From "Alerts" to "Notifications"

Last year we rolled out Alerts, which sent private messages from our admin account whenever there was a new private signing for one of your favorite players, a trade proposal, or an approved/rejected signing. It worked, but it had some rough edges - alerts cluttered up your Inbox alongside real mail, and you had no way to know something had arrived without opening the Inbox.

Today we are launching a much better version. We are renaming "alerts" to Notifications and giving them their own home on the site, plus a Facebook-style set of icons and unread-count badges right in the header bar.

Header Icons and Badges

Look up at the top right of any page. You will see two new icons - an envelope (Mail) and a bell (Notifications). If you have unread items, a red count badge overlaps the corner of the icon:

Click the envelope and a dropdown pops open with your 5 most recent Inbox messages - sender avatar, subject, and how long ago it arrived. Click any row to jump straight into the message:

Click the bell and you get the same treatment for your 5 most recent notifications:

Clicking a notification in the panel marks just that one as read and takes you straight to the relevant page (the signing, the trade, the announcement, etc.). No more digging around to find it.

The Notifications Page

For the full list, visit the new Notifications page (also linked in the Mail section of the site navigation):

Viewing this page marks everything as read. You can also select notifications and delete them from here. We keep the last 30 days of notifications on file.

What Triggers a Notification?

• A new private signing is posted for one of your Favorite Players
• Someone sends you a trade proposal
• A private signing you submitted has been approved
• Admin broadcasts to premium members

Premium Member Feature

The header icons, dropdown panels, and Notifications page are a premium-member feature. If you are on a basic membership and want to take advantage of these, you can upgrade your subscription any time.

A Few Other Cleanups

While we were in there, we also:

• Removed the old red "SPORTSCOLLECTORS.NET ALERT" boxes that used to appear on the home page, Account page, and Message Board - the header badges cover that job now
• Slimmed down the header bar (the Home link is gone - the SCN logo already takes you home)
• Migrated your old admin-alert messages out of your Inbox and into your new Notifications list, so your Inbox is just real member-to-member mail again

Enjoy the new Notifications - and as always, let us know what you think on the message board.