Please don't stop sending "Changes to People You Are Watching" emails

LegacyUser

James Aubuchon said: Please don't stop sending "Changes to People You Are Watching" emails. I don't understand the reasoning behind this, as anyone who doesn't login regularly will miss these messages. If the emails are going to someone's junk folder, that's their fault - don't punish everyone else for their mistake. Perhaps you could send them to both email and messages, or allow users to decide how they want to receive them.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: Welcome to the community-powered feedback forum for FamilySearch. FamilySearch personnel read every discussion thread and may or may not respond as their time permits. We all share an active interest in using the resources of this site and as users, we have various levels of knowledge and experience and do our best to help each other with concerns, issues, and/or questions.

Because my mailer makes a mess of the email that is currently sent, I set up a bookmark that takes me directly to the Changes to People I am Watching list. https://familysearch.org/tree/list/ch...

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: You suggestion is a good one.

You are correct. Not everyone signs into FamilySearch on a regular basis, so the email serves as a good way to notify them that someone has made a change to a person on their watch list.

The option of receiving notices in an email is still a good one, even though my email client makes a mess of the formatting. I have the option to treat the message as plain text, but something is happening behind the scenes that is still being processed. That is immaterial to your request and on me.

The option to continue to receive email messages with the changes should be made selectable in the Notifications section of your profile for FamilySearch. That way, those who do not want to receive those emails can opt out.

LegacyUser

Richard Otter said: I like the emails because I can archive them.
The on-line list seems to be limited in size.

LegacyUser

Jeff_Luke said: I also like receiving the e-mails.

I login and check on the changes nearly every time I get the email. If all the email accomplished were to get people to use FS more frequently, it's probably worth it just for that.

Without the email, I likely would not check the change list very often.

LegacyUser

Jeff Wiseman said: The good news is that since you have those folks on your watch list, when you get the message of changes to them, once you have checked out the changes and determined if they are improvements or that they are mistakes and you complete the corrections, you no long need those emails and so keeping them around may not really provide much value. As more changes occur, you will just get more messages.

The list of changes is really just a type of "To-Do" list, if you will. It is a list of items for you to go through and check (and if action is needed, then perform the corrections necessary). How many "To-Do" lists do you have around where everything on it was completed?
:-)

However, your observation about list size DOES bring up a good point. When you get behind on doing your To-Do list items, can they disappear from your view?

My impression was that the emails were just going to be replaced with messages in your FS message center. If that is the case, then they will all be automatically archived for you. Then as you go through and vet the changes, you can just delete the individual messages as you complete vetting them.

This wouldn't be the same as the "online list" that you refer to as it is just the list of all the most recent changes. The original emails were just snapshots of that list which I THINK is the same way the new messages will work.

If this is not the case, please somebody from FS tell us! Because that will be a problem.