Mark as Read

September 27, 2009 10:41 AM

Yet-Another-Mefi-Mail-Pony: "Mark as Read" button in e-mail notification.

So, I get my MeFi Mail sent to my e-mail address. Even when I read it there, though, I have to click onto the MeFi Mail box and read it again in order to mark it as read. Is there any way to have a "mark as read" button in the e-mail notification, or automatically mark as read all MeFi Mail sent by e-mail or something like that?

Apologies for the 27 millionth MeFi Mail pony request. I just have a pathological need to get rid of the number next to my mail icon.

posted by l33tpolicywonk to feature requests at 10:41 AM (19 comments total)

I don't know if this has come up already, but I'd sort of like the other way around ("Mark as Unread" button) -- sometimes I get MeFi mails to which I know I should respond but I need to check about something first and then I never get back to the original person about which I feel very badly.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:53 AM on September 27

I don't know if this has come up already, but I'd like a Mark as Schrödinger button that blurs the subject and send so that the next time I go back into my mefimail, I don't know if I've read it or not until I open it.
posted by cashman at 11:02 AM on September 27 [5 favorites]

*sender, and I'm serious. We all like getting mefimail, and I don't know about others, but I'm sufficiently capable of fooling my future self into thinking he has new mail. Google has the "feeling lucky" thing, this is similar kookiness.
posted by cashman at 11:03 AM on September 27

I'd really like this also.
posted by kylej at 12:53 PM on September 27

To mark it read: middle-click a message to open it then middle-click the tab to close it. If there were a "click to mark as read" link in the email, it could save, um, the click opening the mailbox, I guess.

... automatically mark as read all MeFi Mail sent by e-mail or something like that?

What's the difference between this & ignoring your mailbox on Mefi completely? Are you trying to do some Inbox Zero thing here or something?

You could turn off forwarding, so it only shows up here. Then you only get one notification.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:16 PM on September 27

*puts on telepathy cap, channels mathowie*

We're not trying to rebuild gmail, we just wanted a small simple lightweight message system. Building all those features would be a pain and we kind of stopped the moment it felt 1.0 enough to be considered a simple private mail system. I'm not really interested in replicating gmail so I like the stopping point we picked and think it serves us well, while at the same time not being a bear to maintain. So, no.

There you go!
posted by languagehat at 2:52 PM on September 27

wow, you guys get mefimail?
posted by synaesthetichaze at 3:14 PM on September 27 [1 favorite]

I'm not really interested in replicating gmail so I like the stopping point we picked and think it serves us well, while at the same time not being a bear to maintain.

Ah but have you considered the proverb: Sometimes you maintain the bear, and sometimes the bear, well, he maintains you.
posted by grobstein at 3:23 PM on September 27 [1 favorite]

Building all those features would be a pain and we kind of stopped the moment it felt 1.0 enough to be considered a simple private mail system. I'm not really interested in replicating gmail so I like the stopping point we picked and think it serves us well, while at the same time not being a bear to maintain. So, no.

Yeah, good stock response. Except I see this as less of a feature request and more of a fix for an existing feature. It's a great that we can move mefimail over to real email accounts, but there are usability issues and ramifications from it that are not handled well. Fixing those isn't adding any features, it's just making existing features work properly.

Then again, I can see the appeal of saying 'it is what it is and if you take it out of its box it might not work right'.
posted by carsonb at 3:39 PM on September 27

With the rise of mobile computing, more and more people are com-pooting. I would like a GreaseMonkey script that notifies me when a comment was composed on a toilet.

On second though, no I don't. I just want the script to block out those comments so I don't have to read them. I mean, germs.
posted by Eideteker at 3:53 PM on September 27

A guy walks into a bar. He orders a half a beer and two shots of seltzer. The bartender gives him a funny look, but pours the drinks anyhow. As the guy is settling his bill, a regular down at the end of the bar pipes up, "Hey bub, why the seltzer?" He looks over and yells back, "We're trying to keep MeFi Mail as simple as possible."
posted by Plutor at 3:55 PM on September 27

In my opinion, the best solution for this would be for the message you get in your email to have a link to the message on MeFi. Then you could just click that link to mark it read. It seems like that would be more useful the link it currently has, which is to your mailbox. I'm not sure why anyone would want to follow a link to their mailbox.

Anything more complicated, like a button, would require the emails to be HTML, and currently they are not.
posted by smackfu at 4:32 PM on September 27

Even when I read it there, though, I have to click onto the MeFi Mail box and read it again in order to mark it as read.

No, you don't have to read it again. All you have to click it. How many clicks are you hoping to save when you click it there instead of clicking it here? Are you really getting such a huge volume of mefi mail that you are confused about which ones you've already read?
posted by planetkyoto at 6:00 PM on September 27

I forgot that darn email box was there. I just noticed that I have months-old Memails I never responded to. :P
posted by zarq at 8:55 PM on September 27

We're not trying to rebuild gmail, we just wanted a small simple lightweight message system
posted by flabdablet at 9:34 PM on September 27

Okay, Plutor, what's the real punchline to that joke?
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:04 AM on September 28

STOP TRYING TO CHANGE METAFILTER! CHANGE IS BAD!!!!!
posted by dg at 5:22 AM on September 28

It's: "No soap, radio!"
posted by Plutor at 12:17 PM on September 28

That's hysterical.
posted by flabdablet at 7:40 PM on September 28