# Management of Notifications **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** notifications\ **Created:** [January 6, 2025, 7:01am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134 "2025-01-06T07:01:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:01am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/1 "2025-01-06T07:01:16Z")
The last update was in October 2020. Any news ? [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/notifications-on-inaturalist-please-share-your-ideas/374/200](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/notifications-on-inaturalist-please-share-your-ideas/374/200) ---
**Author:** ![spiphany](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/spiphany/32/31332_2.png) [@spiphany](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/spiphany)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/2 "2025-01-06T15:49:21Z")
I wonder if even just a couple of changes to what is displayed in the various columns on the dashboard would be an improvement for many people and would require less substantial coding work than a complete revamp of notifications (I am thinking of this as an interim measure – I do think more fine-grained options about what notifications one receives is needed). Currently it is possible to see 1) all notifications, 2) just notifications for your content, and 3) just notifications for subscribed taxa/users. What is missing is a way to see only notifications for @ mentions and activity (IDs/comments) on followed observations without having to scroll past all your other subscriptions – i.e., it isn’t possible to pull up just those notifications that do _not_ fall under columns 2 or 3. The other thing that seems like it would help would be a read/unread label on the dashboard list of notifications, similar to what exists in the old android app (I don’t know how this is handled in the old iOS app or the Next app). This breakdown of notifications would surely not be completely new functionality on the back end, given that it is essentially the same as what currently exists in the android app. ---
**Author:** ![sedgequeen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/sedgequeen/32/1928_2.png) [@sedgequeen](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/sedgequeen)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/3 "2025-01-06T16:45:24Z")
> [@spiphany](#): > > The other thing that seems like it would help would be a read/unread label on the dashboard list of notifications, Yes, yes, yes! Although I’d like even better a “dismiss” button that I can click when I don’t want to see this observation again. Either or both would be a great improvement. ---
**Author:** ![phoekman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/phoekman/32/42014_2.png) [@phoekman](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/phoekman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/4 "2025-01-06T17:01:44Z")
> [@spiphany](#): > > What is missing is a way to see only notifications for @ mentions and activity (IDs/comments) on followed observations without having to scroll past all your other subscriptions This would be very useful indeed! Alternatively, if @ mentions would be shown under messages (the envelope icon) and not general notification (the chat icon), that could also work – anything that just sets them apart would be very useful for many people I think. ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/5 "2025-01-06T20:22:59Z")
I asked @kueda for news on this back in October and he said they’re not working on it. So to quote myself about it from another topic… > [@Why is this Observation Casual/Needs ID/Research Grade? - "Official" Topic](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/why-is-this-observation-casual-needs-id-research-grade-official-topic/13186/367): > > On the one hand, he didn’t say they were never going to work on it. On the other hand, he also didn’t say they have plans to work on it. > > My unsolicited two cents: don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. If you don’t have the resources for the revamp of your dreams, then do the bare minimum you think you can handle. Recode the notifications dropdown so that they stay unread unless clicked on individually. Or make notifcations exportable as a CSV so that the user can save/sort them as they like. Or redesign dashboard to be more compact of a list, with read/unread distinguished, like it is on the app. Or take different types of currently existing notications and put them on their own tabs–dashboard already has a tab for “your content” so just make a few more for “your mentions” etc. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/6 "2025-01-06T22:09:11Z")
Give us a token first slice at least. Read. Unread. _with options to_ Mark as Read. Keep Unread. ---
**Author:** ![arboretum\_amy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/arboretum_amy/32/2328_2.png) [@arboretum\_amy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/arboretum_amy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/7 "2025-01-07T04:10:19Z")
For me, the top most useful things would be: 1. show individual notifications as read or unread 2. for IDs, separate refinements from actual disagreements, and ideally turn off notifications for refinements. For example, if I say a plant is in the aster family, and then someone else says it’s in a particular genus of the aster family, I want that notification ideally turned off or at minimum separated from the one where someone says no, this is in the mint family. 3. find @ mentions more easily than using [https://www.inaturalist.org/comments?utf8=✓&q=YOURUSERNAME&commit=Search](https://www.inaturalist.org/comments?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=YOURUSERNAME&commit=Search) which loads very slowly and doesn’t capture all of them Honestly anything beyond that would be gravy. It would be good if changes to the DQA generated notifications but I can live without that. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 7:18am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/8 "2025-01-07T07:18:42Z")
I suspect my workflow is different to the rest of you. I open each obs - read all the updates since I was last there. Done. I would like my notifications collapsed to - _there was activity on this obs_. ONE notification per obs. ---
**Author:** ![pantherophis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/pantherophis/32/2782_2.png) [@pantherophis](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pantherophis)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/9 "2025-01-07T14:06:08Z")
> [@arboretum\_amy](#): > > for IDs, separate refinements from actual disagreements, and ideally turn off notifications for refinements. For example, if I say a plant is in the aster family, and then someone else says it’s in a particular genus of the aster family, I want that notification ideally turned off or at minimum separated from the one where someone says no, this is in the mint family. In a similar vein, I would appreciate a way to separate less-refined IDs that are **not** disagreements. For example, if I ID a snake to subspecies, say Eastern Garter Snake (_Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis_), and subsequently someone else IDs the snake to species only, as a Common Garter Snake (_Thamnophis sirtalis_) without disagreeing, I will get a notification. (Conversely, if that species-level ID was second and not a disagreement, it will still elevate the obs to RG at _ **sub** species_ level.) I get a lot of notifications that are just this - a lot of newer people learning basic herp ID are confused about the difference between species and subspecies, and many experienced identifiers may not be comfortable with the subspecies of a certain species or certain area, and thus only will only go to species without disagreeing. If I’ve gone to subspecies with my ID, I don’t need to see all of these unless they are a deliberate disagreement so I can take a second look. So in summary, it would be very helpful to have a way to turn off notifications for any non-disagreeing IDs at any coarser or finer level - not just IDs that are an exact match. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 6:23am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/10 "2025-01-12T06:23:45Z")
