This is a quick note for my fellow WordPress bloggers….
You may have noticed I have not been commenting recently. Upon leaving comments on your wonderful posts, my email inbox would be inundated with “follow-up comments” by others who had also left comments on the same post. A bit of searching has led me to the source of this “glitch” and I wanted to quickly share with all of you.
WordPress has changed the Comments section settings to AUTOMATICALLY check off the box where it says “Notify me of follow-up comments via email.” In the past we had to check that box off if we wished to receive these emails. WordPress made the assumption that when I left a comment for, say 140+ blogs, I would love to have follow-up emails from the other 40 people who’ve left comments on the same post. This would amount to what would have been thousands of emails.. so I stopped commenting until I found the source of the problem.
And here it is:
When you start to type your Comments… make sure you UNCLICK the box below that says “Notify me of follow-up comments via email.” and all is resolved. Feel free to repost this on your page to left your own followers know..
I’m off to practice for my concert today.. and will catch back up with all of you soon!!
p.s. Â I have my Big Rhubarb Crumb Cake and a pretty cake coming your way this week…
PPS In the event you forget to “unclick”.. when you receive an email follow-up comment in your inbox… scroll to the bottom of that email where it says “Want less email? Modify your subscription options.” Click on the “Subscription Options” link. That takes you to a page where you can click “Delete” to unfollow a particular post.. it doesn’t “unfollow” that particular blog.. just the one post.  (Thanks John for this helpful extra bit of information!)
Don’t you just hate it when they fix what ain’t broken? Took me awhile to figure this one out myself and now they have mucked with how I even find posts I like. Fooey!
Oh no… what change was that???
I’m having a heck of a time finding blogs I follow because of some change/glitch and now they are changing the header name and how you read topics. 🙁
Reblogged this on terry1954 and commented:
important info about your comments
Thanks, Smidge. I had noticed this, too. Now I look at the box every time before I close the window. Maybe WordPress needs some feedback.
This has been a real pain, Barb, however, if you miss a box, you can turn off the emails for that post. I went to SUPPORT and found out how.
Use this link: http://en.support.wordpress.com/following-comments/ Look for the section that says: Managing Post / Comment Notification and do as it says.
Unfortunately, it does nothing about the real problem and you’ll have to remember to check the box. Still, if you forget, this will stop the email flood, post by post.
Hope this helps
Thanks.. I knew I should have emailed you:) But didn’t want to trouble you!
Feel free to email me whenever you like, Barb. I’m more than happy to help where I can. I posted the SUPPORT info on my blog, too. I’m sure WordPress will set things straight within a few days.
Ahhh… I’m just catching up now so didn’t see it!! I should have gone straight to your blog, you’re always up on these sorts of things!!
thank you so much, i have reblogged this. i am so frustrated with my email box i could scream
I wish there was a “Like” button for comments here (like on Facebook), Lol!! You’d get a lot of “Likes”!!
i wish there was that like button also. i m on facebook are you? u can find me under terry shepherd or tellmenolies2004
Yes… as JustaSmidgen… I’ll go find you:)
great!
I have followed you in my inbox.. but I couldn’t find you on facebook.. could you give me a link?? There are lots of terry shepherd’s in the world:)
https://www.facebook.com/terry.shepherd1
Oh.. hahaha.. I see you’ve just added me:D
lol
Same thing happen to me yesterday .. thought that would be the problem, but I didn’t know it was WP that has changed it until late last night. Why change something that worked so good without. There has been a lot of complains over the forum and I have written too. The more of us that complains .. the bigger chance that they will change things back to what it was.
You know.. we all sit here by ourselves at home (well, most of us:) on our blogs and we don’t have a clue or warning about what’s been changed. I always think it’s a setting I’ve changed or something! I finally googled the problem and found another smart blogger (Sarchasm2) who’d worked out the solution…and am spreading the word…
For me the same … an other blogger informed me. There have been a lot of complains, so maybe they will change it back.
