It's possible I made this suggestion in the past - I have a vague memory of it but nothing happened. I would like to see this hashed out here, and if most agree, would urge Mark to implement it.

If you're set to following-only, first-message-also in a group and you "Like" a post, I think that should be considered a follow. It's not, and in consequence, you can Like a post, assume you're getting further messages from it (because you expressed your opinion about it, and you "did something" to it), but you don't. It is then a surprise when you don't receive any subsequent messages and come back to the site to see that you've actually missed the whole thing.
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

I should have conditioned this on also being "auto-follow replies." My point is that I always feel psychologically as if I've replied after Liking something, so in my mind I'm expecting to get further updates and always feel left in the dark when I discover that there have been replies and I haven't gotten them.
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 03:59 PM, J_Catlady wrote:

If you're set to following-only, first-message-also in a group and you "Like" a post, I think that should be considered a follow.

FWIW, I don't.  You've already got all those functions, so why 'break' an existing one?

Duane

Ok. Another  idea: It could easily be a subscription option “auto-follow Likes” just like “auto-follow replies.”

--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 02:41 PM, Duane wrote:

You've already got all those functions, so why 'break' an existing one

I don't see that implementing either an "auto-follow Likes" advanced subscription option, or having the system treat Likes as follows, is superfluous or breaking anything. On the contrary. Currently, if a member is set to following-only and auto-follow replies, the only way they can follow topics they're interested in, or posts they agree with, is to make little comments like "I agree" instead of just clicking the Like button. Many groups have guidelines that include the exhortation NOT to post things like "I agree." That leaves group members interested in topics, and who are set to following-only, but who lack a substantive comment to make, in the lurch.
 
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 05:05 PM, J_Catlady wrote:

My point is that I always feel psychologically as if I've replied after Liking something, so in my mind I'm expecting to get further updates and always feel left in the dark when I discover that there have been replies and I haven't gotten them.

J -- This proposal does not seem intuitive to me. I view the GIO web interface and my email client as entirely different media. Just because I liked something online doesn't mean I want to receive emails about it.

Regards,
Bruce

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 06:35 PM, Bruce Bowman wrote:

I view the GIO web interface and my email client as entirely different media. Just because I liked something online doesn't mean I want to receive emails about it.

You can Like via email.
 
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 09:38 PM, J_Catlady wrote:

You can Like via email.

Liking and following are two separate things. I don't want GIO to conflate them.

Regards,
Bruce

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 06:45 PM, Bruce Bowman wrote:

Liking and following are two separate things. I don't want GIO to conflate them.

I tried. ;)
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

J,

Ok. Another idea: It could easily be a subscription option “auto-
follow Likes” just like “auto-follow replies.”

Or, how about a Follow button next to the Like button in the bottom bar under the message. Perhaps only showing when your Subscription is Following Only, otherwise in the More menu.

As well as in the More menu when in List view (Topics or Messages).

The text of the menu item, as well as the tool-tip of the button, should make it clear that the function is /Follow Topic/ - the same as using the link in an emailed message.

I've always believed that the Follow and Mute functionality deserves exposure in the groups' Messages pages, and not be hidden away just in that compendium place that I never visit.

Shal

Shal,
I love all of these ideas. Like!!!

--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 09:59 PM, J_Catlady wrote:

I love all of these ideas. Like!!!

Me, too. Although I never really use "following only," it seems to me that someone who does should be able to do this more readily via the web.

Regards,
Bruce

This is great (sort of;). Is it possible to have that at the top of the individual message page as well? That would be closer to what I was hoping for at the beginning, where Liking a message would cause you to follow the topic. You still can't do anything with the message that causes you to follow its topic except reply to it (assuming you're on auto-follow replies). You still have to go outside of the message itself to create a follow. Call me greedy...
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

Wow. This change really enhances the mute/follow function.

Thanks much!

Bruce

Wow! This is like asking the genie for something and he goes Your Wish Is My Command! Thanks, Mark! 😊

--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu

On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 03:25 PM, Mark Fletcher wrote:

Is it possible to have that at the top of the individual message page as well?

Mark, is there a reason why you wouldn't put this at the top of the individual message page regardless of whether the message is accessed from groups.io/topics or from [groupname].groups.io/g/main/topics? The latter is more handy for me since I spend more time in my individual groups' messages lists. And many of my members only have one GIO subscription, so they do as well. It would also make for greater consistency.

Pete

Mark, many thanks for adding this, it makes following groups online a lot faster and easier!

Thanks to J as well for finally pushing it over the table edge :)

Cheers,
Christos

On Thu, Nov 5, 2020 at 08:02 PM, Christos G. Psarras wrote:

Thanks to J as well for finally pushing it over the table edge :)

Did you say that because I'm Catlady? Cats are always pushing things off the edge of tables. ;)
 
--
J

Messages are the sole opinion of the author, especially the fishy ones.
My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. - Desmond Tutu