Stopgap Solution for the Email Flood

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Many of us are getting inundated with emails whenever someone posts a comment to a blog entry upon which we’ve, also, commented. As many have already noted, you can stop the madness by remembering to uncheck the “Notify me of follow-up comments via email” box. But, what if you forget to uncheck that box?

Last night, in SUPPORT, I found a way to stop the emails for any given post, if you’ve forgotten to uncheck the box.

Use this link: http://en.support.wordpress.com/following-comments/   Look for the section that says: Managing Post / Comment Notification and do as it says.

Unfortunately, it does nothing about the real problem and you’ll have to remember to uncheck the box. Still, if you forget, this will stop the email flood, post by post.

This has been a Bartolini Kitchens Public Service Announcement.

73 thoughts on “Stopgap Solution for the Email Flood”

  1. Love the “This has been a Bartolini Kitchens Public Service Announcement.”!

    I was quite shocked yesterday when I opened my email to pages and pages of comments on blogs I had commented on. Yikes!

    Thanks for the tip! ~ April

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    • I had the same flooded email box. With such a poor memory, unchecking the box isn’t a solution for me. So, the search began and I got lucky. Now, I just keep a browser window open to that unsubscribe page and go to it immediately after I post a comment with the box checked. WordPress will get this resolved in a couple days. I bet the fact that it’s a weekend has slowed them down a bit.

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  2. I have my gmail inbox streamed so all wordpress mail goes into another box that i can just empty when i feel like it. My personal ones always go into another box. Isn’t it crazy. Mad said he thought it was fixed but i am not seeing any evidence of it yet! c

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    • As you know, the ChgoJohn email account is only for WordPress. Right now, it’s flooded. The problem has gotten better. It’s intermittent now and I can’t figure out the rhyme nor reason to it. I just wanted everyone to know that if they miss the box, they can still get around the problem. Hopefully, WP sill get it together.

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      • It seems to me that if you remember to uncheck the box WP sets a cookie and remembers the next time when commenting on an individual blog. However, I find that I have to delete the WP cookies every couple of weeks or my browsers can’t get to the WP pages, so all this carp will come back 😦

        Yesterday I sent WP feedback on this dumb (IMHO) and unannounced change. I urge other people to do the same – they might change it back if we all say we hate it 😉

        WP always seem very friendly about receiving feedback even if it’s negative: support@wordpress.com

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        • Thanks, MD. I’ve been in contact with them before and, you’re right, they’re pretty good handling all kinds of feedback. I’ll send ’em an email and let’s hope they get this fixed by end of week.

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  3. Thanks, John. I’m aware of both “solutions.” I wrote to WordPress about the annoyance factor (They build their business on us) and I’m recommending everyone do the same. If they are inundated with comments the way we are they may fix the problem.

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    • And thank you, Sharyn. I’ve a feeling that WP was blindsided by this and it hitting on a weekend made things worse. I’ve noticed that it no longer happens with every post and I bet that it will be resolved in a couple days.

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  8. Hahaha.. and we’ve even both said “A Public Service Announcement”.. we’re so on the same page it’s almost scary, John!!! I’ve got four pages of regular post emails to catch up on but had to stop in and see yours first! xo Smidge

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    • I’m sure WP will get this resolved soon, Barb. I think it rather funny how widespread the problem was and how we all suffered in silence. It wasn’t until I saw Marie’s post that I got the idea that others were being flooded, too.

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  10. John, you’re an angel!!! 🙂 I thought it was just me being flooded, and it used to be that the default was you had to check the box to get the follow-ups, and now it’s the other way around as it comes up auto-checked. Thanks to you, I just unchecked it before this comment, and now I just need to make that a habit. I still have some non-Wordpress accounts, though, that this won’t work for, and that everyone’s comments always show up in my reader. My last attempts at contacting WordPress about the problem I had where one of my posts was showing continuously in everyone’s reader for several weeks got no response. Then 3 weeks later they finally contacted me to say they’d fixed the problem. I think they’re having growing pains.

