Hey all!
We know that many members have complained that they suddenly started receiving new floods of Gather emails last week, around the time of our photo album upgrade. The vast majority of the complaints refer to the group Gather Broadcasting (gatherbroadcast.gather.com). To anyone who suddenly started receiving email alerts last week regarding messages you received from Gather Broadcasting or any other Gather group, please pay close attention to the information we are seeking below.
First, I want to just clarify a few things that may be confusing to you. "Group mail," "broadcast messages," etc are really just regular private messages - the same kind that you would send to one of your friends on Gather. When you receive a "group message," you are really receiving a private message from an individual member within the group. You read these messages in the same Gather inbox that you read non-group messages. If a message is sent via a group, that group's name will be found in [brackets] in the message subject.
If you use the "Block Sender" button on one of these messages, you will block future mail from the individual group member who sent you that message - not all mail sent via that group.
The email notifications setting is the same for being alerted to a new "group" private message, as a "normal" private message not sent via a group. To control whether or not you are alerted by email when you receive any type of private message, you must go to your email preferences and uncheck the box next to "...when I receive a private message." The group-related email settings at the bottom of this page DO NOT pertain to the private messages you receive through a group like Gather Broadcasting.
Obviously, something happened last week that triggered a lot of members to start receiving email notifications (relating to group private messages) that they had not been receiving previously. If you are one of these people, affected by this, then please answer my questions below as completely as you can. If you're not sure about something, don't be afraid to say so.
1. Do most of your new email alerts pertain to the group Gather Broadcasting?
2. Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting?
3. For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts?
4. Before you started receiving all the new emails, can you tell me for certain whether you had the box checked off next to "when I receive a private message" in your email preferences? Keep in mind we're not sure yet if this setting changed "on its own" for members. Think about how YOU had that setting set, prior to last week.
5. Regardless of your settings, do you remember if, prior to last week, you were actually receiving email alerts when you received a "normal" private message from someone?
6. We suspect some members may have been trying to control the Gather Broadcasting or similar email alerts with the wrong email settings. The correct setting is "when I receive a private message." If you attempted to TURN OFF the email setting for "when I receive a private message," did that stop the flood of new emails? Or what was the result?
The point of the last question is - if you had been receiving email alerts when your buddy sent you a new message, you should have also been getting alerts when a member of Gather Broadcasting or any other group included you on a broadcast group message.
Please post your feedback as comments below. The more feedback we can get, the better we can determine what caused this to happen.
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More by Chuck McGuire, Gather.com Member Support |
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Comments: 50
Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting? Yes but I chose to receive email alerts from the other group, not Gather Brodcasting.
For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts? Yes I was a member before I started getting alerts from Gather Broadcasting.
Before you started receiving all the new emails, can you tell me for certain whether you had the box checked off next to "when I receive a private message" in your email preferences? Keep in mind we're not sure yet if this setting changed "on its own" for members. Think about how YOU had that setting set, prior to last week. I turned it off after I started receiving alerts from Gather Broadcasting.
Regardless of your settings, do you remember if, prior to last week, you were actually receiving email alerts when you received a "normal" private message from someone?
We suspect some members may have been trying to control the Gather Broadcasting or similar email alerts with the wrong email settings. The correct setting is "when I receive a private message." If you attempted to TURN OFF the email setting for "when I receive a private message," did that stop the flood of new emails? Or what was the result?
Yes ,the emails have stopped but I don't get the ones I want neither.
I did not even know that you go do the same for groups until yesterday when I went in to check my email preferences because I suspected that some of my friends emails were falling through the cracks. I checked them off and then saw below that I could do the same for groups.
I have never set groups to send me gmail notifications.
Of course, I am a member of countless groups on Gather. When someone posts an article or what have you, I get an email in my inbox on Gather, but I was not getting notifications in my gmail prior to the Jagger upgrade. Now, I am getting a lot of notifications to my gmail account whenever people post to a lot of the accounts that have mass emailing capabilities, including when I myself make a post. This means that even though I have not set up any preferences on my account, I am still getting the notifications to my gmail account.
I hope that helps you out.
It has been my experience that some members receiving email notification of group mail messages have either changed their email preferences pertaining to all private mail, or 'something' changed this setting for them.
Not that it helps...
Andrea, I have sent you a follow up message via private messaging. Let me know if you have trouble getting to it.
On 10-21-08, membership in the group was 2200 plus, and as of this posting, 1930 members remain.
As far as my Gather inbox, it’s been a steady increase of emails as membership in Gather Broadcasting grew. I didn’t notice any increase in volume of emails from the group after the upgrade.
No, I also get from friends of dan h and a few other groups that I was not getting notices from before. I do not mind them in my gather email, but they are clogging my home email
2. Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting?yes friends of dan h, johns humor are ones I had not planned to receive, dancing fingers, happiness unlimited, poetry please, journey into poetry, snippets, are ones I have wanted to receive
3. For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts? Yes, I was
4. Before you started receiving all the new emails, can you tell me for certain whether you had the box checked off next to "when I receive a private message" in your email preferences? Keep in mind we're not sure yet if this setting changed "on its own" for members. Think about how YOU had that setting set, prior to last week. Yes, I did have when I receive a private message checked, but now, my PRIVATE messages are not coming through
5. Regardless of your settings, do you remember if, prior to last week, you were actually receiving email alerts when you received a "normal" private message from someone? yes
6. We suspect some members may have been trying to control the Gather Broadcasting or similar email alerts with the wrong email settings. The correct setting is "when I receive a private message." If you attempted to TURN OFF the email setting for "when I receive a private message," did that stop the flood of new emails? Or what was the result? I have not yet tried that
That was some great feedback. Thank you!
It is nice that the bombardment has stopped!
Peace!
