciate your support, but let's keep perspective.

When we've got a laundry list of significant things to add, the formatting of a number on the page is not something that has much, if any, priority. More than 10,000 people hit my sites every day, and if I were to respond to every little thing that every person wants, there would never be anything new.

I was under the impression that, since you earn revenue from the "guests" viewing ads, that would make us customers. We pay the ad companies our "fee" by viewing the ads and they give you cash.

Since I'm not a customer, I'm not going to view the ads anymore.

Then you won't be able to view much of the content of PointBuzz, either.

Certainly, your loss, Mr Darling.

MrScott

I wanted Fox to keep Futurama, Family Guy and Wonder Falls for all of the tampon ads and American Idol promos but Fox wouldn't listen.

Bastards!

Seriously, John, you live in a pretty strange world.

Well, thank you, Jeff. I'm glad we could keep the personal attacks out of this.

I'm not personally attacking you, I just think your take on the way things are is screwed up. The idea that you're owed something because you're .01% of the audience is a little peculiar, don't you think?

No, Jeff. I'm not saying I'm owed anything other than respect. Contrary to popular belief I am not a self-centered egomaniac.

You ask for suggestions ("Have an issue, question or suggestion for us? We'd love to hear from you" sound familar at all? See the forums listing page) and then talk down to anyone and everyone who suggests anything telling them that either the idea sucks, you'll do it later, it's not important, or you just plain don't feel like it.

Like it or not, you are delivering a product. If you don't believe that you're delivering it to us here at PB, you are delivering CliqueSite and Pop Forums to the folks who buy them. Unless I'm mistaken, it's distributed with the same UI as used here, correct?

It's been brought to your attention that a feature in your UI is lacking. Nobody is saying "Hey, Jeff, your software bites." It's not an insult to you to point that out. You are, however, taking it as such and writing the suggestion off as trivial. Any developer should know that code is rarely perfect the first time around (which you obviously know seeing as how this is v7.1 of Pop Forums) and should expect to tweak. That's all this PM notification is- a tweak.

Nobody here is asking you to save the world, cure cancer, show us your source code, or anything like that. Just make an improvement to the UI... or at least listen to the suggestions that have been made, take them under some sort of consideration, and not treat us like three year olds telling us to "look there" instead of taking the time to make a simple tweak.

Check again... I don't sell the forums. POP Forums has been free for many, many months, with source code. You want to take a stab at using it? Go right ahead! I'm already busy writing the Whidbey version to coincide with or precede the release of my book, and that's where my energy is going. The publisher is my most important customer, on an order of magnitude a hundred times higher than those that visit my hobby sites.

Your problem is not that I don't respond to feedback; Your problem is that I don't respond to your feedback the way you want. As I said, it's up to us to decide what is a "simple tweak" and what's not, or what gets priority over something else. Honestly, if you feel "short changed," by all means, hang out at another site or start your own. My feelings won't be hurt.

So in the end, no notifications for PM's, correct? ;)