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    • Aw, gee thanks, Betsy! Having worked in Systems & Data Processing, sometimes a minor change is made in section A and, lo and behold, section Z is affected. I, too, have contacted Support and had good results. i’m sure WP will get this straightened out.

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    • You’re welcome and we are of the same cloth. I started looking through Support for the work-around because I, too, could not remember to uncheck that darn box! Now, we don’t have to remember. Yay!

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  14. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ve been going nuts with this! LOL! My dad is in the hospital and I’m trying to keep up with family and updates and LIFE, and this happens now. I have just had to laugh…I was going to eventually post, “When WordPress Goes Rogue!” but now I don’t have to. I will attend to this later as I can…and be so relieved. I wasn’t sure if I was the only one and had “done” something. Chicago John to the rescue! Thank you! Debra

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    • You’re welome, Debra. Glad I could be of help.

      Sorry to hear of your Dad’s hospital stay. i hope it isn’t anything serious and that he’ll be back home soon. Sending positive thoughts his way.

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  15. By default the ‘Notify me of follow-up comments’ used to be unchecked. I don’t know what WordPress are thinking! Pressure should be placed on WordPress to revert back to this otherwise it just creates unnecessary hassle for commenters.

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  17. I’ve never had that problem until Friday. Friday’s the day I was forced to join Disqus. I had to join Disqus because I’m now a contributing writer on two other blogs and because those blogs use Disqus I had to add that plug-in because otherwise I’m prevented from replying to comments. So the person who hosts my wordpress account says she can’t help me stop this flood of emails I’m now getting because she doesn’t use Disqus nor understand how it works. I’ve spent most of the weekend trying to figure out how to stop receiving these emails but it’s now Monday and I’m none the wiser. If you have any knowledge of Disqus, do share! xx

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    • I’m sorry, Charlie, I know absolutely nothing about Disqus. I’ve only seen it on one other blog and I’ve never even commented on that blog. All I can do is suggest that you email their support team. Most of them are very helpful, especially when the service is new, in an effort to garner more customers. I do wish I could be of more help than this.

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  18. Love your kind public service announcement. Even if WordPress had let us know they were making a change, I would still have a problem as I keep forgetting to uncheck the box. I hope they fix this soon.

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    • Thanks, Karen. I think this was more mistake than a planned “improvement.” Someone either didn’t fully test our a programming change or simply didn’t foresee the impact of what might have looked like a minor change. Now we all know!

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  22. It was a busy weekend and email and blogging weren’t on the list. Imagine when I did go to my email and see the notifications. I had 188 new emails! You are good to tackle the problem as I was just flabbergasted and didn’t know what had happened. Thanks for your post about the clogging of the inboxes. A great public announcement, sir! Thank you

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    • You’re very welcome. No one was happier than I was, Ruth, to find the page in Support to, at least, get around the problem. I hope WP fixes it in the next day or so. 🙂

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  30. Thanks John, I can’t tell you how much it irks me when these social media platforms make changes like that and assume I want the change! ARH! Thanks for the advice.
    I’ve got a huge freelance project in this week, so I will apologize in advance if I miss a comment or two. Hope you have a good evening.

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    • You’re welcome, Eva. I have to believe this was a mistake. Even a junior programmer would realize what a change to that box would cause. But, what do I know? 🙂
      Thanks for the heads-up about your work schedule. I wouldn’t mind the lack of comments but would have thought something was wrong. You, too, have a good evening and a great week. Don’t work too hard! This is Feta Week and you’ll need all your strength.

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  31. Hello John,
    Thank you for taking the time to write this. I have been really busy for the past couple of weeks and have not been commenting much but I tried catching up this morning and was stunned by the amount of emails I got after visiting a few blogs.
    Again thank you so much for the solution

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  32. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I have been so overwhelmed with these comment emails that I couldn’t get caught up with my normal emails. I am so behind. Now hopefully they will stop coming.

    BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!

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  35. Thank you for the PSA. The increased amount of emails can be daunting. I hope WP fixes the issue soon. Until then your suggestion will be helpful. Now to uncheck the box before posting this comment…

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