I hear this. And I’m glad you confirmed I’m not crazy. At first I use to follow comments… like say for Lesley Carter and the hundred comments that would straggle in over days sometimes weeks. Then I realized I could unfollow those comments. Now it took a couple go’s to realize – hey why am I getting follow up comments- i didn’t check the box. And then I thought twice if I had been always checking or unchecking!
Now I know for sure. Yes… annoying. And curious.
I’m going to uncheck now. x
Thanks I noticed that too!
I realized this when my playbook downloaded 20 comments as we walked through the door!
oh my gosh, I was beginning to think I’d never get through all these email messages and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. I’ll just be clicking that box below now. Thank you so much for sharing this info!
Hi Smidge. Thank you so much for your help.
Regards Florence x
You’re welcome, Florence xo
Ok, here’s something I have been wondering. If I make a comment on your blog but don’t check off that box, will I still receive a reply from you? What I mean is does it only stop me from getting emails about other people’s comments or does it stop your possible reply as well?
I can still reply to your comment.. I’m trying to catch up from last week’s post, lol!! It’s been crazy around here and I finally have some time this morning before my concert this afternoon! It just means you won’t get emails from every other person who comments on my post or any other post you make comments on… if that makes sense. I know if you read above where John has written, there is a way to undo what’s been done if you forget to “unclick”…
I learned something today too as I thought I wouldn’t get a reply comment from the blogger that I wanted to ..so I always clicked..’notify…)…Thanks Diane
Oh.. I’ve done that one as well!
Oh.. also.. in the top right-hand black striped corner where it says New Post.. right next to it is a number. If you click on the number, it will drop down and show you all the comments bloggers have made in answer to your comment.. kind of handy, that one!!
Houston, we have a problem! Now that I am not checking the “notify” box, I am no longer getting emails of the responses to my comments. I think I will have to go back to checking the box. 🙁
Do you use the box in the upper right corner.. It has a number from 0 to 9.. If you click on that you can see just when the blog author replies to your comment.. Avoiding emails of everyone elses comments. But this is all up to you:)
Smidge, you are clever. And now I can make sure I uncheck the box when I comment. It has been e mail chaos here! Thank you so much.
Ahhhh.. And sometimes I still forget!!
I noticed that too Barb; WordPress is really getting so annoying! I’ve been blogging since 2007 and haven’t had as many annoyances as this past year. Really makes me want to switch, but then again, the devil you know…
I hear you.. I find it difficult to leave comments on other blogging formats.. A pain to type in name, url, email, etc.. It’s so much easier here…
Such a simple thing and it was driving me crazy too! Hahaha! Thanks so much for sharing that info!
I was wondering where you were….Looking forward to your rhubarb cake!
Hahaha.. “where did she go… “
thanks! mkg
It’s been SO annoying, thanks for spotting that.
Good luck on your cello performance!!!!
Thanks!! I’ll need it.. I got my pages mixed up in two different pieces yesterday.. Great panic while flipping around and then trying to come back in at the right spot.. It was a nightmare!! One I hope to not repeat today!!
It took me a few days to figure that out – it was really annoying me! Sometimes there’s the option of just getting an email when someone replies to your own comment, and I always thought that was what the check mark was for. Not all comments! I was getting tons of emails too. I wonder why they changed it in the first place?
Beats me.. WordPress promotion??
This feature has been driving me crazy all weekend — so a big thank you Barb. I thought it was because I have been using my phone to comment.
very glad you posted this
thanks for the tip – i was wondering what was going on!
I noticed this too the other day, Smidge! A bit annoying that, but fixed now 🙂 x
Yes, this auto check thing has had the opposite effect from what WP intended, I’ll bet, because it’s made lots of folks, myself included, afraid to comment. Thanks to you and John for providing the solution…and for reminding to to start unchecking the box BEFORE I type a comment!
Yes!! Because after I type I forgot and hit Post Comment.. and it’s too late!!
