If we post a topic in a category specifically for a group (like exec, proj, etc.) does it notify people in that group? Could it be set up to do so? Writing “@username” for everyone is a pain.
@thomaspurchas
At the moment it does not. There is currently no way to automatically notify everyone (people need to be told to set the category to “Watching”. Then they will be notified about new topics and posts.
Additionally you can @message groups (e.g. @q_proj). This will then expand out to the usernames of everyone in the group.
Is it possible to change it so that people are automatically watching these group-specific categories (like the mailing lists)?
No there isn’t. I’m not 100% convinced that its a good idea either. The forums should help decrease the amount of email that people get.
I think people should be setting Watching categories and topics they are interested in. Setting watching on categories like the exec should be enforced by people not the forums. Additionally using @mentions is good for alerting people about stuff they should read.
However it might be possible change the default based on groups using a plugin, but don’t hold your breath, it’s gonna take a little while for me to get my head around the plugin stuff for discourse.
I guess what we need here is a clear scenarios where having watching as default is needed/makes the most sense.