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I think it would be very useful if SO added a Watch List feature. More than once I have arrived at a question and wanted to reply but I had no time at that moment or needed time to prepare some code to post... then I needed to bookmark so I could go back later.

Is there a watch list feature already? If not, I think more than one person here would find it useful, and it would help in creating a community.

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    possible duplicate of How can I watch a question in Stack Overflow?
    – Jon Seigel
    Commented Dec 1, 2010 at 23:17
  • I agree, I would like this feature a lot. We have favorites, but I prefer to use those for "all time favorites". An ephemeral watch list, one that could notify you of updates to the question up until an accepted answer is submitted would be a stellar feature. After the answer as accepted, the question would allow you to choose whether you'd like to favorite it, or remove it.
    – Thomas Dignan
    Commented Apr 2, 2012 at 11:38
  • In my mind, if I were to add a question to my watch list (not favorite), I would receive notifications when comments or answers are posted, or when the content of the original question is edited, in my Inbox messages. This encourages interaction! If I simply favorite or bookmark a question there is no reminder to follow-up on it later.
    – Jim Fell
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 17:41

5 Answers 5

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Isn't this exactly what favorites are for? Just go to your favorites tab on your user profile to see the questions you have favorited (starred).

Also, you will get notifications for new answers on favorite questions as if you owned them.

So, click the giant star next to the question.

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    Apparently no!
    – bobobobo
    Commented Dec 2, 2010 at 12:27
  • Bingo! I guess yes, if you dont mention is not easy to find! so my only recommendation is to make it more obvious, I had looked around the question page for a while and just thanks to this answer I found out. Thanks Jeff.
    – Nestor
    Commented Dec 3, 2010 at 4:07
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    @Jeff Atwood - I dont agree, a favorite is a question / answer you favorited for reuse or you liked it in some way or another it is just that, a favorite. There are times I want to watch a question that isn't particularly a favorite, I just want to see how it gets answered. President Obama isn't my favorite president, but I turn on the TV when he talks about jobs and budget changes..hes not a favorite but he's watchable! That concept needs to change on stackoverflow, favorites are one thing, watch lists are a completly different topic.
    – JonH
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 15:51
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    @Jeff Atwood - that and the fact that if I favorite every question / answer I want to "watch" dont you think my favorite's will be full of unorganized content? It's not a favorite, it's just a watch, so I don't want to lump it into my favorites.
    – JonH
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 15:54
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    IMHO there is a difference between a list of favourite questions (over time) and a list of questions that I want to keep an eye on for a short period of time. For example: Our security auditor is an idiot. How do I give him the information he wants? will always be in my all time list of favourite questions, however, there are a number of questions in the AskUbuntu site that are related to the recent 14.01.1 upgrade that I want to keep an eye on as they currently affect me.
    – danielcraigie
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 7:29
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There is the favorites option; but... a browser bookmark works too.

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    -1 -- My rep is too low I cannot -1 you, but I am not going to load my bookmarks with SO questions. Also the whole concept of favorites is entirely different then a watch list. See my comment to Jeff.
    – JonH
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 15:53
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I'm using StackStalker for this very purpose. I would like to keep my favourites clean with actual favourites. After a while the favourites list just grows and grows...

I use it as well for 'short lived' interest in particular question.

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  • thanks for the tip! this was exactly what I was looking for. All to often I am doing research on how to do something and wish I could come back and share what I have learned but I cant remember where/ how I found the other questions! this is butter.
    – George
    Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 21:01
  • +1 - its a much better answer, however I still think stackoverflow should allow for watch lists...
    – JonH
    Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 15:53
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I think if you list incompleted drafts that will pretty much be what this guy is talking about.

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  • That also is good to know, thanks bobobobo
    – Nestor
    Commented Dec 3, 2010 at 4:10
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In addition to favorites and bookmarks, each question has its own RSS feed that you can subscribe to. The RSS (question feed) link is at the bottom of each page (and maybe in your browser's address bar, depending on what browser you use).

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  • I've added questions I'm particularly interested in to my RSS reader and then revisit the specific folder in my reader at a later time. It's an easy way to keep track of the activity for that question - all in one place. Bookmarking seems more tedious, in my opinion.
    – SDTechGuy2000
    Commented Dec 1, 2010 at 20:01

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