Subscribing and Unsubscribing
Subscribing and Unsubscribing
Subscribing means that you will be notified by e-mail when any new messages are added to an article or message that you are interested in (or any replies to those messages etc). This page describes how.
If you are the author of an article or message, and you provided your correct email address, then you are automatically subscribed; you need do nothing. We make the assumption that you will be interested in finding out about any replies to your messages. You may explicitly Unsubscribe, either when you post the message or by using the same subscription form described here.
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or inquire about your subscription status for a particular article or message, first make sure you are displaying the article or message that you are interested in. Then select the "Subscribe" button (older versions of HyperNews called it "Notification") at the bottom of the page. (But not on *this* page, unless you are interested in discussions on HyperNews Subscription.)
On the subscription form that you get, enter your User ID or e-mail address if it is not filled in. If you are not a member, then you must give your e-mail address.
The subscription form allows you to change the subscription info for the message you were displaying, and any of its ancestors all the way up to the base article. The title of each message or article is displayed in a list, and for each you can select either "Subscribe", "Unsubscribe" or "Not Specified". If you select "Not Specified", that means HyperNews will use whatever you select at the next level up. At the base article level, "Not Specified" currently means you are not subscribed.
Before submitting the form with the "Do It" button, make sure that you have selected the right choice, either "Inquire about User ID" or "Submit Changes". Inquiring about a user (such as yourself) shows you whether that user is subscribed or unsubscribed to the message or its "ancestors" up to the base article.
The subscription feature can be used in several ways. You could subscribe at the base article level and unsubscribe to discussions that have diverged into areas you are not interested in. Or you could stay unsubscribed at the base article level and only subscribe to discussions that you are interested in - you'll have to find out about them first, of course, by browsing through the messages.
If you are posting a message, the people who will be notified by email include all the subscribers and authors of each message above your message in the thread up to and including the forum itself. Authors of those messages are included unless they have unsubscribed themselves. Each person (whether subscriber or author) should only get one email message.
D.K.S.