Your original question is here - https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/812506

That's nice Tony, and very specific, but I concur, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to find your own questions here. I can see my own replies, but not topics I've started myself. A more generic answer would be more helpful for anyone else looking for the same answer to this very general and basic question. Many people use forums to find the same solution someone else used. There is rarely a need to reinvent the wheel.

You can go to the main https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions page.
If you are logged on then you see a My Contributions item in the Filter bar at the top.

This is very frustrating. This Support site is far too difficult to use.

A support site is of no use if users can't find their questions to see if anyone has successfully answered them. PLEASE, can this site be made to be user-friendly?

DO THIS, please:

1 -- Get us to our previous questions. After logging in, at the main support page (https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/home) please place a BIG BUTTON on THAT PAGE that takes us to our previously asked questions. Currently, no one here has been able to find an "intuitive/logical" link to get to their previously asked questions.

Any why not just be simple and literal: Label the button "YOUR PREVIOUS QUESTIONS," not "My Favorites (Goggle Groups)," or "My Contributions."

"My Contributions" sounds like either (1) a log of $funds I may have contributed to Mozilla, or at best (2) answers I may have given (contributed) to some else.

2 -- Make it just as easy to FIND and SORT through previous topics.

Both of the above functions should be the very FIRST OPTIONS a user needing help can see. FIRST, on the FIRST PAGE. Please do NOT HIDE or BURY those two very vital options down in the middle of other text and options.

Sitting here now, we only found this thread by accident and have not been able to find it again by beginning at the sign-in page when trying to do so in a new window. There seems to be NO logical or intuitive path to your currently-labeled page, "My Contributions." If the path exists, it isn't apparent nor user-friendly.

Does any of this make sense? Please, anyone with the authority to make these changes is free to contact me about further explanation, because I doubt that I'll be able to find this thread or my post here again.

3 -- Email alerts. Is it possible to have an automated alert sent to our email addresses when someone posts a reply to our questions? We know it's technically possible because other sites do it. Can THIS help site do it?

I agree with the above comment. I've spent 10 minutes trying to find a question I asked several days ago. Even after reading the comments on this page it took another 5 minutes to find my question.

This site needs to be edited by people who are not computer savvy, so it can be easier to use.

"My Contributions" means all messages you have posted in this forum. So why is it difficult to find your messages?

Did you see the "Get email updates" option on the top right column? If you want to receive notices of replies to your posts, use that option, simple as that.

silkphoenix: Thank you for your post. You just confirmed my (and all those who share my anguish) comments.

(1) The reason it's difficult to find our messages is because it's difficult to find the "My Contributions" button, then

(2) "My Contributions" has to be explained because it's ambiguous, has varying possible meanings, and

(3) no, we clearly did not see the "Get email updates" option, confirming that HELP/SUPPORT sections must be designed and written by people who use the adage "form follows function," meaning that the function (in this case the "message") is more important than the form (design layout).

I work with graphic designers all the time. By far, the biggest problem is that they want their design to dictate where and how the message is communicated. That's 100% backward. Message comes first. Design comes second. Message must be all-important. The design must enhance the appearance/communication of the message.

Why use phrases and words that have varying meanings?

An experienced, professional journalist/copy-writer/tech-writer knows that a HELP Section is the last place you ever want to try being clever, coy, mysterious, ambiguous.

A HELP Section is where you want to be on-point and literal.

"My Contributions" should be changed to "My Previous Questions." Then add a separate button labeled "My answers to others' questions." And place those BIG buttons on the FIRST page, even the HOMEPAGE where they link to the Support page. It's an easy thing to do and it leaves no doubt in anyone's mind what the meaning is.

The first goal of marketing/customer service is this:

Give the customer/receiver the vital info at-a-glance:

(1) PLACEMENT: put the product where the customer will see it.

(2) NAME: name it so "what it does" is clear/intuitive.

(3) FUNCTION: a brief tagline saying what the product does.

(4) PRICE: what the customer needs to do the use it -- pay, or click, etc.

Here, Placement means putting the vital buttons on the first page where we'll see them and won't miss them. Name means labeling the buttons by their literal meaning. Function means providing a brief tagline for each button. Price means to use it just click it.

The only question for debate is this:

Why would anyone...not...want to use those literal labels? What benefit is there to even risk being vague or ambiguous? It may not be vague or ambiguous to the original creator, but it's not there for the creator's use; it's there for use by those who need help, who need a layman's explanation to understand something.

Who benefits from placing a button where people will miss it?

The only reason for these changes...not...to be made is if the person in charge of the design here is offended and refuses to make the changes.

Again, thank you for your post. At least we know someone is indeed listening.

There are a lot of us who are frustrated and aggravated by not being able to find info easily -- more aggravated than we are by the technical problem to begin with.

jackryaninLA -- "Again, thank you for your post. At least we know someone is indeed listening. "

I just want to clarify one thing. Everyone that posts answers in this forums are all volunteers and are not working for Mozilla. We post answers here to help users who have problems, from our own experiences or from reading other users' experiences. While your complaints are legit, there's nothing anyone (at least many) in this forum can do about it. I think there's a website you can input your complaints/improvements to Mozilla, but I couldn't remember what is it. Maybe some of the experienced contributors can tell you.

Doesn't work for me.

