Inbox/outbox

Something I noticed recently is that the site doesn't always notify me if I have a new message in my inbox.

Sometimes when I log in I will get a little popup telling me I have new mail but sometimes not and when I go directly to the inbox, there will be messages which appear to have been read that I haven't actually read.

I don't know this to be true but I have a suspicion that when someone previews a message they sent in their own outbox, it gets marked as read for the receiver of the message as well as the sender.

Anyone else see this, too?

I'm so glad this has happened to you too! I thought someone was accessing my account - but you are right if someone clicks on their outbox message is shows as read in yours - but this week I had four messages that I missed and only saw days later - so maybe a glitch in the system.....

I guess I just need to get in the habit of checking the inbox on a regular basis regardless of the notifications.

It's true, we kind of have a huge shared mailbox. Not only do the recipients' message show up as read if you open them in your outbox, but if you delete things from your outbox, they are deleted from the recipients' inbox as well. It's a very odd way to configure things, but that's how it is here.

Several years ago I managed the quality assurance department for a nascent social networking site. We had a couple of very similar bugs before the site launched, but we smacked them down pretty quickly.

It's an easy programming mistake to make, but it's kind of a sloppy one. It's also a really easy one to fix. (Hint to site developers: flags on each message for recipient read, sender read, recipient deleted, sender deleted.)

My experience has been similar to yours. I once left a message unread for, like, four weeks because I didn't get a pop up and I don't regularly think to check for mail. I felt like such a heel.

They really should do something to fix that.

Overall this site is very well done, considering it is free. I have to hope that there is a moderator of this forum that may see this thread and add it to the queue for updates. I've been using the site for almost 6 months and I haven't seen any notifications for updates to the site. I wonder what their development lifecyle schedule looks like and if they just silently update or if they make an announcement.

They do surface an API. Maybe I'll get motivated and build a little app to manage my FS messages.

The not having any notifications for anything makes it a little hard to keep up with everyone replying to your response/post on journal/forum. I have to keep a look out to see if there is any activity on the home page where it has the me/buddies/challenges etc and maneuver through that.

I agree with you, gabbygabby. Navigating around to all the places that you can actually remember where you commented or posted is very time-consuming. And the comments that you have forgotten about just get lost in space.

Also, I don't like the fact that your most recent comment or post is replaced by your newest comment or post. I know there have been many times that I commented on a new member's Journal, either welcoming them or giving them advice, and it goes unseen for days because as soon as I commented or posted somewhere else, the "old" is replaced by the "new" in the "Feed".

I also think the way the Private Message system works needs some updating. I don't always get notified that I have a new message, either.

I understand, now that I've been here a couple of months, that there are links I can use to see what and where I've commented/posted (though they don't go back very far), and links to see my Buddy's/Group's/Challenge's activities on the site, but when you're new, you really don't know how things work. Was very confusing for me.

Can someone tell me how to check my messages? I don't see an inbox anywhere...

You can click on the "MYFATSECRET" tab near the top left of the page and this will take you to your "MYFATSECRET." Once you are on this page if you scroll down a little bit on the right side of your screen you will find your "My Toolbox" with six categories and one will be labeled "inbox(outbox)" and you can check messages sent to you or those you sent to others (assuming you haven't deleted them from their respective boxes, of course). The inbox and outbox are right next to each other, but they are separate links to click on. Hope this helps.