Right, like I said, it's like a PM. So we're in agreement about that?
It
should be like a PM, so each member can control whether they want to deal with it or not, yes.
Specifically,
Profile>
Account settings>
Modify Profile:
Personal Messaging,
Receive personal messages from: allows one to select
Administrators only, in which case other members won't bother you with PMs. In the same view, one can even enable or disable the popup notification.
If you allow personal messages from all members but disable the popup, then unchecked Mentions count and unread PM counts appear in the same way on every page; the former next to
Profile button, the latter next to
My Messages button.
The difference is that one cannot disable the Mentions at all, like one can limit PMs from admins only.
Yet, Mentions are unlike a PM, because there is no context. It is a hand-wave from one member to another. The
Profile>
Mentions page contains a list, where the post where the mention appeared to, and the user making the mention are listed. You cannot clear this list, nor edit it in any way, so in that sense they behave like Thanks (
Profile,
Profile Info >
Show Posts >
Thanked posts).
Considering the prominent position (an entire button on every page) it seems that Mentions are as important as Private Messages, except that like Thanks, they're completely out of control of the mentioned member. In other words, as it stands, members are pushed to act on Mentions by the forum tools, as if they were as important as private messages, but completely out of user control like thanks.
You've pulled this one out of context -- it's in the same paragraph as social function; I'm talking about social function.
Apologies for that; mea culpa.
You left out the unread message count, which is also shown on every page (or maybe that's assumed or implicit). So it's working as intended? It draws attention.
But each member can disable private messages, so that only site admins can send them.
How else would you suggest to design a feature, where the purpose is to attract ones' attention in response to a prompt?
Do you want to be prompted and enticed/"forced" to react to the equivalent of a hand-wave across a crowd?
I would let the members choose whether they want to see the enticement/prompt or not. Just like I normally react to such come-hither hand-waving by simply waving back and doing something else. If they want me, they can get me and tell me what it is about (i.e. send a PM).
It would be even better if that choice was a drop-down selection with a checkbox like PMs have: for those who feel mentions are important, they could get the same popup as for PMs if the checkbox is filled; and the drop-down selection having 'Mentions button', 'No mentions button', 'Mentioned list only under Profile > Show pages ..'.
Having a selection of options, so that the end user can tune it to their preference (or disable it entirely if they wish to permanently ignore it*), makes perfect sense.
Exactly.
I
think that in the mean time, the feature should be disabled so it won't become a problem. But that is debatable, and others have said to leave it as it is.
The danger with leaving it as it is is that it can suddenly become a problem, annoying members and taxing moderators, and that the user tuning options will never be implemented.
But I don't see how we've gotten into 6+ pages drenched with psychology only to say "the plugin is undercooked and needs [these usability features]".
Easy to say in hindsight, but yes, that is the entire issue here.
A rough equivalent would be for other members to be able to push their posts to specific members, so that in their board views, they'd have a list of messages "recommended" by others for that member specifically to read.
That's a good idea. A sort of "pinned for you" section, but don't call it that because that implies something very different, but anyway, either they decay (drop off) over time, or disappear as you click them (which, I guess is the current behavior too, just from a different page? It's been so long since I've been tagged I don't even know how it decrements).
You evil, evil person!
It is a horrible idea.
Pushing stuff onto others is not a good way to discuss. I for one would leave; that kind of pushy attention-seeking I cannot stomach.
waved/shouted someone else in without including direct verbal context because they're involved in the same project too, and I know this, and that's why I'm inviting their opinion on it
Right-o. Have you noticed it is easier to do in front of a display or paper diagrams/schematics? Or by lifting your coffee/tea/soda? Context matters.
There is no such context on a widely-ranging discussion board like this. You don't know what the target person is doing here.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to describe a Mention notification as leaving a post-it-note on a colleagues/friends/cow-orkers door/desk/display telling them to go and read the comic pinned to the break room wall.
(Almost three decades ago, I was an IT support person for a while. The "best" bug report I ever got was a post-it note on my door stating "One of the classroom computers is broken. Please fix." I never found which computer it referred to, as they all worked just fine when I checked them. Every single one. It was pretty frustrating.)
It could also be Finnish customs are more formal or polite.
Not formal – we call everybody by their first name everywhere except in the military where we use last names only (or rank and last name, if formal); and nobody uses titles or honorifics at all – but very careful to not intrude on others. See
this Youtube video for an example of a Black Friday sales rush when the shops open. But it is quite possible, yes.
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