Emily? Anybody?

Do I need to delete all the people I'm following?

Do I need to apologize to all of my followers who are getting notifications every time I like a post or write something in a thread, even if they're not following that thread?

Hi there, Please shoot us a message through help.houzz.com and we can help you there. Thanks!

Bea,

Why should we have to submit a request for help there when the problem's been outlined here? Can you not tell us how to fix it without having to go through yet another form?

Thank you,

Jeff

ETA - yes, notifications to me of threads I'm not on have gone crazy.

Bea, I messaged Houzz that same day as you requested and am still waiting for a reply and/or resolution. I just keep unfollowing people.

Hi there, Bea! How about you turkeys stop pushing out new "features" without any sort of explanation? Or, better yet, bring back the old page for activity of the people we "follow" and scrap this new "feature"?

It looks like there is a test running with notifications for expanded kinds of activities for people that you follow. Your feedback is really helpful on how this has been working for you, and we are talking to our developers and will give you any updates as soon as we have them!

It looks like there is a test running with notifications for expanded kinds of activities for people that you follow. Your feedback is really helpful on how this has been working for you, and we are talking to our developers and will give you any updates as soon as we have them!

If we're being used as guinea pigs, could we at least be notified in advance so we know what's happening?

Here's some feedback for the developers: the notifications for expanded kinds of activities for people I (used to) follow is NOT working AT ALL for me. In fact, I find it so unpleasant that I've been unfollowing people at a fairly rapid clip to keep my notifications manageable.

Bea,

With all due respect, EVERY SINGLE TIME your team has made changes the lack of notification by your team to us, your users, has been abysmal. It seems part and parcel for Houzz to simply not care about updating features that are important to us, while working on craptastic features the value of which is questionable.

You guys are naive. They’re doing A B testing. They intentionally don’t notify you because the point is to see what works better, without you knowing if you’re in the test or control. Google it.... Every e-commerce site does it. Houzz just executes it worse than others.

Thanks for the info, HKO. I will fully admit to being naive about A/B testing for websites.

without you knowing if you’re in the test or control

When even the Luddites like me notice the ham-fisted efforts, it's definitely poor execution.

Though I realize that as a GW holdover I'm not their target demographic. I have no Ideabooks, just an old collection of bookmarks set to private; my reaction to this testing is to unfollow people; and I have never, and will never, purchase anything from/via this website.

HKO,

So colour me naive - you're not the first.

Like Becky, I'm a holdover from the Spike days, and I have even less invested, other than my time, blood, sweat, and tears, in the plant forums I frequent. I used to be able to recommend this place as the place to go to for plant answers, and that still holds partially true - one just has to body-surf through the design stuff that I'm not interested in, and therefore I guess Housssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeee has even less reason to listen to me than to someone who has them there idea books, saved pages, instant-notification preferences and all kinds of modern idea sharing and hustling.

I will cop to being both naive and pissy : ) .

I would say I want the "regular" forum experience without any sudden, unexpected changes, except "regular" is already quite sub-standard, thanks to the turnips.

I’ve been having the same issues with 30 or more notifications every time I’m on Houzz. It’s so annoying that I have quit following anyone. Is that the result they want?

And yet, edenchild, I did NOT receive a notification that you had posted to this thread. Oy.

And thanks to a NY Times article yesterday, "How E-Commerce Sites Manipulate You Into Buying Things You May Not Want", which I just read tonight, I now know about

“dark patterns,” devious online techniques that manipulate users into doing things they might not otherwise choose to. They are the digital version of timeworn tactics used to influence consumer behavior, like impulse purchases placed near cash registers, or bait-and-switch ads for used cars.

I also learned a new term, "confirmshaming", for something I've noticed when I always choose to opt out of signing up,

a tactic called “confirmshaming” that requires users to click a button that says something like “No thanks! I’d rather join the ‘Pay Full Price for Things’ club” if they want to avoid signing up or buying something.

Also, The NY Times is looking for people who've encountered "dark patterns" online:

Have you encountered dark patterns?

We want to hear from you about online techniques that you feel are tricky or manipulative. We're also looking for people who have had experience with the design or use of dark patterns in their work. A reporter may contact you to learn more. If you wish to contact us confidentially, you can do so here.

Huh.

Hi @beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally, previously the number of followee activities has been limited and right now user is also allowed to choose not see those activies from your followees. You just need to go to advance setting page -- https://www.houzz.com/settingsAdvanced and uncheck the option "Show activities from users I am following at my notification center". So in that case, you could feel free to follow others without worries about seeing activity feed you dont' want. Again, thanks for your feedback and wish you have great time using Houzz!