January 4th 2012 :: My Cats update email notification

[Jools]

The next email notification stream is online! This one sends an email notifying you of My Cats data which has not been touched in over a year. You will be given links to update each out-of-date species in one email (including a simple "no change" link). If there are several species requiring update, then they will all be listed in one email.

Please use this topic for any feedback on this particular email notification stream.

Cheers,

Jools

[Ursus sapien]

thanks, I like this feature. I find the site confusing to navigate, so this helps.

cheers, Storm

[pbyrley]

Jools,
I enjoyed this site a lot, but I became busy in other things and gave my aquarium, supplies and fish to a more ardent "aquarist".Thank you for your hard work and great store of information. I am pondering a move to SW Florida and, if I do, I will likely start again.

Thanks again,

Paul

[Dick F.]

I no longer have any fish, or tanks. Forced to stop due to economics.

Dick

[Mike_Noren]

As I understood it the point of "my cats" is to allow finding people who've kept a species so one can ask them for advice, right? If so it doesn't matter if they're no longer keeping the species; I can still give general advice on the disposition and care of Bunocephalus even though I've not owned one for probably 20 years.

So I'm not sure I see the point of these reminders at all.

[Jools]

As I understood it the point of "my cats" is to allow finding people who've kept a species so one can ask them for advice, right? If so it doesn't matter if they're no longer keeping the species; I can still give general advice on the disposition and care of Bunocephalus even though I've not owned one for probably 20 years.

So I'm not sure I see the point of these reminders at all.

Hi Mike,

Firstly, thanks for taking the time to update you my cats data.

"Get in touch" is not the purpose of "my cats" really, or at least not one of the main reasons. There's a wider email notification discussion here. The main point of the reminders is to build a picture of the fish people are keeping and for how long. So, the reminders are important so that we can track how long specimens are kept for, if people do not update their my cats after a few years and reminders, they are marked as no longer kept. They're also important in terms of people looking to trade fish or buy them in the same area. If, for example, a forum member near you wanted to ask where you bought that Bunocephalus, they might think twice if it the data was 20 years old. That might all seem a bit academic, but bear in mind will be coming up for its 20th birthday in a few years time! If we want to know, roughly, what is the cory species most people are keeping now, then this functionality is important too.

I do recognise, however, we need a "make all as unchanged" or "mark all as no longer kept" type function for the reasons noted above.

Jools

[SpunkyTheMonkey]

my user control panel prefs say NO to all emails including "Administrators can e-mail me information:". why am i getting these?

[Jools]

my user control panel prefs say NO to all emails including "Administrators can e-mail me information:". why am i getting these?

Good question. The setting in the UCP doesn't stop automated messages and, I hope you don't mind me pointing out, it doesn't actually say no to all emails. It just says not to emails from admins.

The email isn't from an admin, it's an automated message asking you to help with the overall data quality of the site by keeping your information up-to-date. It's sent when the data supplied hasn't been touched for over a year.

I hope that answers the question.

Cheers,

Jools

[alcyst]

Out of the hobby, had to move house for an extended period & couldn't run an aquarium through it. Still miss those guys.

[Jools]

Out of the hobby, had to move house for an extended period & couldn't run an aquarium through it. Still miss those guys.

Sorry to hear it, I hope you get the chance to start another tank at some point in the future. In the meantime, could you update the populations you've recorded with the stop date(s)?

Cheers!

Jools

[Deb]

Late to the ball, as usual, *lol*, but I have to say that I just used this feature on my phone and I love it!

Listing each species separately, with the three choices of "edit, no change, and stop keeping" makes it far more likely that the updates will be done. I don't remember this ease of use in prior reminders, but then again I've been deleting them for some time as I had no changes to make.

In the fall of 2015, I donated all of my SA fish to my club's auction. In the spring of 2016, I sent my Asian fish to foster care with a friend. In the summer, I did the same with my African fish. All are well! I had to do these things in order to move to a new house.

Now, I am all moved and ready to start up again in a serious way. I hope to be making new entries in My Cats in the coming weeks.

Thanks, Jools, for Planet Catfish and all you do!

[Jools]

Jools

[CoryfanAad]

Strangely I have never kept the species asked an update for.

[Jools]

The facility has now been further updated to email when you have not updated the site for a long time. At that time it automatically stops keeping the catfish(es) in question. Then only if you go and reset the "stop date" will it carry on. This means that folks who just stop keeping the fishes and/or stop using the site will have their data curtailed and it will reduce the number of unnecessary emails.

Cheers,


Jools

[Scapecat]

No matter how many times I try I am unable to update my Cats Kept list from the email messages sent or via the website.
I no longer have Pygmy Corys, I have 5 C. caudimaculatus, 2 Common Whiptail and one albino Ancistrus

[Jools]

No matter how many times I try I am unable to update my Cats Kept list from the email messages sent or via the website.
I no longer have Pygmy Corys, I have 5 C. caudimaculatus, 2 Common Whiptail and one albino Ancistrus

Do you want to PM me and we can work out what's going wrong? Or post what's happening in the bugs forum - keen to get it sorted for you.

Cheers,

Jools