Well, like I said above, the same setting controls all private messages. So if you have the box unchecked next to "...when I receive a private message," you will not be alerted in your email when one of your friends sends you a truly private message.
I recommend that you turn that setting ON again, and then remove yourself from Gather Broadcasting or any other group that is spamming you with messages.
I haven't heard yet about anyone having problems specifically with the "other photos" page on any member's profile. Does it never load for you? Or, if it does, how long does it really take?
And do you see the same effect no matter which member's "other photos" you are trying to look at?
As for the empty albums, it is entirely possible for someone to create an album and not put any photos into it. If it's an issue with your Guarded Viewing settings, keep in mind that you need to have all of those Guarded Viewing boxes (in your Account Settings) CHECKED OFF in order to have visibility to the various types of mature content. If they are unchecked, that means you are not allowed to see them.
YES!
2. Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting?
YES
3. For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts?
YES I was a member before.
4. Before you started receiving all the new emails, can you tell me for certain whether you had the box checked off next to "when I receive a private message" in your email preferences?
I had it checked, but only had been receiving messages from individuals before.
5. Regardless of your settings, do you remember if, prior to last week, you were actually receiving email alerts when you received a "normal" private message from someone?
yes, I was receiving those alerts.
THANK YOU for handling this.
I've since unchecked my private message box
3. I was a member of all the groups before, but had only asked to receive alerts of posts from a few of them, no email alerts from any group.
4. Yes, I had the check marked next to 'when I receive a private message,"but was not receiving messages from groups, only individuals.
5. Yes, I was receiving private messages from individuals only.
2. Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting? Yes, a small handful.
3. For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts? Yes, I was a member of all of them.
4. Before you started receiving all the new emails, can you tell me for certain whether you had the box checked off next to "when I receive a private message" in your email preferences? Keep in mind we're not sure yet if this setting changed "on its own" for members. Think about how YOU had that setting set, prior to last week.
Yes, I had this box checked and still want to know if I receive emails from individuals, but not from groups.
5. Regardless of your settings, do you remember if, prior to last week, you were actually receiving email alerts when you received a "normal" private message from someone? Yes I was.
6. We suspect some members may have been trying to control the Gather Broadcasting or similar email alerts with the wrong email settings. The correct setting is "when I receive a private message." If you attempted to TURN OFF the email setting for "when I receive a private message," did that stop the flood of new emails? Or what was the result? I didn't turn it off because I don't want to miss alerts for other private emails.
Gather Broadcast used to be a function I valued, since only those sent by my friends would slip into my private email account. In a few weeks, I jumped from an accumulation of 5000 mostly dealt with emails to 10,000 I simply can't fathom. Everything is pouring in, and from all groups I've joined where anyone sends a *group mail.* It's the most horrible thing yet to have happened with this site, and utterly incapacitates the very foundation of gathering friends.
We're ignoring it all!
And there are many whom I wish not to ignore, but I haven't the time or patience anymore to begin problem solving this one like the many other problems that have been exponentially growing with each new update this past year.
I'm honestly beginning to get a bad taste in my mouth about Gather, for other reasons too as you know (said with true kindness and respect), but I've met so many good people here, including you, that it's breaking my heart.
Who wants to keep struggling with a place that breaks hearts?
Simplify! For crying out loud! Take a few steps back...
2. Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting? yes I have
3. For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts? No I cant
4. Before you started receiving all the new emails, can you tell me for certain whether you had the box checked off next to "when I receive a private message" in your email preferences? Keep in mind we're not sure yet if this setting changed "on its own" for members. Think about how YOU had that setting set, prior to last week. I only set that setting for certain friends
5. Regardless of your settings, do you remember if, prior to last week, you were actually receiving email alerts when you received a "normal" private message from someone? not always
6. We suspect some members may have been trying to control the Gather Broadcasting or similar email alerts with the wrong email settings. The correct setting is "when I receive a private message." If you attempted to TURN OFF the email setting for "when I receive a private message," did that stop the flood of new emails? Or what was the result? I didnot attempt that
Have a Great & powerful day W/J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesus Love You Too!!!!!
1. Do most of your new email alerts pertain to the group Gather Broadcasting? • Yes, and I hate it. It's clogging up my email box. •
2. Have you been receiving email alerts about messages from any other groups, besides Gather Broadcasting? • No, this is the only one. •
3. For whichever groups you suddenly started receiving alerts about, can you tell me for certain if you were a member of that group(s) before you started getting the new email alerts? (See above)
4. Nothing changed in my "when I receive a private message" selection.
5. Yes, I was receiving email alerts last week.
6. I don't want to turn off "when I receive a private message," because I want to continue receiving private messages from individual members.
Hey Sonja,
Why don't you just remove yourself from the Gather Broadcasting group? That will make the messages stop.
While you're logged in, just go to gatherbroadcast.gather.com and click the "remove membership" link over to the right.
I was hoping to stay subscribed and simply not get all those emails, like with other groups I belong to.
Sonja,
The whole purpose of the Gather Broadcasting group is to be able to send and receive messages to/from the large group membership. If you don't want the emails, you should really remove yourself from the group.
Thanks Chuck
wonderful
If you're not a fan of those emails, you should not be a member of Gather Broadcasting. That is the whole purpose of the group. Or, you should adjust your Gather email preferences so that you don't get emailed every time you receive a private message.
Thanks for the information ....I realize that the first time I joined a group emails group..
I can not keep up with everyone..I was getting thousands of emails , once I got it down to 800 go take a break back it went up. So what I did was just stopped all emails except for ones for information from Gather like you Kevin MaryAnne ,Connie. So I would still get all my friends but not all the mess. Right now Iam around 130 Which more what I can handle.
This is excellent for the new ones to the groups..