Watched threads

Is there a way I can "unwatch" all of the threads I'm currently watching - all at one time? I don't want to go through them all, but I'd like to clean it up a bit.

Help?

I have wondered that too Carla, and I just decided to wait until the thread pops up with a new post on it and if I don't want to watch it anymore I just click unwatch! I think if I unwated ALL the threads I am now watching....well that would mean starting over with all the reading! LOL

The fastest way I know of is to pull up your list of watched threads from your member page, click on the ones you want to stop watching, and click on "stop watching this thread" at the top of the thread.

This question has come up from time to time; I once suggested to Dave that we limit the number of watched threads (a la eBay's 30-item limit) and/or set them to expire after a certain amount of time.

Dave pointed out two important counterpoints:
a) watched threads aren't a big system resource issue, so it isn't necessary for us to limit the number of threads that people watch; and

b) continuing to "watch" an older thread is very helpful when someone posts to it weeks/months/years after it ceases to be an active thread. Especially when a new(er) member discovers it (that's the group most likely to go back through the threads, trying to catch up.) If a member posts to a thread we stopped watching, they may never get anyone's attention or reply.

Yes, but when you post a photo to the PDB, that starts a "watched thread" automatically, and I personally don't have a use for that. It clutters up my watched thread page.

Is there a possibility of an option to delete one or more watched threads directly from the page where they all appear?

I have two thoughts about someone posting to an "old" thread...1) if no one responds, they always have an option to email the individual they are seeking information from and 2) that thread automatically bumps up to the top of the forum, so it should get attention from someone, even if not the original thread starter.

I like it just the way it is! Genius!

Smiln, I can see where the watched threads list can get pretty long when you're adding photos to the PDB. Unfortunately, there isn't an easier way (at the moment) to stop watching a group of threads.

It may be something that Dave will reconsider, now that the PDB forum has increased the size of some member's group of watched threads.

I like having oodles of watched threads, myself; it's fun having an old one I've forgotten all about suddenly appear on my DG start page. How do they clutter anything up? They don't show up unless someone's posted to them, so I guess I don't understand. Having an option for those who would like to not have so many threads watched would be a good thing, though.

I'm outnumbered. :)

I guess my obsessive compulsive disorder is working against me here. I like things hopelessly neat and tidy. Oh, well. I'll just not go to that page and therefore eliminate the frustration of trying to figure out which threads I'm really watching and which ones are just "there". No biggie.

Oh, Carla, you would NOT want to look at my hard drive, or my desk, for that matter! I'm very organized at jobs I have, but at home....*shudder*

Out of sight, out of mind. The way the thread watching works makes it almost unnecessary to go view that page, so just fageddaboudit. ;)

I just never go there!! I only care about the ones that have new postings anyway - and they show up on your home page. If you don't want to see them anymore - just click on "un watch thread" at the top of the page.

I know what Carla's talking about -- when I clicked on "Watched Threads" for the first time, I about fainted! There were zillions more than I expected -- so I started clicking on the older ones individually and selecting "Unwatch Thread," and an hour later had still not made much of a dent.

As long as that raft of watched threads doesn't slow the loading process on the site or represent a drag on Dave's system or resources, it's fine with me to leave them alone -- but it does seem "intuitive" that they ought to be cleaned out now and then, like e-mail (I know they're not the same things -- it's a mindset). Whatever!

Kim,

I like your attitude, and hope to some day be able to adopt it. I'm much improved over the days where my hangers had to be evenly spaced apart in my closet and all my canned goods in the kitchen had to face the same direction. I have a long way to go, though. :)

Yes, I also used to comb the fringe on the rugs. :)