Can I subscribe to a member's postings?

[LAgrunion]

I'm not sure if this is the proper forum to ask this question.

There are several members on AW whose postings I really like to read. Mostly because they write intelligent, helpful, and insightful things. I know I can do a search for all their posts.

But is there a way for me to subscribe to a member so that I'm notified when they post something?

I did a search for this topic, but can't find any information on this.

If AW doesn't offer this feature, I'd like to lobby for it. It would be a pretty cool and useful thing to have.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 42]

I'm not sure if this is the proper forum to ask this question.

There are several members on AW whose postings I really like to read. Mostly because they write intelligent, helpful, and insightful things. I know I can do a search for all their posts.

But is there a way for me to subscribe to a member so that I'm notified when they post something?

I did a search for this topic, but can't find any information on this.

If AW doesn't offer this feature, I'd like to lobby for it. It would be a pretty cool and useful thing to have.

Thanks.

There's no way to do it easily.

You can add members to your Contacts, and check the Statistics on their Profile to see their post history.

It's not a feature I'm keen on supporting because such features not only enable, they encourage the collection of userdata. That may not seem like a big issue now, but it very well may be.

We've disabled things like the membership list for similar reasons of member privacy.

 

[LAgrunion]

Thank you, Medievalist, for your response.

I hadn't thought of the user data and privacy issue. Probably because I assumed Google catches all the posts (except for the password protected forums), so everything I post is essentially public. But I understand that most online users like to preserve their anonymity, so I appreciate your point.

 

[Deleted member 42]

Thank you, Medievalist, for your response.

I hadn't thought of the user data and privacy issue. Probably because I assumed Google catches all the posts (except for the password protected forums), so everything I post is essentially public. But I understand that most online users like to preserve their anonymity, so I appreciate your point.

Google cache is self-purging though, so older threads that aren't active, for instance, drop off.

 

[LAgrunion]

Oh, I didn't know that about Google. I guess I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the internet. I didn't even get a smartphone until recently, and I can barely use it. I'm nostalgic for the old days when one actually had to dial in a circular motion to make a phone call.

I can rest easier know that, with the passage of time, my past posts that I regret will be more difficult to find and thus less likely to come back to haunt me.

I miss your old avatar.

(You can probably guess by now that change unnerves me.)

 

[Deleted member 42]

Oh, I didn't know that about Google. I guess I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the internet. I didn't even get a smartphone until recently, and I can barely use it. I'm nostalgic for the old days when one actually had to dial in a circular motion to make a phone call.

I can rest easier know that, with the passage of time, my past posts that I regret will be more difficult to find and thus less likely to come back to haunt me.

I miss your old avatar.

(You can probably guess by now that change unnerves me.)

It'll be back; this one's just a way of supporting Debi Gliori, the writer stalked and harassed because of her book The Tobermory Cat.

 

[zanzjan]

Also, if you only follow some of us, the rest of us would feel terribly hurt and sad. Best thing to do is follow ALL of us, which is easy, because it's just being a member of AW!

 

[mccardey]

I didn't even get a smartphone until recently, and I can barely use it. I'm nostalgic for the old days when one actually had to dial in a circular motion to make a phone call.

OMG! Have we stopped doing that? Is that why I can't work my mobile phone?

 

[LAgrunion]

OMG! Have we stopped doing that? Is that why I can't work my mobile phone?

There's hope yet. I heard that there is a thing called an "app" that will allow your smartphone to simulate a circular dial. When your finger drags the dial in an arc and lets go, it even gives you that familiar clacking sound.

But it still doesn't compare to the sheer tactile pleasure of spinning a mechanical dial, IMHO. Now that's what I call satisfaction. Kids really don't know what they're missing.

Call me a Luddite, but I prefer the days when phones were dumb.

 

[bearilou]

There's hope yet. I heard that there is a thing called an "app" that will allow your smartphone to simulate a circular dial. When your finger drags the dial in an arc and lets go, it even gives you that familiar clacking sound.

But it still doesn't compare to the sheer tactile pleasure of spinning a mechanical dial, IMHO. Now that's what I call satisfaction. Kids really don't know what they're missing.

Call me a Luddite, but I prefer the days when phones were dumb.

My mother has one and refuses to get rid of it. Her 'neighbors' (loose term use, our nearest neighbor is two miles away) thought it was terribly archaic of her...until a powerline went down and no one could use their landline phones...

...except her.

I know that in this day and age people still have their cell phones and all they need is a signal but...cell phones still need to be charged and when you don't have any power....

 

[LAgrunion]

My mother has one and refuses to get rid of it. Her 'neighbors' (loose term use, our nearest neighbor is two miles away) thought it was terribly archaic of her...until a powerline went down and no one could use their landline phones...

...except her.

I know that in this day and age people still have their cell phones and all they need is a signal but...cell phones still need to be charged and when you don't have any power....

Yeah, that's one reason I've kept my landline, even though it costs me $20/mo and I hardly use it.

Sometimes, though, when I have an important call, I like to use the landline instead of the cell phone.

1. The landline's audio quality is often better.

2. The cell phone sometimes acts like it's half duplex - that's annoying.

 

[zanzjan]

I heard that there is a thing called an "app" that will allow your smartphone to simulate a circular dial. When your finger drags the dial in an arc and lets go, it even gives you that familiar clacking sound.

I very well may have to download that..

I know that in this day and age people still have their cell phones and all they need is a signal but...cell phones still need to be charged and when you don't have any power....

And some of us still live in places with no cell signal or high-speed internet. My landline *is* my internet. Woe!