How to switch off the ''Email me'' default

Question

Is it possible to to switch the default in ''Email me if my answer is selected or commented on'' from ''yes'' to ''no''? Maybe there are other annoying defaults that I haven't discovered yet - these should be changeable in the profile.

Comments

Welcome to the site, prof Neumaier, it's an honour. What's your general impression of the site so far?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, no (at least not yet), as far as I know. It is possible to do this on a site-wide basis, though, but I think most users would want that turned on. 

Wouldn't it be possible to do this through a userscript, though? I will try to make one later today. 

Comments

I also find it very annoying, which is why I turn this feature off on other blogs, forums Q&A sites etc. It clutters up the inbox which is then a pain to clean up. For high rep users with many answers and comments, it must be a nightmare.

---

It wouldn't actually be that bad, all emails of the same subject like "Your PhysicsOverflow comment has been added to", "Your PhysicsOverflow question has been commented on", "Your Physics Overflow answer has been commented on", "New post on your wall", and "New private message", are collapsed into a single email anyway. So one can't have more than 5 automatic emails from Physics Overflow. 

---

@dimension10 if it was one email alert per day, and the email consisted of all updates for that period, then it wouldn't be so bad. But we're getting alerts thoughout the day for comments being added to etc.

---

@physicsnewbie Ok... Anyway, I will write the script to morrow because I only have 4 minutes,... no 3, left to tomorrow.  

---

Ok, I have written a script, but it isn't working, so I'll try and fix it and then post it later.  

---

See here: http://www.question2answer.org/qa/7479/turn-off-auto-checked-email-me-at-this-address-if (Sorry, can't use PO-editor on my smartphone).

---

@polarkernel No that is site-wide, actually. 

I  will fix my script after the start of the public beta. 

---

I think it should be turned off by default site wide. I find it annoying as all heck too, and it discourages comments, questions, and answers, because there is that momentary hesitation "Do I want even MORE spam from this site?"

---

@RonMaimon The problem is that not all updates are recorded by the history plugin. E.g. being @pinged. 

---

So what. Better to miss a ping than to drive away 89% of all users.

---

Ok done. Now the community is small and the activity is not much either, so even if pings are missed, one can find them from the activity page. But we'll need to install the @ping plugin soon.  

Answer 2

Install this userscript.  

The "bug" I found with the script turned out to not be a bug after all. While the script stops you from being emailed, it still lets the check box appear checked. It isn't hard to make it appear unchecked, just change the .attr("value","0") to .click()

Comments

Really, not good enough. It needs to be off by default, really, really, really. I'm already getting spammed, other people will stop posting immediately upon first spam.

---

Ok done. Now the community is small and the activity is not much either, so even if pings are missed, one can find them from the activity page. But we'll need to install the @ping plugin soon.