Thanks for this. It was driving me absolutely insane. Whoever thought this automatic things was helpful deserves to be comment-bombed!
Happened to me as well.
I have several email accounts and have one just for all things related to my WP blog.
Since it is only for blog stuff, I don’t need to look at it everyday.
Yesterday there was over 600 emails !!
ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH !!
That’s why I stopped.. Craziness!!
Smidge, I went one step further and shut down the “follow comments” option on my blog. That way at least if someone comments on mine, they won’t get any follow up emails. And I’ve already written to WP to complain! 🙂
To shut down the follow comments option, go to Settings -> Discussions and unselect “Show a ‘follow comments’ option in the comment form”.
Thanks for the information on Discussion settings…the funny thing is I wouldn’t have gotten this if I had already done it lol….Diane
It’s a crazy circus here these days, lol!!
Thanks for the heads-up! I was wondering what was going on.
Thank for sharing this info Barbara. I hope the concert goes really well. xo
Thanks for the tip – I realized something was up when I started getting randomly 100 emails :p
It was quite weird! I am glad you brought it into the light my friend!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks for sharing this info. In past couple of day my inbox is full of these random mail; which I am now tired of deleting. Unfortunately, the people whom I follow & comment on always get some 50 comments on their posts. So the number of these mails for me is on higher side.
Absolutely.. the numbers would be staggering if I’d kept commenting so I temporarily quit.
Now why would they even think we would automatically want follow-up comments? Sigh, WordPress.
Reblogged this on My Blanken World and commented:
I managed to catch this issue before I posted and then read this – thought I’d pass this along.
I’ve Pressed This at Misk Cooks. Thanks!
Is that what’s going on? I thought I was getting all these emails because I just put in a Disqus plug-in. I thought it was all to do with Disqus and spent the weekend trying to sort it out to no avail. Thanks for the post. Those emails are sooooo annoying. Hideous to wake up and see page after page after page of emails I need to delete – who’s got the time! xx
I know, eh!! I kept thinking, now what the #$#@ setting did I accidently change?? Who knew it was the nefarious WordPress techies, lol!! It would have been funny if it was on April Fool’s Day:D
Damn it WordPress. You have caused me a raft of timewasting.
Thanks Smidgen.
Box unclicked.
Best,
Conor
Ugh, I had a different issue with WordPress not allowing me to leave comments on non-Wordpress blogs using just my WordPress name. Instead, I’ve been having to leave my “Name/URL” instead of just using the “WordPress” option in the drop-down box.
Me too.. I do have some sort of auto-fill.. so I just have to type the first letter of my Name and it shows up to click.. then first letter of my website and it pops up to click.. that speeds things up a bit.. But that is totally annoying.. we should have some sort of mutual synchronicity across blogging sites.. “one world” blogging philosophy, eh??
Duly noted, thanks!
Reblogged this on Blue jellybeans and commented:
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
It’s absolutely crazy that WP made this change. I’m sure it’s annoying people more than it is helping people. Thanks for the PSA! 🙂
Do email WordPress and complain – they have the power to change things back:
support@wordpress.com
Thank you Smidge! I had noticed the same thing and was getting ready to email WordPress. Can’t wait for the new recipes! And I’m curious… What do you play?
Thanks for that! It has been crazy with the emails lately! I think they should leave that option unchecked!
Thanks for sharing! I did get flooded with follow-up emails, and I was confused like what happened? Thanks for letting all of us know!
I love how helpful the Internet community is – thanks Smidge ! Good luck at your concert today 🙂
I’m home now.. it turned out great, thankfully, the dress rehearsal well, was a dress rehearsal:P
This is a real problem that will cause many to stop commenting. I will still comment as usual and hope that others will do so as well.
Well done Smidge, thank you for finding this all out! What a pain to have to remember to unclick the notify me bit, but well worth the effort – thought it was only happening to me, what a relief.
