Understanding Notifications

I'm trying to troubleshoot why notifications are not getting sent out (email, onsite notifications, PM) are not going out and wanted to better understand the settings in  CB Activity/Parameters/Notifications/Notify for the recipients in the various post types: Profile, Comments, Activity, Tags, Likes. etc

1.  If I select "All Users," I assume this means all members on the site in the "Recent Activity" Stream.   And if so, how can members opt out (whether it's email, onsite notifications or PM)
 

2. When looking at the CB GroupJive setting, do "all users" in this case mean users within the group?   In other words, if a member is in one group, they are not getting notifications from activity in another group?  (I know only Email or PM are ways users get notified for group activity)
 

3. Is it possible I may have set up notification settings that conflict with each other, resulting in no notifications going out?  I am also wondering if I may have adjusted the CB Privacy settings so much that it's locked down notifications?

4. I set a menu link to a CB Plugin to be able to provide a central place for users to see all their notifications, but not sure I have selected the correct settings as shown below.   From what I can tell, the setting below is only for non-group posts/activity, correct?   Since group activity is either sent out as an email or via PMS?

 





 

I'm trying to troubleshoot why notifications are not getting sent out (email, onsite notifications, PM) are not going out and wanted to better understand the settings in CB Activity/Parameters/Notifications/Notify for the recipients in the various post types: Profile, Comments, Activity, Tags, Likes. etc

CB Activity notifications do not send emails or private messages. They log onsite notifications. They're accessed from the globe icon above your profile.

1. If I select "All Users," I assume this means all members on the site in the "Recent Activity" Stream. And if so, how can members opt out (whether it's email, onsite notifications or PM)

That would log a notification to CB Activity notifications to every user for every comment made. Your can set whether a user receives the notification or not by configuring the Recipient parameter. So for example you could have a "cb_commentnotify" checkbox field. Then you select that field in the Recipient parameter. Now users must have that checkbox field checked in order to receive that notification.

2. When looking at the CB GroupJive setting, do "all users" in this case mean users within the group? In other words, if a member is in one group, they are not getting notifications from activity in another group? (I know only Email or PM are ways users get notified for group activity)

Those notifications are emails or private messages. They have nothing to do with CB Activity. They are based off the notifications page within each individual group. They CAN log a CB Activity notification if you enable that in CB Activity, but CB Activity is not responsible for those notifications. Those notifications only notify members of a given group. So for example if I join Group A and User B in Group A is set to be notified on user join then User B will be notified that I joined either by private message or email depending on CB GroupJive configuration.

I know this can be confusing. We've notifications support everywhere. That's because each plugin does not have to exist with each other. They're entirely independent of one another. So we can't have GJ dependent on CB Activity notification feature. This is why in CB 3.0 we're going to implement a centralized notifications feature as it's becoming too cumbersome and confusing for people to configure.

3. Is it possible I may have set up notification settings that conflict with each other, resulting in no notifications going out? I am also wondering if I may have adjusted the CB Privacy settings so much that it's locked down notifications?

There's no conflict. You've GJ configured to send email notifications for GJ notifications. You've CB Activity configured to log an on-site notification for GJ notifications. You also have a CB Activity notification configured to notify everyone that is following you that you joined a group.

4. I set a menu link to a CB Plugin to be able to provide a central place for users to see all their notifications, but not sure I have selected the correct settings as shown below. From what I can tell, the setting below is only for non-group posts/activity, correct? Since group activity is either sent out as an email or via PMS?

That location is correct. It's just for CB Activity notifications. It won't show any other notifications.

Thanks for helping wrap my head around this.   Right now, my priority is ensuring that people who have joined a group receive notifications for various activities that occur within the groups.   Initially, since the member (user) list is small, I would like to have the notices sent by email instead of PMS, as they are not always visiting the site.

I would like to have members notified of the various things that happen in a group, namely:

• Post in the activity tab ("What's on your mind")
• Comments (wherever this option appears)
• An event in created
• A video is published
• A file is uploaded
• Member joins

In my initial testing, it does not look like I am getting any emails and not sure if I messed something up in the various notification settings

Part of my confusion is that the Group Activity feed also appears in the Recent Activity Feed (I have a menu to the CB Activity Plugin/Recent Activity).  But from your last reply, where you say CB Activity Notifications only send onsite notifications, does that mean Group posts also do not get notifications by email/PMS?

At the moment, it does not look like I am getting any notifications of any kind, and I can't help but wonder if I've done something with CBPrivacy to stop notices. 

For Group-specific settings, here is what I have looked at: 

CB Activity/Configuration/Notifications/Notify. >> I enabled the CB Group Jive Join (this and create seem to be the only GJ settings).    So if I set this to All Users, only members in that group get notified?

CB Group Jive/Configuration/Parameters/Notifications/General & Default >> I set which notification type (General) and what they are notified about, which only indicates when a members joins, leaves their approval, etc, but nothing about the posting in the group.

