Mike Grace
New Member
Posts:31
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| 03/04/2008 10:55 AM |
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I am using DMZ 04.00.06.
I have got a directors security role with 12 users in it.
I created a folder called 'minutes' and adding 5 files.
I then logged in as each user and subcribed them to the 'minutes' folder.
Each of them received 5 email notifications which say that they have subscribed to the 'minutes' folder.
I was expecting 1 email for each user. It appears that it is sending them a notification for each document inside the folder.
Is this correct or is this a bug?
Regards
Mike
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Rob Ralston
Basic Member
Posts:164
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| 03/04/2008 10:51 PM |
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Hi Peter,
Mike's post made me want to add my two cents.
First, I really like the subscription concept as I think it is one of the features that makes DMX extremely useful to portal members. However, it seems that there are scenarios where the notification mechanism seems to be counter productive.
For example, if a portal admin, or other designated user is making wholesale changes to folder contents, a subscribed user can be hammered with emails. This happened recently with one of my clients where pictures were removed from DMX folders in favor of a regular picture gallery module. With over 1200 images, the subscribed users were inundated with change notifications.
Also, I tested what happens when a Word document, for example, is opened and edited via WebDAV folders. If the editor is making lots of changes and saving regularly, subscribed users are again hit with a change notification every time the document is saved.
Perhaps it would help for you to create a special topic in the forums which could be used to get specific ideas about how subscriptions notifications might be enhanced in various scenarios where too many notifications are sent.
Rob Ralston |
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Jason Ross
New Member
Posts:8
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| 03/04/2008 11:32 PM |
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Coincidence!
I just logged in to post a note exactly in line with Rob's comment. Our client uses DMX to post documentation for specific construction projects. When a project is complete, they delete the relevant folder. With each folder containing dozens of files, this causes each subscriber to receive dozens of "deleted" notifications.
The issue isn't so much that it's annoying. It's that when people get blasted with so many notifications, they tend to stop paying attention to the important ones.
Are there any workarounds to prevent this from happening? In our DNN installation, users create their own accounts, so we don't know each user's UN/PW to first unsubscribe them in DMX.
Thanks!
Jason |
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Peter Donker
Veteran Member
Posts:4536
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| 03/05/2008 11:55 PM |
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@Mike: that looks like a bug
@Rob/Jason: I see your point. I'll have to study this one. I will work on a solution for this.
Peter |
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Mike Grace
New Member
Posts:31
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| 03/06/2008 11:31 AM |
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Hi Peter,
Can you let me know please when this bug is fixed?
Regards
Mike |
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Peter Donker
Veteran Member
Posts:4536
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| 03/08/2008 11:08 AM |
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Mike,
No. It is too early.It is not really so much a bug as it is a change that is needed. A point of intervention is needed to stop the cascade. This is more complex than fixing a bug (i.e. intended behavior not working).
Peter |
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Mike Grace
New Member
Posts:31
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| 03/10/2008 10:06 AM |
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Peter,
I understand. I was really trying to say to be informed when this behaviour is changed.
Mike |
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Peter Donker
Veteran Member
Posts:4536
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| 03/10/2008 10:30 AM |
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Hi Mike,
There will be an upgrade before the 20th of this Month. I'll see if it can make it to that. I can't be more specific at this point in time.
Peter |
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Peter Donker
Veteran Member
Posts:4536
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| 03/10/2008 10:48 AM |
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OK, the way I'm seeing this now it is probably best to do this more 'thoroughly'. I did a bit more research and the conclusion I come to is that it is really not that easy to find points of intervention to prevent email flooding. I think the best and most solid way forward is to harvest these notifications in bulk. This will mean that part of the notification mechanism is sent back to the drawing board. My first thoughts on this:
- Create a place where individual notifications are stored waiting to be sent to users.
- A scheduled service that comes by every now and then (probably something like every 15 minutes) and does the sending
- Re-examine if we can preserve the current way the notifications are compiled as messages. The current system is designed for 1 document = 1 email. That would need to be extended. This is NOT trivial unfortunately. I expect this to be the hardest to do.
So, for those following this thread: this is, in all likelyness, not solveable in a week. I'm going to have to push this to 04.03.00. I hope you understand. Sorry for any email flooding that might occur in the meantime.
Peter
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Rob Ralston
Basic Member
Posts:164
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| 03/10/2008 2:35 PM |
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Peter,
Thanks for looking at alternatives on this. It's quite clear it is not a trvial issue for you to resolve. What you've outlined makes sense, i.e., doing things in a batch over a period of time. Sounds like you are thinking to send a single email with whatever notifications have accumulated over the specified time internval. Sounds good.
When you suggest a scheduled service, if you mean a DNN scheduled task, then perhaps admins can adjust the frequency to suit their own environment?
Rob |
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Jason Ross
New Member
Posts:8
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| 03/10/2008 4:27 PM |
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Thanks, Peter, for researching a solution. I also think batching notifications on a single email will be a major improvement.
Admittedly, I haven't thought through the pros and cons, but I'll throw something else out there anyway: would it be prudent to give admins increased visibility/control over user-specific subscriptions? By that I mean the ability to:
- view subscription settings for a particular user
- modify subscription settings for a particular user
With this visibility/control, admins could:
- set up notifications for less-sophisticated clients
- remove notifications prior to bulk import/delete (assuming a scenario where the above "batch" process doesn't quite fit)
- ensure the correct people have subscribed to the correct folders
I'm guessing there's a reason this isn't part of the DMX solution, but I thought I'd ask ...
Thanks,
Jason |
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Peter Donker
Veteran Member
Posts:4536
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| 03/10/2008 8:39 PM |
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Hi Jason,
Subscribing other people does pop-up as request every now and then. It is on the 'wish-list'. The temporary switching off of notifications: I can't see an easy way of doing this. Note that these were some of the assumptions that underly the design:
1. Make absolutely sure no-one gets unsolicited email as a result of using DNN/DMX. This means that you cannot have a user subscribing another. I agree that an Admin could be allowed to do this.
2. Ensure that if someone has expressed interest in a document, that person is truthfully updated about it. That's why there is no by-pass. To 'protect' the subscriber. No user could 'secretly' edit a document and not have DNN/DMX send out notifications.
Next to these there are a bunch of others but they're not relevant here.
Peter |
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pmarkiewicz
New Member
Posts:47
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| 02/10/2009 5:19 PM |
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I see that this issue has been resolved, presumably by the scheduled activity of sending notifications. Where can I adjust the frequency of the updates? For example, if I wanted the update to occur daily, as opposed to every 15 minutes. Thanks. |
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Peter Donker
Veteran Member
Posts:4536
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| 02/11/2009 2:17 PM |
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Hi Patrick,
You'll see the service in the scheduled tasks of DNN. You can tune the frequency there. In a future enhancement I'd like to offer users a way to manage their own frequency. I.e. they will specify what the minimum timeframe is for an email to be sent.
Peter |
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