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What happened to HTML in broadcasts and welcome messages?
Does anybody know when this is coming?
I’m frustrated
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HI Stone Head!
We want to get HTML for broadcast messages and welcome messages out to you, but we haven't begun development on it yet. There are a few other priorities we're going to tackle first, including some other email-related improvements we'll be discussing soon.
But hopefully, it won't be too far off.
Thanks,
Evan
Ning Product Manager
The company says
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Inappropriate?HI Stone Head!
We want to get HTML for broadcast messages and welcome messages out to you, but we haven't begun development on it yet. There are a few other priorities we're going to tackle first, including some other email-related improvements we'll be discussing soon.
But hopefully, it won't be too far off.
Thanks,
Evan
Ning Product Manager
The company says
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Wasn't this going to be released this month? If you haven't started development that suggest months away. Do you have any idea at all when? -
Inappropriate?Hi Stone Head!
HTML for broadcast messages was not previously scheduled, and it is not scheduled for development at present. As such, there's no estimate on when it will be released, though we do hope to add it down the road.
Cheers,
Evan
Ning Product Manager -
Inappropriate?Maybe I heard/read wrong too but this was announced??? Wasn't it??? I went back to look for the thread and I can't find it.
What on earth is going on in that office this month??
I’m worried
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Inappropriate?Hi Xena,
I'm not really sure what you mean. We've certainly acknowledged the desire and need for HTML in broadcast messages before. However, this feature was never scheduled and we didn't begin work on it — and that's still the case.
We hope to get to it at some point, but it won't be for at least a few months at the earliest.
Thanks,
Evan
Ning Product Manager -
Inappropriate?Hi Evan
I did find the announcement. The statement about 'late October' seems scheduled to me. At least to the point you should be working on it I would think.
http://blog.ning.com/2009/08/whats-on...
'After making these improvements, we’ll give our Broadcast Message feature a facelift and allow for HTML in the broadcasts sent to members of your Ning Network, guests of an event and members of a group. Finally, we’ll make it easy to customize the message that is sent to new members when they join, and give Network Creators and Administrators a way to automatically leave a comment on a new member’s Comment Wall. These updates are slated for late October.'
Seems like you guys have again opened you mouths way too early and can't deliver again. I am not trying to be nasty, but hell, surely someone needs to realize that this type of thing just keeps screwing with your reputation and our confidence.
For heavens sake, don't mention anything unless you have a plan to implement. Others will think you are just making empty election promises.
I develop software for a living so I do have some idea of what is required and for you to be releasing something in late October. Now in late September you should be working on it. How can you hope to develop and properly test something like this in a few weeks?
I’m disappointed.
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Thank you SH I knew I wasn't going crazy either. ;-/
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Inappropriate?Hi Stone Head!
Thanks for including that link. I'm sorry if this caused any confusion, but HTML in broadcast messages and welcome messages shouldn't have been listed as one of the updates that is coming next month.
As the blog post says, we have a series of improvements to email notifications that are coming soon and have been scheduled. These include some new types of notifications, new follow links and a revamped Email Settings page. These improvements have slipped a little bit — we're aiming for mid-November instead of late October, but they're still coming.
The idea is that after these improvements, the next set of notification-related improvements will be HTML in broadcast messages and welcome messages. We wanted to include them in the blog post to give you an idea of our priorities when it comes to notifications and messaging improvements, but the first set of improvements is the only set that is currently scheduled.
Thanks!
Evan
Ning Product Manager3 Comments Add a comment
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One more thing to note: The reason for the slip is that we actually prioritized items 3-5 from that blog post over no. 2. We'll continue to balance keeping Ning Creators in the loop about our priorities against a need to shuffle around features and improvements as best we can. I encourage you to take our estimates as just that, estimates of when a new feature will be released. Though we'll definitely do our best to stick to them.
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Hi Evan
We really appreciate it when you guys participate in these threads and it will keep them from running too long due to frustration. It's like a stress pill to hear from you even when it's bad news.
The nr one problem I am facing on my networks, is the fact that people are drowning in notifications, adding more notifications will add to the drowning. This results in my members turning off emails completely !
I realize it was my own suggestion in another thread to add the ability to subscribe to someones blog, movies so people can build up subscribers like on YouTube, so that kind of flies against my lobbying for email digest.
Notifications are necessary, but too many and we drown in the success of our networks.
Earlier today someone signed up on my network and 10 minutes in he was using the shout out "can someone help me create a special mail box in my mail app for all the notification emails?"
Seriously, he had been there for 10 min. according to the activity stream before he asked that question. He had joined a few groups, gotten a few welcome messages so already he would have gotten perhaps 6 or 10 emails within 10 min. It's not the same as on facebook where you tend to know the people you are interacting with on a personal level, that makes it different.
Now I know that you guys are aware of this, and that it has been flagged with the development team, I'm just saying that right now new members are coming in on one side, and old members are turning off their connection with the site on the other side. So until we get email digest, my network might be growing in new members, but not in the level of activity because the new members simply take over where the old members tune out.
So when you talk about more email notifications is like scary news to me.