@tiwane any progress please? ---
**Author:** ![richyfourtytwo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/richyfourtytwo/32/5552_2.png) [@richyfourtytwo](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/richyfourtytwo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/11 "2025-01-12T11:47:11Z")
> [@arboretum\_amy](#): > > for IDs, separate refinements from actual disagreements, and ideally turn off notifications for refinements. For example, if I say a plant is in the aster family, and then someone else says it’s in a particular genus of the aster family, I want that notification ideally turned off That! Please! TBH if I even could switch notifications off only for non-disagreeing IDs to subspecies, that would reduce my current notification load by at least 50%. ---
**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/12 "2025-01-16T23:24:30Z")
No progess as of now, I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![sedgequeen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/sedgequeen/32/1928_2.png) [@sedgequeen](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/sedgequeen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/13 "2025-01-17T18:07:38Z")
:-( (but post must be at least 5 characters) ---
**Author:** ![nomolosx](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/nomolosx/32/10885_2.png) [@nomolosx](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/nomolosx)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/14 "2025-01-17T22:50:29Z")
I really hope this is addressed soon. It’s so difficult to keep up with my notifications when addressing any of them requires addressing 200 of them at the same time so they don’t disappear the next time I check my notifications. Often gets to around 2000-3000 notifications before I can dedicate time to break into that list. I find myself making less ID’s when that number gets more overwhelming. ---
**Author:** ![sedgequeen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/sedgequeen/32/1928_2.png) [@sedgequeen](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/sedgequeen)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/15 "2025-01-18T00:42:50Z")
Wow! I thought I had it bad when the backlog notifications reached 500 in number! ---
**Author:** ![lynnharper](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/lynnharper/32/22908_2.png) [@lynnharper](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/lynnharper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/16 "2025-01-18T11:45:44Z")
I’ll confess that I don’t look closely at every single notification I get. I will open an observation only if there’s a comment, I get tagged, or someone IDs my own observation to something other than what I IDed it. This means I don’t catch my ID mistakes till they become mavericks, but it’s the best way I’ve come up with to reduce the time I spend on notifications. I’d rather spend my ID time (which is already a lot!) on uploading my observations or making IDs for observations still at Needs ID. ---
**Author:** ![ShotShot](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/shotshot/32/60399_2.png) [@ShotShot](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ShotShot)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 12:34pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/17 "2025-01-18T12:34:05Z")
The alternative is: to disable notifications (confirming IDs + username mentions + e-mail) to only get those (rare, hopefully) dissenting notes on your own IDs/shaky tentative IDs. And/or, to identify as little as possible in order not to appear in dreaded ‘leaderboards’ that many users mistakenly read as ‘here are 5 specialists at your service to whistle at’. A drawback is that curators careful enough to mention you (albeit often mistakenly, cf. above) prior to a taxon change can’t reach you either. So, in a nutshell we need: - finer-grained on/off choices for notifications and better tools for managing the backlog - an option for prolific identifiers _not_ to appear in flawed ‘leaderboards’ (less undue notifs!) - features to help interested parties intervene prior to taxon changes (cooloff delay, mandatory always-on notifs by curators, or whatever works) ---
**Author:** ![lynnharper](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/lynnharper/32/22908_2.png) [@lynnharper](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/lynnharper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/18 "2025-01-18T18:29:44Z")
I tried disabling notifications for a few days but found I missed seeing who agreed with me on my observations. I don’t intend to give up making IDs, either, I look at it as both fun and being an easy volunteer opportunity for me. Luckily, very few curators have need of reaching me; I’m really not an expert in anything. ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/19 "2025-01-18T21:16:46Z")
> [@spiphany](#): > > This breakdown of notifications would surely not be completely new functionality on the back end, given that it is essentially the same as what currently exists in the android app. you could build a front end against the same back end that the Android app uses (as i did here: [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-open-all-notifications/25913/35](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-open-all-notifications/25913/35)), however, i got the sense that the changes to notifications contemplated back in the day would make fairly significant changes, including to the existing back end that the Android app uses. so if iNat is really intending to make those sort of changes to notifications at some point, then it wouldn’t make sense to build a screen on the existing back end, since it’ll just be changed later. ---
**Author:** ![spiphany](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/spiphany/32/31332_2.png) [@spiphany](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/spiphany)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134/20 "2025-01-18T21:48:50Z")
> [@pisum](#): > > the changes to notifications contemplated back in the day How many years ago was that? Given that the last info we have received from staff is that there is currently no progress/nothing concrete being worked on, it seems like a relatively minor front-end reworking of an existing back-end would be an improvement over the status quo and more useful to users _now_ than waiting for something that requires more substantial work and might or (more likely) might not happen in the foreseeable future. [Next page](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/management-of-notifications/60134.md?page=2)