Strange that WP would change this!
Best of luck for your concert.
🙂 Mandy xo
[…] thanks to John and Smidge, I now know why my email inbox is suddenly inundated with comment mail from blogs I’ve […]
Thank you so much dear Smidge! I appreciate this. There’s also a problem of readers not working either. Software glitches = boo.
Have a good week anyway! 🙂
Thank you for the tip! I just noticed it myself when commenting. My inbox is already full to bursting so will make sure I untick the box. Perhaps we should send your blog post to wordpress to let them know our thoughts… 🙂
Thanks Smidge! Have a great week! <3
Thanks! In my first days I clicked the box, now not really at all – perfect timing 😉 Thanks for the reminder!
When I stopped clicking the box I stopped getting replies by emails for MY comments made to others’ blogs as well as other peoples comments…Now I have to go to ‘reader’ blogs I follow to get their replies..something still isn’t right.. I contacted Word Press Support…..Diane
let me know what you find out?? Do you know there is a “comment and follow feed” in the upper right hand corner, click on the number right between “New Post” and your Name and Photo… this is how I’m responding to you now…
Yes I found out that from another blogger but I thought I’d get the replies still in my email… How or do you delete the comment/reply where you’re speaking of..I also found out only since I started lol..that you need to check the messages in the spam as they might not be spam… kinda stumbled on that because of something someone else said..finding our new things every day…What have I missed I ask myself…oh well live and learn….Diane
You know.. There is a glitch here.. I’m now not receiving anyone’s newest emails of their latest posts. My email inbox is completely empty.. I’ve got an email in to WordPress. She’s been good about getting back to me.. But I am sitting here feeling sick that I may have to resubscribe everyone…
Thanks for the info Smidge! I’ve been away from blogging and commenting for a while… a lot can happen in WordPress World in a short space of time, especially when they keep changing stuff. Looking forward to your Big Rhubarb Crumb Cake!
I’m not sure my info was the best.. I see my inbox is now completely empty this morning.. If this is another glitch.. Then I’ve now unsubscribed to all of my friend’s email updates.. I could cry…
That’s not good. Can you still see them in ‘Blogs I Follow’?
See my blog I just did EMAIL FIASCO….for info on what WP said…..Diane
Ah, the perils of cyberspace…
Yes.. It looks like I’m now completely unsubscribed to ALL emails of new posts!! I’m tearing my hair out..
Sorry, just posting this to unfollow comments 🙂
xoxo to you Smidge! Thanks again!
I noticed that too! Sure it’s a handy, but it’s annoying getting emails! And it’s an even more pain to individually unclick those blogs when you go to remove them!
As you can see, a whole lot of us are at the mercy of any little change our WP overlords make! I didn’t notice the comments issue myself, because some time back I was so inundated with even the current posts from blogs I follow that my email was on the verge of crashing, so I did a bit of doctoring on my WP ‘preferences’ that ultimately made me decide to shut down direct blog deliveries to my email aside from comments directed to my own. It’s frustrating, because so far I’ve not found a way to set it all up so that I can choose *some* blogs (the ones I most actively correspond with) to allow to be delivered directly to my email without allowing all of the ones I *occasionally* either to be lost from my roster or to flood my email with constant posts and comments. Sigh. Eventually, perhaps!
I’m not sure what you’re saying…Now by leaving the box unchecked. (WP has stopped checking the box automatically) I receive 1. Notifications of all new posts from those I follow via email2. comments from those that do so on one of my blogs via email…… but all replies to my comments on others’ blogs I get on my dashboard where there used to be a number but now they only show an icon beside the words ‘New Post’ It seems to work out without overload on my email …Diane
I didn’t know they had done this again…. way back they did this but now I’ll be on the look-out… Thanks Diane
This design is incredible! You obviously know how to keep a reader entertained.
Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job.
I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.
Too cool!
Hey, thanks a lot! Glad you liked it and thanks for stopping by!