Thanks. I went there before but could only see my own replies, not my own threads. Now today I see the threads too. Odd. Anyway, it works now. Thanks again.

It seems that there is a feature to have email alerts but it does not have fine grained control. In other words, unlike on nearly every other forum on the planet I've ever encountered, this one is an all or nothing alert. Either you get alerts for each and every thread you've ever participated in, or none at all. If there is a way to "watch" only certain threads and receive email alerts that replies have been made (to ONLY those threads) then the setting is certainly not in an easy to find or intuitive place. The only workaround I have discovered is that each thread has its own RSS feed. So I created a live bookmark folder on my Bookmarks Toolbar, and subscribed to the feeds of the threads I wanted to watch. I don't get an email, but I can easily check for replies. It even uses a different favicon for your reply and all others after it.

I'm also stumped why there isn't an option, or why one is not automatically "watching" a new topic/question/thread one creates themselves. Every other forum I've been on that offered watching threads, had this turned on either by default, or you had the option to set before finalizing the posting.

jackryaninLA:

Exactly.

Unfortunately this is becoming an epidemic. Or maybe it always was there and I didn't notice until I started doing web design. I find it is also a huge problem in stand alone apps. All too often, people want to change the metaphor from something people are used to and expect. Sometimes, that works and we're better for it. Most of the time, however, it's a disaster - like this site.

And yes, I know everyone here are volunteers. But with all this trouble just to find help from volunteers, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to find the suggestion box for this confounded site. With any luck, someone will see this problem and fix it.

Notice also, there is a "reply" link under each post here. Yet NONE of the replies are nested, all of them appear in order posted. I just made several replies to specific people by clicking the "reply" link under each one and instead, my replies got placed at the bottom, rather than in direct response to the post I hit reply for.

samadams -- "Either you get alerts for each and every thread you've ever participated in, or none at all."

WRONG! You can always go back to any threads you have posted and click STOP EMAIL UPDATES (same place you click get email updates). After that, no update will be sent.

silkphoenix:

"You can always go back to any threads you have posted and click STOP EMAIL UPDATES (same place you click get email updates). After that, no update will be sent. "

That's correct - NO updates will be sent. It is not by thread. It is either on or off. I've tried this four times. Either I get updates for ALL threads or NO threads. But I can subscribe to individual feeds. Odd.

What do you mean by "thread"? To me, a "thread" is a post of different subject.

Yes, by 'thread' I mean separate topics. 'Post' might be confusing because it encompasses original posts which begin a new thread, as well as replies to an existing thread. A 'post' would be a generic term for every message. A thread is a collection of messages (in the form of replies and nested replies) on a (usually) singular topic or question.

A forum generally lists threads. You then view a thread and can see the original post, as well as replies and then make replies yourself.

So, to the subject from the ORIGINAL post that started this thread: the email subscription function on this site, at least in my experience, is site wide. It does not set subscriptions per thread. Either you get an update any time anyone posts a reply to any thread you've ever participated in, even if it isn't one of your own creation, or you get no updates at all. It is on or off, with no per-thread control. At least that is how it works for me. If this is not how it is designed to work, I have no idea why there is a discrepancy.

The original poster wanted to know how to get back to threads they started to see replies. This is REAL easy on other forums. Other forums give you an obvious way to see the threads you started, and to see the replies you made to threads others have started - SEPARATELY.

This site hides both together under the vague "My Contributions" link, that isn't easy to find on the site. As it is, one has to navigate a spaghetti road map just to find the forums.

It is customary on most forums to put access to a users threads and posts in some sort of "my account" link or some such. This site has a "My Dashboard" link, but there doesn't seem to be any function or purpose to it.

WE NEED HELP!

We cannot find the elusive "questions" page to then find "My Contributions."

We did this:

1. Found homepage: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/fx/?ref=logo

2. In menu bar, chose Support/Firefox, got this: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/home

3. Signed in. I'm now logged in.

4. Your instructions are these: "You can go to the main https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions page. If you are logged on then you see a My Contributions item in the Filter bar at the top."

5. QUESTION: Am I now at the "questions page?" If not, how do I get to it, because "My Contributions" does not appear anywhere on the page I'm on.

6. The closest I see to anything mentioning "questions" is a button that says "Ask a Question" in the upper right section of the page.

7. Clicking that "Ask a Question" button gets me this page: https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/ask. But, still, there is no "My Contributions" button or link anywhere to be seen.

Can anyone help?

Also, what is a "Filter bar?" Is that supposed to be what we all know as a Menu bar? Thanks,

The main questions page is the page that lists all forum posts.

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions

That page has a filter bar at the top that has a "My Contributions" entry at the far right as the last one if you have logged on this forum site. If you click that link then the page reloads and you only see your own contributions.

This page is a page that only shows one thread and this page doesn't have that filter bar.

jackryaninLA:

The first thing you see on the "questions" page is this text below the page header:

"Firefox Support Forum The Official Community-Driven Support Web Site for Firefox"

Directly beneath that is the filter bar. If you don't see it, I don't know what to tell you. It is a standard element on the page.

On this bar you should see:

Sort: Most Recent | Most Requested Show: All | Unsolved | Solved | No Replies | My Contributions

Here is the direct link to the Contributions page:

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions?filter=my-contributions