CRT: Channel preference to auto-follow all threads in the channel

[mattermod]

Currently the only way to auto-follow threads is to participate in them, start them or be mentioned.

This ticket is to add a channel notification preference to auto-follow all threads in a specific channel. With this setting enabled, every thread in the specific channel will be auto-followed and appear in users Threads view. The default is off.

Figma design (with notes)

https://www.figma.com/file/LR6SGToLAUbrnGxM0i0rp8/?node-id=0%3A1

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JIRA: https://mattermost.atlassian.net/browse/MM-37933

[sinansonmez]

@esethna I would like to work on this but do I need to wait for the implementation of New Notifications Preferences Modal before starting to work on this. Because preference to auto-follow has different UI in new notifications preferences modal

[esethna]

@sinansonmez there's actually a version of this in the figma file for the old modal design (so it doesn't have to be blocked):

[esethna]

@doranych @Shabablinchikow I noticed you thumbs downed this feature. Can I ask for some feedback? :)

Note that this setting is per user and not enabled by default, it's only for those users that choose they want to closely follow every conversation in a particular channel and not miss anything.

[sinansonmez]

@esethna thanks for the clarification. Currently I have bunch of tickets assigned to me. I will try to tackle them first. Then I will try to work on this if no one takes this issue by that time

[chrishanthmathew91]

I would like to take a stab at this

[chrishanthmathew91]

@esethna I have a couple of doubts.

1. I have a bunch of text that needs translation. How do I go about it?
2. Is there any way to simulate multiple users in my local instance? I would like to test out threads created by different users to see if my implementation is correct

[esethna]

@chrishanthmathew91 excited to see this!

1. As long as you've added the strings to the en.json then they will get translated by our community as part of the release process (so no need to worry about that)
2. I believe you can do a /test users 10 to add users. Although the easiest way is probably just to create a few users in your test instance and have them logged in via different browsers or incognito windows so you can observe and test on multiple accounts at once

[chrishanthmathew91]

@esethna I have another doubt with regards to the behaviour:

Currently, threads can be auto-followed by being mentioned, starting or participating in the thread. In addition, we can also manually follow threads. Consider the following scenario. When we toggle on the auto-follow switch, it will cause all unfollowed threads in the channel to be followed. Now when we toggle off auto-follow, what is the expected behaviour? Do we expect all followed threads to be unfollowed or do we expect the mentioned, participated or manually followed threads to maintain their "followed" state?

Also, does toggling on follow even older, unfollowed threads in the channel or only the upcoming threads?

[esethna]

@chrishanthmathew91 excellent questions we hadn't considered. Here's my thoughts, and I'll also tag @matthewbirtch for his comments.

1. Toggling on should only auto-follow new threads that get created in the channel. We want to avoid doing a heavy migration or computation when the feature is turned on. @matthewbirtch perhaps we want to update the help text to make that more clear?

2. Toggling off the feature should not unfollow any threads - otherwise users might have trouble locating old threads they used to find in the Threads view.

Thoughts or concerns with this approach?

[matthewbirtch]

@chrishanthmathew91 excellent questions we hadn't considered. Here's my thoughts, and I'll also tag @matthewbirtch for his comments.

1. Toggling on should only auto-follow new threads that get created in the channel. We want to avoid doing a heavy migration or computation when the feature is turned on. @matthewbirtch perhaps we want to update the help text to make that more clear?
2. Toggling off the feature should not unfollow any threads - otherwise users might have trouble locating old threads they used to find in the Threads view.

Thoughts or concerns with this approach?

@esethna I agree with your comments here - and I believe I had the first item noted in the design file:

[danilvalov]

Sorry, I know this is not releated directly, but could we add the following feature to this issue?

Allow to disable thread autofollow when whole channel was mentioned:

Add parameter that allows Mattermost admin, to disable thread autofollow while having collapsed reply thread turned on while mass mentions are used (@channel, @all, @here). I want my users to get notification, but not to follow this thread automatically, afaik, this is not possible at this moment.

[matthewbirtch]

Sorry, I know this is not releated directly, but could we add the following feature to this issue?

Allow to disable thread autofollow when whole channel was mentioned:

Add parameter that allows Mattermost admin, to disable thread autofollow while having collapsed reply thread turned on while mass mentions are used (@channel, @all, @here). I want my users to get notification, but not to follow this thread automatically, afaik, this is not possible at this moment.

@danilvalov we have a separate ticket for this: https://mattermost.atlassian.net/browse/MM-37813

[tanmaythole]

I want to take this

[lenaschimmel]

Can somebody explain what is the difference between this issue, and that feature of the v8.0 release?

Added a new option to auto-follow all threads in the channel Notification Preference settings.

I just checked, and the feature is definitely there (tested on server version 9.1.1 with desktop client 5.4.0).

[dmitry-j-mikhin]

Can somebody explain what is the difference between this issue, and that feature of the v8.0 release?

Added a new option to auto-follow all threads in the channel Notification Preference settings.

I just checked, and the feature is definitely there (tested on server version 9.1.1 with desktop client 5.4.0).

Thank you. Also checked and it looks like what I was looking for )

[matthewbirtch]

@amyblais @esethna I think we can close this issue right? It's already in the product as of 8.0.

[ydirson]

That's great, thanks for the feature!

Note the doc says Channel Notification Preference settings can also be accessed from "Select the channel name, then select Notification Preferences", but in the web app it does not seem to be possible (and it would be a great time saver when you want to apply that setting to most/all of your chans)

[dovholuknf]

I was very excited to learn this feature was implementd. It's much appreciated. I'd still really appreciate a GLOBAL version of this flag so I don't need to do this for every channel.