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For two days, I am not receiving inbox messages any more for comments that were posted after my own comment on questions / answers that aren't my own. I know about the follow-up comments because I checked the posts for updates myself, but I was never notified about them. Let's call them 'type a' comments for future reference. I just did receive a message for a comment that was posted under one of my own answers. Let's call them 'type b' comments for future reference.

I have a feeling that this has something to do with the new follow feature, as I started to use it at the time the messages stopped comming in. The last two messages in my inbox I received are about 'type a' comments posted under a question that I also followed. Since in that case, you would normally receive two messages about the same comment (once, because it's a follow-up comment, and once, because you follow the qestion / answer), this behaviour was apparently fixed. Could this also have accidentally deactivated all inbox messages about 'type a' comments on posts that I don't follow?

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As a side note, but probably unrelated, my mobile app now crashes when I try to open my inbox, but appearently, there is nothing much that can be done about it.

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  • Do you an example of one that never ended up in your inbox but should have?
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 9:35
  • Would you like me to link them or rather have a screenshot? There are quite a few. Here is one
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 9:42
  • I think a comment suffices ;-) What Shadow says is true. A commenter should use @mapf if you're not the only one commenting in a thread on a post that's not yours, for you to get a notification. If you have examples of those also not reaching your inbox though, that might still be a problem. (I've changed the tags for now, we can always change them back if this really isn't just people not pinging you but a bug)
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 9:53
  • Indeed, if there is a comment where you're being pinged and yet you don't get notification, please update and include that in the question as well. (Link)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 10:09
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    I just checked, and I don't think there are. My bad. I wasn't aware of these delicate (?) destinctions before that determine when to receive a messe. I probably missed quite a few comments because of that, since I always assumed you receive a message whenever somebody comments in a comment chain that you are involved in. Obviously, I never notived that behaviour before. Edit: forgot the @ShadowKeepsSocialDistance ;)
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 10:14
  • All good, and thanks for pinging! :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 10:49

1 Answer 1

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No bug here.

You don't get notification for any comment.

In order to get notification for comment posted under a post which is not yours, the one posting the comment must ping you, i.e. write @mapf in their comment.

There are some exceptions, e.g. if you're the only one who commented, then the post author will automatically ping you when replying, but when others also comment, there's no auto ping.

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  • Ah thank you, I think that explains it. I will have a look at the comments and check. I wasn't aware that pinging is actually so essential. I must have missed that in the introduction. I feel like this is not optimal though, because in my experience, not that many people use that functionality. Especially new users, who, I guess, ask the majority of questions. I completely missed this comment from a new user asking for more info e.g.. The new follow feature steers against that, but you can easily forget to use it.
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 10:08
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    Hey @mapf < That's my sneaky way to attend new users to a ping function. SE has a bit of a habit of deleting those if they're the first 'word' of a comment, so use them as the second, and they give a small hint of how a new user can reply to you ;)
    – Tinkeringbell Mod
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 11:16
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    Hey @Tinkeringbell, neat, I like it!
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 11:29
  • @map another tip: you can use only part of the name, as you see now - the minimum is three letters. In case of long names, it can be a life saver, e.g. @Sha will ping me anywhere, without the need to have the full and sometimes very long name. ;)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 11:37
  • @Sha oh that's good to know, I was wondering about the character count. Although this is pretty off-topic now, I didn't see it mentioned in the post Tinkeringbell linked: What happens to the pings when you change your display name? I guess they won't be changed after the fact? It's nitpicking, but if other users look at the comment chain, they might not immediately understand who the comments are replying to, although this is of course also the case with deleted comments.
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 11:57
  • And I know this is a super constructed case, but I wonder what would happen if the person you are pinging changes their display name while you ping them in your comment. Will they still receive a message?
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 12:00
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    @map the pings are static text, they won't change when the display name changes, and in the very very very rare case of display name change while comment is written, notification won't be sent indeed. The lookup for matching name is done after the comment is posted.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 13:31
  • @Sha I see, thank you! This was really more out of interest.
    – mapf
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 13:33
  • @map sure, no problem. :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented May 11, 2020 at 13:34

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