
Quora's Notification Settings  - OoTheNigerian
http://oothenigerian.com/quoras-notification-settings?ref=nf
======
yuvadam
Facebook has exactly the same interface (<http://i.imgur.com/EwrHR.png>) only
much longer (~60 checkboxes not including one for each external app).

Horrible.

If that's not a middle finger to all users (is is that hard to implement a
simple "Select All/Deselect All"?) I don't know what is.

~~~
cemregr
Here is a bookmarklet I made to uncheck all those boxes automatically :)

[http://cantuse.it/2010/09/how-to-disable-all-emails-from-
fac...](http://cantuse.it/2010/09/how-to-disable-all-emails-from-facebook-
bookmarklet/)

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harrybr
People have been suggesting this design is some sort of mistake. I don't think
so:

1\. Email notifications have a very high value for Quora - they drive users
back to the site. 2\. A fair number of users unsubscribe by clicking the
"unsubscribe" link at the footer of emails 3\. This design ensures users
clicking this link will only ever unsubscribe from a subset of email
notifications.

This way, users end up with an inbox that looks like this:

<http://www.contrast.ie/blog/getting-your-users-on-board/>

If a user wants to unsubscribe from everything, they have to have the presence
of mind to visit this page, and then untick every single checkbox. This is
effortful. Geni.com were criticised for using this exact dark pattern and
ended up adding a single-click "Unsubscribe me from all Geni emails" feature:

<http://wiki.darkpatterns.org/Roach_Motel#Example:_geni.com>

The real question is whether Quora should be criticised for using this design
pattern, or is it an acceptable practice?

~~~
yuvadam
I don't want to be coerced into vising a site just because it's hitting my
inbox, I have enough incoming mail as it is.

If a site respects me by allowing me to _easily_ remove all email
notifications, I'll be much more inclined to respect it back by giving it my
business.

~~~
wheels
> _If a site respects me by allowing me to easily remove all email
> notifications, I'll be much more inclined to respect it back by giving it my
> business._

In the unlikely case that this is actually true for you, not just the way that
you like to imagine yourself to behave, it certainly is not true for most
users.

------
shalmanese
[http://www.quora.com/Facebook-Groups/Which-has-more-e-
mail-s...](http://www.quora.com/Facebook-Groups/Which-has-more-e-mail-
settings-Quora-or-Facebook)

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buddydvd
As long as they have sensible default settings (which I think they do), having
detailed control of the types of notifications you want to receive is
perfectly fine. If they decide to change default settings to something less
desirable, then I think this would be more of a problem.

~~~
jonknee
Detail isn't the problem, it's that it's needlessly complex to just say "stop
sending me email". I shouldn't have to click 20 checkboxes so I can stop being
spammed--just make me choose one.

~~~
buddydvd
At the bottom of each email, Quora provides a link that lets you stop
receiving all notifications from them. It's a two-click process.

~~~
jonknee
Why not add the same link to the email settings page?

~~~
buddydvd
My guess is that they didn't think of it and no one has requested this
feature. Here's a link to a list of feature suggestions submitted by active
Quora users:

[http://www.quora.com/Quora-User-Feedback/What-features-
would...](http://www.quora.com/Quora-User-Feedback/What-features-would-make-
Quora-better)

Of all the suggestions, Khalid's suggestion seems most relevant to yours:

"I just signed up, and was a bit horrified to see 40 odd possible e-mail
notifications I could receive. But I was disappointed not to see a link to an
RSS feed of those notifications." ([http://www.quora.com/Quora-User-
Feedback/What-features-would...](http://www.quora.com/Quora-User-
Feedback/What-features-would-make-Quora-better/answer/Khalid-J-Hosein))

Note that his main suggestion is to have Quora provide RSS feeds in place of
email notification as opposed to adding a button that lets users disable all
email notifications.

Like I said earlier, their sensible default settings make this feature
somewhat unnecessary.

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chrislloyd
There isn't much point criticising possibly the least used part of an
otherwise well designed site. Quora are certainly aware of the page but have
probably prioritised their efforts elsewhere.

Instead, let's be constructive. What things do you like about Quora's design
or how would you redesign things that you don't?

~~~
OoTheNigerian
If I were Quora, I would include a 'daily/weekly summary' option. That way,
people will get one notification with all details.

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notintokyo
What happens if you do this and a lot of users click the "report spam" button?

