It would be helpful if there was a way to change the default e-mail notification setting for all members to receive immediate notification of updates in their subscribed forum. Alternatively, it could be helpful if there was a way to set up a subscription alert for admins so that we can see when someone subscribes, and can go in and change their settings without having to be notified by the individual members or having to ask them to do it themselves.

Since this feature is going to be part of the implementation of listserv functionality,* the admin should be able to set protection for subscription to a particular forum the same as for common contact fields: admin access only vs. contact can change.

In other words, the admin should be able to set whether the user can subscribe or unsubscribe to the forum.

* - See http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308932-wishlist/suggestions/8825587-ability-to-submit-forum-posts-by-email-to-use-fo?tracking_code=bc5e20d637891a00e0fffa8bc0a597b0 .

As we discussed in this thread, forums could be used to provide most of the functionality of a listserv : http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308932-wishlist/suggestions/8825587-ability-to-submit-forum-posts-by-email-to-use-fo .

But that will require this feature to have the full benefit; otherwise the lists will only be opt-in which is ineffective for most situations.

Sorry, no ETA here. Check our roadmap for any news: http://help.wildapricot.com/display/DOC/Product+roadmap

Hooray! Esp. looking forward to:
- Bulk subscribe existing contacts to forums

When will this be rolled out?

Fixed link https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bj4iE_bnw_mhLM2u5KMoH6WTCh4n0oPZkDXdB2folt4/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000 , now it should be working fine.

Sorry for inconvenience

[quote user="OlegN"]

We have finished design and want to share progress with you. We have redesigned email settings and extended subscription options for event announcements and email blasts as well. See details in presentation below.

https://docs.google.com/a/wildapricot.com/presentation/d/1bj4iE_bnw_mhLM2u5KMoH6WTCh4n0oPZkDXdB2folt4/present#slide=id.p

[/quote]

The slideshow is a private Google doc. Please make public.

[quote user="OlegN"]

We are planning to
* - Add new Email Settings page, which will allow administrators to:
* Setup default forum subscriptions for new contacts
* Bulk subscribe existing contacts to forums
* - Extend Email settings page in Contact details to allow subscribing to forum topics
* - (most likely) Add similar subscription settings for subscription sources

[/quote]

This will be helpful.

1 and 2 is in the solution design we prepared, #3 is not going to be covered here for now.

We have a general member message forum page.

1. as an administrator I would like to be able to see who's subscribed to the forum

2. I'd like members to be able to subscribe when signing up as a new member

3. I'd like the summary of the general forum to have a nicer design like nextdoor.com.

This will be awesome and hold half my problems this week. we had a very active Forum before transitioning to wildapricot this week.. so far our Forum died because "clicking a another button" is a foreign concept to most people, but If I could do it... this would be awesome!!! (I'll post this on my comments!)

It would be so useful to have this feature... to have a way for administrators to just automally subscribe everyone to the Forum... even If I had to click on each individual's profile. I also would love to know what members are currently subscribing... This will be awesome and hold half my problems this week. we had a very active Forum before transitioning to wildapricot this week.. so far our Forum died because "clicking a another button" is a foreign concept to most people, but If I could do it... this would be awesome!!! (I'll post this on my comments!)

I know about a year ago this was not an option, but I was hoping that the system upgrade would allow administrators of the site to export a list of members who have subscribed to a particular forum. The only way I can see to do it now, is to manually look into each record. This is clearly not an efficient method and certainly not the best use of my time.

Along those same lines, administrators need the option to "opt-in" members to forums. As they are members of our group, there are certain forums that are specifically related to them. Members should obviously have the ability to opt out, but by adding them when they join, they will immediately be involved in all relevant forums.

Thanks.

We have finished design and want to share progress with you. We have redesigned email settings and extended subscription options for event announcements and email blasts as well. See details in presentation below.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bj4iE_bnw_mhLM2u5KMoH6WTCh4n0oPZkDXdB2folt4/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Managing forum subscriptions hasn’t been assigned any of releases yet, but you can always track current progress in our Roadmap thread http://forums.wildapricot.com/forums/308932-wishlist/suggestions/8827717-roadmap-2015-plans-releases-expected-dates

Subscribing members for forums should be controllable for administrators, particularly when setting up the website for the first time. Transitioning from a previous website proved a challenge because there was history of subscriptions and the choice I had was ask the members to resubscribe or manually log into each user account and spoof the system for each subscription the members had. One is embarrassing the other choice is mind-numbingly tedious.

Admin can control passwords and a ton of other things, but can't subscribe a member to a forum. Odd place to draw the line. Please add this option.

We have finished analysis of this wishlist thread and related issues. Here’s a short summary of it:

Currently Wild Apricot doesn’t have any ways for administrators to subscribe members to forums and/or distinct topics, only member himself can do this. This is very limiting, e.g. in initial Wild Apricot account setup.

We are planning to
* - Add new Email Settings page, which will allow administrators to:
* Setup default forum subscriptions for new contacts
* Bulk subscribe existing contacts to forums
* - Extend Email settings page in Contact details to allow subscribing to forum topics
* - (most likely) Add similar subscription settings for subscription sources

Here’s a list of things we are not going to do in scope of this thread:
* Subscribing new contacts/bulk subscriptions to distinct forum topics
* Export/import of forum subscriptions.
* Searching and measuring forum activity. Please leave your comments for this feature here.

We are working on exact design now and will be back when it’s ready. Please leave your comments and ideas meanwhile.

Note being able to automatically be subscribed to forums is the number one complaint of our members using Wild Apricot. When they join the club and become members they want to automatically be subscribed (opt-in) to all available forums and then un-subscribe (opt-out) an individual forum.

This is critical now that 5.0 is done please make this a top priority item to fix such that the default is "subscribed" or at least make it setting the site admin can change the default as some clubs might want to leave it the way it is today. Allowing a bulk load would be an acceptable work-around. Key point our members are frustrated they are not getting forum noticiations by default and do not like that they have to go into each forum and subscribe.

I read the link you posted. First, I do have to say I appreciate the mea culpa. The fact that you guys are laying it on the line and letting us understand all the mistakes and blemishes is very refreshing. And while I know it is too late to turn back now, I hope the WA team has learned a valuable lesson. And that is, get the basic stuff right before trying to move in to all the fancy payment systems and financial modules. Most people use a hosted solution because they do not have a lot of money to build a ground up site nor do they have the technical know how. So although I am sure many of your clients are taking advantage of some of your more advanced features, my guess is that the majority are just trying to carve out a basic web site. Your model of trying to be all things to all people has landed you at jack of all trades, master of none.

I understand your frustration, but we have a limited number of resources and majority of them are focused now on the next 5.0 release - see http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/2013/08/28/wild-apricot-software-news-august-2013

This is one of the more active topics I have seen on the boards. With so many people wanting this feature, why isn't WA giving it any attention? Like many other users have mentioned, we have all but abandoned our Forums because we cannot generate any traffic. Trying to tell everyone what forums are out there and how to subscribe is a real pain to the non-savvy user. Why not let the admins have control over their own site? With such short-sightedness as this, forcing users to restricted access pages when they login, and not being able to hide menu items without going through silly workarounds, we are looking for a new hosting solution. There are so many obvious areas that the admin should be able to control. In a time when the web is so wide open to easy access of content, WA is 10 years behind the time, lacking some of the most basic web site design 101 features. Too bad.

Well it's two years later and there's not much point building up a forum if nobody is subscribed to it by default, nobody knows to subscribe to it and the Admin can't subscribe anybody either...