I found a pretty cool hack that uses AJAX to check the state of the PM system even when you're idle. It will, of course, pop up if you refresh a page. It even follows you down the page. If you're idle, however, it checks every hour to see if there are any new PM's in your mailbox and will popup.

I originally went to a text announcement because I hated the popup thing and having to deal with it right away. The text message thing on the top of the screen didn't work for me either because it was so easy to miss sometimes.

I kind of like this thing. What do you guys think? If you don't like it, is it just the icon that's obnoxious? I tried to find something that wasn't too cheesy but would also be something that would alert you.

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Rich
PCA, Northern VA
Student, New Geneva Theological Seminary

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Yes. I like it. I like it A LOT.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
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It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

It just Rocks.

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
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First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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I keep some messages in my inbox as "unread." Is there anyway I can toggle the thing off so it doesn't always tell me I have messages of which I am already aware?

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Davidius
Husband of Emily
Member of All Saints Anglican Church - Chapel Hill (AMiA / Anglican Church of North America)
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German and Classics

Plus, in this particular case, I guess I'm the Scrooge in the minority in terms of thinking it's neat-looking overall!

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Christopher Blum
Member of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Northern Kentucky (PCA) in Burlington, KY

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No. It's kind of a "binary" check. Maybe in future versions of the hack.
Ba humbug. Is it the mailbox thing or just having an icon there?

I have to admit to having a bit of a love/hate relationship with PM's. They kind of grow out of control for me and I like having a clean inbox in general with things filed away. I know I can create folders for PM's but I don't like the extra work. The problem is, also, I have important messages both in PM and inbox and don't always know where I read something.

It certainly does that. Works for me.

__________________
In Christ's love and service

Mr. Tim Cunningham,
BMus. (Preformance), University of Toronto
Dip. CS, Regent College, Vancouver
Member, First Baptist Church
Vancouver, BC
------------
"I once sat in darkness, and waited for the moon to rise.
I once sat in darkness, and waited for the son to shine.
I once sat in darkness, when all the light I'd waited for was gone.
Then Jesus came, and now the only true light, ever, shines in me."
– John Deacon -

My experience with the mailbox thingee is that it has appeared after I log out. I put my cursor over it and it says I have a PM. So, I log back in to check - and, of course, there's no PM.

Is the blinking mailbox thingee broken? I think it's a good idea, but apparently it's not working.

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Richard T. Zuelch, M.Div
Ruling Elder, OPC (not currently serving)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, CA (OPC)
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Hmmm...very strange. I don't know why it would do that. I cannot replicate the problem.

I take that back. Problem reproduced. Strange. Hopefully the coder will answer my question as to why this happens.

Just so long as the pop ups don't return!

__________________
Bill Brown
Elder
Reformed Baptist
Maryland

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I dunno... the creature inside the mailbox looks kinda nasty to me...

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Mark
Independent baptist
Singapore

The mailbox appears on the very far right of the screen, running off the screen (Firefox). It seems very hard to notice. The text was the same way. I actually liked the popups - partly because I never leave unread messages. It also has the annoying habit of "sliding" down the screen if I scroll so it is always visible (or at least 1/2 of it is).

The box (or some indicator) would be better if it was more in the middle of the top of the screen. My guess is that I'll "miss" new PMs about 50-60% of the time.

__________________
Fred Greco
Senior Pastor, Christ Church PCA (Katy, TX)
Christ Church Blog

"The heart is the main thing in true religion...It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God." (J.C. Ryle)

I don't like it. It's annoying. I liked having the text message at the top of the page.

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Patrick
MDiv, RTS Jackson
Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church (OPC), Lisbon, NY

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I liked the pop ups...and for those who didn't, there was always the option in one's CP to turn Pop-Up Notifications off.

I LIKE it! I just felt a little stupid....I got a PM and saw it blinking....then my next thought was...."have we allways had that?????"

__________________
et

Rich, I don't like it. I have no new pm's, but the thing is always there. Is there anyway I can get rid of it? It continually tells me of new pm's which simply don't exist. Thanks. Also, how do I delete old pm's?

__________________
Bobby Gawthrop, V.D.M.
licensed, ordained SBC, licensed PCA
Ph.D. student (Whitefield Theological Seminary)
"Every minister in those days had a V.D.M. degree: Verbum Dei Minister. When, therefore, I became a teacher of apologetics it was natural for me to think, not only of my Th.M. and my Ph.D., but above all of my V.D.M. The former degrees were but means whereby I might be true to the latter degree." Cornelius Van Til

Never mind. I just figured it out. Thanks.

I had the same thing happen. You probably have an unread message somewhere (on one update my read messages became unread).

The simple thing to do for these is to go to your mailbox, the inbox. At the top of the list on the right is a notice that says "Messages: " followed by the number of messages. If you click that box you will mark all of your messages.

Then scroll to the bottom of the list and you'll see a box titled "Selected Messages". If you click the little arrow to the right of the box, it will give you options to delete, move, mark as read, etc. Choose the option and all of the messages will be deleted, marked as read, whatever you choose.

You can also delete messages one at a time by marking the box next to the message.

If you're wondering "how do you get to the mailbox?", one way is to just click on your login name at the upper right corner of the opening screen. An option called "private messages" will appear. Click on that and there you are.

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Raymond Victor Bottomly
Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Tacoma, WA

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Oops. Oh well. Maybe it will help someone else.