CB Group Plugin (Video, File, Photo) etc. - Enable notifications
  
 

QUESTIONS ABOUT RECIPIENTS
Most are self-explanatory, but can you clarify my list below:

• All Users (everyone;  But the GJ setting every member means only in the group)
• Connections (A user's connection, for example, if user A and user B are connected and user A posts something, member B gets notified)
• Followers (A user's followers)*

* Does Follower mean something different with Group Jive since users can follow groups? So follower can mean people who follow a group, and this notification?
 
 

Post in the activity tab ("What's on your mind")

CB Activity doesn't send emails. So that's not possible without utilizing CB Auto Actions to force CB Activity to also send emails.

Comments (wherever this option appears)

Same as the above for posts.

An event in created
A video is published
A file is uploaded
Member joins

CB GroupJive already does this if users in the ground have toggled on those notifications.

In my initial testing, it does not look like I am getting any emails and not sure if I messed something up in the various notification settings

You will not receive emails for posts or comments. You will receive onsite notifications. All other GJ notifications will be whatever you configured in GJ.

Part of my confusion is that the Group Activity feed also appears in the Recent Activity Feed (I have a menu to the CB Activity Plugin/Recent Activity). But from your last reply, where you say CB Activity Notifications only send onsite notifications, does that mean Group posts also do not get notifications by email/PMS?

GJ will send email or PMS based off your GJ configuration unless you configured CB Activity to replace those notifications in which case they'll be entirely onsite.

At the moment, it does not look like I am getting any notifications of any kind, and I can't help but wonder if I've done something with CBPrivacy to stop notices.

CB Privacy does not have any impact on notifications.

CB Activity/Configuration/Notifications/Notify. >> I enabled the CB Group Jive Join (this and create seem to be the only GJ settings). So if I set this to All Users, only members in that group get notified?

That just logs an onsite notification when you join a group.

CB Group Jive/Configuration/Parameters/Notifications/General & Default >> I set which notification type (General) and what they are notified about, which only indicates when a members joins, leaves their approval, etc, but nothing about the posting in the group.

That all looks fine. The default tab just lets you set the default state for those notifications when someone new joins a group.

You need to go to your group. Click the Notifications menu item in that group and subscribe to notifications. They're all handled there for GJ. If you're not subscribed to any you won't receive any. This is per-group.

* Does Follower mean something different with Group Jive since users can follow groups? So follower can mean people who follow a group, and this notification?

Yes, followers are exactly that. Someone following you. Think of someone following you on Twitter. Same concept here. CB Activity brings Followers functionality to CB.

That notification just notifies whomever you selected in configuration when YOU join a group. So normally it's set to Connections Only. This is to let your friends know you joined a group. That's all that notification does.

It will not notify people following the group itself. It's just not possible for me to cover the large amount of ways to notify people in this interface. When we generalize it each notification will be its own database configured row where it will be more flexible as well as a database for notification subscribers.

The purpose of group follows is primarily for activity stream filtering. So for example show an activity feed of all groups you're following. If you've no use for that feature I suggest just turning it off.

Just to confirm, these are the only activities where group members would be notified by email or PMS, and the group member has set the notifications on?

• An event in created
• A video is published
• A file is uploaded
• Member joins

And Everything else (ie, Activity posts, comments is onsite notification only?  (i.e globe icon on profile)
 

* Is there a way to set these notifications by default in case group members don't know where the setting is located?


When you mentioned toggles on notifications, you were referring to the setting found here on the group page (3 dots)
 


To clarify CB Activity/Configuration/Notifications/Notify >> All users.    You mentioned this just logs an onsite notification.   Does this mean it triggers an onsite notification?
 

The purpose of group follows is primarily for activity stream filtering. So for example show an activity feed of all groups you're following. If you've no use for that feature I suggest just turning it off.

Users are thinking that the "Follow" button on the group's header means people are notified of activity of the group, which is confusing them as they are not necessarily setting their notifications.  
Can you remind me how to turn off the like and follow button on the group header?   


 

Just to confirm, these are the only activities where group members would be notified by email or PMS, and the group member has set the notifications on?

No, everything on the GJ notification page will be email or private message unless you turn on either of the notifications in CB Activity > Parameters > Notifications > Notify for GJ those 2 notifications will be onsite.

* Is there a way to set these notifications by default in case group members don't know where the setting is located?

Yes, you've already been configuring those. That's the purpose of the Defaults tab when configuring those notification parameters in GJ itself.

When you mentioned toggles on notifications, you were referring to the setting found here on the group page (3 dots)

Yes.

To clarify CB Activity/Configuration/Notifications/Notify >> All users. You mentioned this just logs an onsite notification. Does this mean it triggers an onsite notification?

Yes.

Users are thinking that the "Follow" button on the group's header means people are notified of activity of the group, which is confusing them as they are not necessarily setting their notifications.
Can you remind me how to turn off the like and follow button on the group header?

It can be turned off in CB GroupJive > Parameters > Integrations > CB Activity.