-1

When I log on and see a number in the upper left on my screen, I immediately think that someone has answered one of my questions or commented on something else I posted. Most of the time, it just turns out to be a generic site notification telling me that one of my questions got a lot of views, that it's a "nice question", or that I've earned a badge.

I don't care about these notifications.

Is there already a way to completely ignore these? I don't even want to know about them. All I want to know about are answers to my questions or when someone comments on my questions, answers, or other comments. If such a feature does not exist, can it be considered?

Edit

Some are saying that these notifications show in a different color. This is not the case. When I have a mix/match of any combination of notifications, this is what I see:

enter image description here

The only time this is ever a different color is when I am on an entirely different SE site (gaming, DIY, overflow, super user, etc). Within the same site, though, I never see different colored numbers indicating that I have 2 responses to an answer I posted, 1 badge notification, and 1 notification telling me my question is nice.

Improve this question
10
  • My suggestion: Use another colour. (Badge and permission notifications are already blue rather than red; make these yellow or something?)
    – michaelb958--GoFundMonica
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 12:19
  • Personally, I'd rather not see them at all. Unless it's a permission notification, they serve zero practical purpose.
    – oscilatingcretin
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 12:21
  • 3
    I thought they already were a different color. The only red notifications I ever get are "you have received an answer" and "you have received a comment reply". Boy do I get a lot of the latter...
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 12:33
  • I see the same as Cody, can't see an issue here - do you really get so many badges etc?
    – Roger Rowland
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 12:36
  • The badge and other site notifications are a different color from the inbox notifications, so you can probably make them disappear with some custom CSS.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:06
  • @oscilatingcretin: You can see a red notification in the screenshot here. That is the usual color for new inbox messages/answers.
    – sth
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 20:33
  • @sth: Correct. No one's saying otherwise. However, it differs per SE site, but you still only see one color. I don't know where everyone else is getting the idea that there are different colors. There are not.
    – oscilatingcretin
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 20:42
  • @oscilatingcretin. ??? The screenshot I linked to and your screenshot here in the question are both from meta.SO. My screen shot has a red notification, yours has a blueish one. What exactly is your point?
    – sth
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 3:29
  • @sth: My point is that the new notification icon is different per SE site. On this meta, it a sort of light blue circle. On Stack Overflow, it's a red circle. It's done that way to match the current SE site's color scheme. However, what you will not see are different-colored notification icons within the same SE site.
    – oscilatingcretin
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 11:54
  • @oscilatingcretin: No, both screen shots are from the same site (meta.stackoverflow.com) and they show different-colored notification icons. I don't know how it can be any more clear than that.
    – sth
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 12:00

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

Is there already a way to completely ignore these?

No there is no currently implemented way of doing this.
Yes, badge notifications are annoying but they are displayed in another color so there is no way to think that :

I immediately think that someone has answered one of my questions or commented on something else I posted.

Now, as you progress through the site (I'm not sure at what point exactly though) you will earn more reputation and notifications you get all the time from common bronze badges will stop showing up in the notification bar. I agree they are annoying... but just be patient you will stop receiving some of them someday.

Improve this answer
5
  • What do you mean by different color? See edit to my question for screencap. As for being patient, I don't think so. I use 4 or 5 SE sites on a regular basis and each one has its own badge award tracking. I've been on SE for a few years now and am still getting badge notifications.
    – oscilatingcretin
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 13:33
  • @oscilatingcretin It's not about time. It's about reputation on the site. you don't have more than 2.5K anywhere. I think you need more than that.
    – ʞunɥdɐpɐɥd
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 14:09
  • 1
    @ʞunɥdɐpɐɥd If you have 200+ rep on any associated account, you don't get notified about (most) bronze badges. You always get notified about silver and gold badges.
    – Esoteric Screen Name
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 14:30
  • @EsotericScreenName Thanks cound't find that page !
    – ʞunɥdɐpɐɥd
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 14:35
  • @ʞunɥdɐpɐɥd: Reagrdless, "waiting it out" is not a good solution, imo. Also, please answer my question about about the different colors. See my edited question for screencap.
    – oscilatingcretin
    Commented Jul 17, 2013 at 15:54
2

Since the December 2013 top bar redesign, useless notifications such as badges and reputation gains (“achievements”) are in a separate inbox (green indicator) from useful notifications such as answers and comments (red indicator).

You can remove the achievements inbox with a bit of CSS. For example, with Stylish (Firefox, Chrome), you can use this style to make it disappear:

@-moz-document domain("stackexchange.com"), domain("stackoverflow.com"), domain("superuser.com"), domain("serverfault.com"), domain("askubuntu.com"), domain("stackapps.com") {
    .icon-achievements {
        display:none !important;
    }
    .icon-achievements-unread {
        display:none !important;
    }
}
Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .