Notifications and Following

To keep you abreast of the latest developments amongst your favorite Hubbers, Topics, and discussions on HubPages, HubPages delivers notifications.

There are three avenues through which you may receive notifications:

1. On-site notifications: Visible in summary form on the notifications pane and in full on the Your Notifications page.
2. Direct emails from HubPages: Instant or Daily Digest emails updating you on HubPages activity
3. Mobile alerts: If you own an iPhone, we recommend getting our HubPages App; it's free! This will keep you updated on all things HubPages when you're out and about.

On-site notifications let you know when:

• Someone has commented on a Hub on which you have also left a comment
• Someone has commented in a Forum thread in which you participated
• Someone has answered a Question you asked
• Someone has submitted an Answer to a Question that you are following or have answered

Off-site notifications (emails and mobile alerts) encompass additional developments, as outlined in the table below.

HubPages tries to update you with relevant information with a respect to your inbox capacity. To do this, we will only send you one email notification on a Hub, post, comment, etc. every 8 hours. This stopwatch begins every time you visit the Hub, post, comment, etc. For example, if you leave a Forum post and five people comment on the post, we will only send you one email every 8 hours, unless you visit the post. Once you visit the post, the 8 hour stopwatch begins again.

There are three different email settings that you can configure by going to your email settings page under My Account > Profile > Email Settings.

1. Never - Check this bubble if you never want email or instant notifications from HubPages.
2. Auto - The “Auto” setting, which is the coolest, utilizes a complex formula to send you updates only on new developments that are likely to interest you. Details factored into such updates include the quality of the notification, your affinity for the particular Hubber involved (e.g. whether or not you’re following them, have visited their profile recently, etc.), this person’s HubScore, thumbs up or down on an Answer, and whether or not you are following and frequently check in on the particular Topic in question. Your affinity for certain Topics is even separated out by Hubs, Questions, and Forums, as not all Hubbers who enjoy hanging out in the religious Forums, for example, read many religious Hubs. Last but not least, the level of email will adjust based on whether you interact with what we send you. For example, if you stop clicking on the Topic notification links for body art, tattoos and piercings, we will slow down those notifications to you.
   
   
3. Always - If you check the Always bubble, HubPages will notify you every time activity occurs in one of the areas you are following.

If you don't want to receive emails for every activity but also don't want to miss out on anything, we recommend setting the Auto function for the Instant Email group, but the Always bubble for Daily Digest. That way, you are certain not to miss any activity that is important to you.

To get to your notification settings page, go to My Account > Profile > Email Settings

When you follow a Hub, you will receive notifications when new comments are left. If you are the author of a Hub, you will always receive these notifications.

There are two ways to follow the comments in a Hub:

1. Leave a comment and leave the box checked that says "Follow this Hub's comments."
2. Click the green Follow button at the top of the comments thread.

If you would like to stop following comments on a Hub, visit the Hub and click "unfollow" or visit My Account > Hubs You Follow.

You will not be notified about activity in Topics or Forums unless you follow them. You can do so by visiting individual Topic and Forum pages and clicking the "Follow" button.

You will, however, be notified of new posts in Forum threads in which you post, unless you have unchecked the option to follow forum threads that you post to and create under My Account > Following > Forums You Follow.

By asking a Question or Submitting an Answer, you will, by default, follow that Question, but if you don't feel like jumping in right away, you can click the "Follow" button and still be notified when every time Hubber submits an Answer.

When you grow tired of hearing about new Answers to a Question, you can unfollow it by visiting the Question and clicking "unfollow" or doing the same from My Account > Questions You Follow.

Did you know that you can pause your notifications when you go on vacation? Click the "Vacation (pause all notifications)" box to hold off on all of your notifications until you return from your trip.