Email Digest
http://getsatisfaction.com/ning/topic... -
Hey Brian,
I hear you. We're well aware of this, and our upcoming email notifications release aims to address part of this in two ways. First, we've totally redesigned the Email Settings page to make it much clearer and easier to just receive the notifications you want to receive.
Currently, most email notifications simply have one link in the footer, a link to your Email Settings page. As part of this project, we're updating the footer to have two links: One to access the Email Settings page, and another to disable that particular type of notification. So if someone is receiving a lot of profile comments, we'll make it easy to turn off notifications for profile comments, instead of solely encouraging them to visit Email Settings — where they might turn off all emails.
I know Email Digests would is a big request that would also address your concerns. We recognize how helpful it would be for you and your members, but it's also a very significant engineering task. We do hope to get to at some point, but the improvements above are what's scheduled for the moment.
Thanks!
Evan Goldin
Ning Product Manager -
Inappropriate?But Evan, it is this sort of thing that Ning really can't afford. My reading of the mood of a lot of NCs is that they are not really interested in the reasons why you stuffed up, and you did.
Your 'estimates' may be 'estimates', but they should have some basis. I refuse to give estimates unless I have a full specification that has been reviewed extensively. Giving an estimate to a client 'always' reads as a 'quote'. You should know that. Human nature. Say about an hour and they hear 'in an hour'.
It is probably out of your control but I wish someone there would give the people that make these announcements a good swift kick up the ass and educate them on dealing with the public.
Never promise something you are not prepared to deliver, unless you just want to bs you clients. And I know you aren't doing that.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Hi Stone Head,
I totally understand where you're coming from, and having done freelance web design, I definitely understand what it means to provide quotes and estimates.
However, I must respectfully disagree with your view that we "stuffed up" (if, by that, you're referring to slipping the notifications improvement release) or that if we say something is planned, it must happen and happen when we say it will.
While we originally planned to get email notification improvements out quickly, we realized that Status, Ning Apps, Virtual Gifts and email verification and improved captchas, (which was released tonight) were more important to get out the door first. I think that was the right move, and deeply appreciate that your support gives us this ability to quickly shift priorities.
We could certainly be tight-lipped and only announce a pending release when it's days away and nearly certain to be released. But I think a lot of Network Creators want to know what changes we have in mind for the Ning Platform for the coming months. I think it's important to share what's coming up with the most active users of our platform, even if everything we say may not always come to fruition or come quickly. As such, we have and will continue to strike a balance between keeping Network Creators in the loop about what's coming up and shifting priorities as needed.
I do apologize that we made it appear that HTML broadcast and welcome messages were already scheduled, and I appreciate your understanding of our mistake.
Thanks,
Evan
Ning Product Manager1 Comment Add a comment
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Evan , you have given more than your share of explanation. Don't worry, keep up the good work and keep the communication on !
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Inappropriate?Well, we will have to agree to disagree. 'slated for October' implies you have scheduled and have planned for a release around this time. Sure, things rarely go to plan, but it still means you had planned. But you said 'was not previously scheduled, and it is not scheduled' and that implies it was never planned for late October.
By 'stuffed up' I mean you announced something you should not have and your statement 'shouldn't have been listed as one of the updates that is coming next month' verifies this. That's a 'stuff up' to me.
Whether you planned to release this and had to change, or didn't plan and mistakenly announced, I am still confused about, so I am not going to continue with that.
However, please understand I am not saying you shouldn't announce your intentions, or leave it to the last minute. I am saying that you shouldn't announce anything that you are not confident in releasing. A general list of changes that are in the works with current priorities is great, and kept up to date and available would be fantastic. For those things you are at least 80% sure of you can put an estimate of time on.
Why not provide a central page for NCs that lists all changes, listed in current priority, with notes about current views etc, keep it current as your plans change, and add estimated release dates to things as they get closer.
I do that for my clients. My ISP has a page with current status of rollout to cities and areas. It sure would make it a lot easier to keep us informed. Hang it off GetSatisfaction and your Help area, even the blog. Better than numerous blog posts that can get confusing, though you can still keep them and always reference the central 'Roadmap'.
As far as my understanding, well let's say it's a bit frazzled. But this industry is a difficult one and that's why I am still hoping you guys get it together. I have a couple of sites that I have put a huge number of hours into that I still have hope for. If you guys go down we all do. -
Inappropriate?So....are these HTML Broadcasting capabilities happening? Yes or no? Just...answer the question please. And if so, when? Will it not be until 2010? Really only a few words are needed for the answer.2 Comments Add a comment
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Good luck with that. :-/
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Adam, as I said above, "first set of improvements is the only set that is currently scheduled." HTML broadcast messages are not scheduled at this time.
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Inappropriate?Okay great thanks. I really hope you guys do soon, this is a great and useful tool that I'm sort of honestly depending on in taking my site to the next level. Even if it is something as simple as being able to link to something, it really would help.1 Comment Add a comment
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Hey Adam, I totally understand and agree. I'll do my best to get this scheduled!
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Inappropriate?Great! Thank you so much Evan, I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to answer me personally. Have a great weekend!
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