Merged "Automatically" subscribe all members to be notified of any new messages

The feature - send an email to all members whenever a post is made - does not exist in Kunena 1.5.9. For this reason, there is no support issue involved.

We have discussed this question several times before:

• Sending email notification on all new posts to all
• Multiple email notification when creating new thread
• Create new user or modify moderator permissions

Ideally, perhaps, it would be nice to have a news digest feature that periodically and automatically prepared a mass mail-out newsletter to all members informing them of new topics that had been started. I am fairly sure that there are other Joomla components that achieve this result if you are willing to pay for the service.

However, given that this similar question has been asked several times before and that support for the idea has been lukewarm, I don't know when (or if) the concept will be fully extended in the manner you have asked.

As xillibit has mentioned, K 1.6 is expected to allow users to opt-in to subscribe to receive all new posts (new threads as well as replies to those discussions) on a category-by-category basis.

[strike]I have moved this discussion to the Hacks, Tips and Tricks category: perhaps someone may be willing to develop a solution in K 1.5.9 for you?[/strike]

Hi everybody,

I have the same problem: My clients uses Kunena Forum and wants this feature that everybody is informed whenever a post is made in the forum.
Would be cool if someone can help or point out what to do.

Many Thanks in advance!

Hi,

I would absolutely want this as a feature in the next version (1.6) of Kunena!
I'd like to have the option of sending broadcast post to my member base.
They could always come to the site and turn off this feature, but, I'd like to have it offered.

Just one users opinion.

-zanni

We just started using Kunena on an existing membership website. We would like to subscribe all of our members to all of the new and existing threads so they are notified via email when a new post is added. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks so much!

Kunena 1.6 adds a new feature: subscribe to categories, which is quite close but not exactly what you need to have.

With proper tools this could be nice addition to our feature lists.. I have to think about it.. At least it would be better than forced subscription by configuration setting, as user could always say "no thanks".

Great, thanks.

Speaking of forced subscription... Can this be done as a solution? As an administrator, can I force subscribe all other users to all forum topics (new and existing)?

This would be very helpful.

It can be done, but it's not in my todo list either. Actually it should be pretty easy feature, but it currently works well only with small forums with handful of members (sending emails is slow, so we would need something like daily digests to have it in larger forums -- which is planned for K2.0).

sozzled wrote:

We've discussed this topic several times before:

• Multiple email notification when creating new thread
• Create new user or modify moderator permissions

The conventional wisdom is that this kind of request is not a particularly good idea and, as is often the case when people try to find a technological solution to a a non-technological "problem", if you were to succeed you will probably create greater, genuine problems in the process.

I am the webmaster for an organisation which has a long-established mailing list, which needs to be migrated to web-based forum software, such as Kunena (my choice). The problem is we have many subscribers (somewhat older and non-technical) who say they prefer to receive emails; that is what they have been used to for ~ten years. I am 100% certain that once they start using the forum, they will in time be happier with it than the mailing-list, but I can't sell the idea unless I can offer some kind of new topic email notification. I can't coerce these people into changing their habits; I have to offer them choice.

G'day, cbrace, and welcome to Kunena.

Yes, I thoroughly agree with the final sentence of your message:

I have to offer [my users] a choice.

This is precisely the point I was trying to get across in the message of mine that you quoted from. Choice! Not a one-size-fits-all technical mechanism for organising everyone's lives around the website owner's personal preferences. Real choice, where users can opt-in or opt-out as they like.

Kunena offers users that real choice. Users can choose to subscribe, or not to subscribe as they wish, to topics that they have an interest in following. What's even better is that, after a user's interest in a topic ceases, they can unsubscribe to those topics. Now that's what I call user empowerment.

If users try to use the excuse that they're old or "non-technical" and that they prefer to use email, just remember what is the basis of their argument. They're merely offering excuses for their lack of confidence (or competence) to use what you have provided for them. What better way to overcome these excuses than to show them how they can empower themselves instead of you chasing after them like an epileptic plumber in a bathtub full of water, trying to fix things for them.

Please read the many other discussions that we've had on this topic (not just this one) and consider using Post-subscription checked by default? = Yes in your Kunena configuration settings as the appropriate way to work through this issue. You can also supplement the idea with a e-mail news digest of what's happened in your forum in the past day/week/month (using a third-party product). I'm sure you can sell that idea!

Thanks for the friendly welcome and helpful answer, zozzled. My excuses for the delay in replying.

If I understand things correctly, the Post-subscription checked by default options means that if set to yes one one is subscribed by default to a topic if you start a thread or reply to one.

This is very useful and I use it myself in various fora all the time.

However, the scenario I am dealing with is slightly different. The mailing list which I want to migrate to a web-based forum is used, inter alia, for terminology questions from working translators. They are accustomed to posting a query to the mailing list and getting a bunch of quick replies.

In and of itself, this arrangement works well, and probably should not be tampered with, except that the mailing is also used for other business. Alas, when subscribers (inevitably) go off-topic and/or the volume gets too high, other users complain. Obvious solution: move to the Web.

However, to sell the idea, I need to provide a facility for users to subscribe in advance to all new topics started in a given section, not only existing topics.

If I browse the forum here, I don't see such a capability under for example Forum tools.

I am afraid a daily digest won't be adequate for this.

Any ideas would be hugely welcome, as this is a "deal-breaker" for me. If needed we would be willing to hire some to write this functionality.

Thanks,

-Colin