# Finding notifications **URL:** \ **Category:** Feedback\ **Created:** [March 20, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410 "2026-03-20T14:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![noAxioms](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/noaxioms/32/658_2.png) [@noAxioms](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/noAxioms)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410/1 "2026-03-20T14:26:45Z")
I’m using a firefox web interface on a desktop. The title of my tabs says stuff like (1) The Philosophy Forum which is similar to how email signals that I have 1 unread email. I also see my personal icon in the upper right with a little orange circle with a 1 in it. Clicking my icon does nothing, but hovering on the 1 gets ‘1 unseen notification’. Clicking on the circle gets me to a random page. While I’m composing this post, it gets me to the Drafts page. Clicking on any tab with that (1) in front of it makes the (1) go away for a while, but the orange circle remains. My question is, how do I figure out which notification is unseen? The menu bar on the left has no ‘notifications’ link, but it has ‘My messages’ which gets to a personal page which has ‘Summary, Activity, Notifications, Messages, Invites …’, None of these has anything unread, yet that orange circle remains. So how do I figure out what it’s trying to tell me, so I can turn it off and actually know when there might be a new response to something of mine? ---
**Author:** ![Jamal](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/jamal/32/95_2.png) [@Jamal](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Jamal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 5:55am UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410/2 "2026-03-21T05:55:10Z")
First, some definitions. - **User menu:** this is the menu that appears when you click on your avatar in the top right of the screen, or type p (if indeed this is not working for you, as you imply, then that will be a problem) - **Main menu:** The left sidebar menu on desktop, hamburger menu on mobile `☰` > [@noAxioms](#): > > I’m using a firefox web interface on a desktop. I’m using the Firefox browser on a desktop too. 👍 > [@noAxioms](#): > > The title of my tabs says stuff like > (1) The Philosophy Forum > which is similar to how email signals that I have 1 unread email. With you so far 👍 > [@noAxioms](#): > > I also see my personal icon in the upper right with a little orange circle with a 1 in it. Okay, good. 👍 > [@noAxioms](#): > > Clicking my icon does nothing I haven’t been able to replicate that. The normal functionality, which for me has never gone wrong, is that clicking on your avatar in the top-right of the screen reveals the user menu. > [@noAxioms](#): > > hovering on the 1 gets ‘1 unseen notification’ Yep 👍 > [@noAxioms](#): > > Clicking on the circle gets me to a random page. I haven’t been able to replicate that. Clicking on the notification bubble on top of your top-right avatar should bring up the user menu, just like clicking on that avatar itself. I’ve just tested this and it works as expected. > [@noAxioms](#): > > While I’m composing this post, it gets me to the Drafts page. I haven’t been able to replicate that (I know I sound like a robot but I’m just trying to be clear). You get to your drafts via **My posts** in the main menu (in the sidebar), via the user menu (`User menu > user icon > Drafts`), or via **Preferences** in the the main menu (then `Activity > Drafts`). Do you think you clicked on one of these by mistake? Or do you just mean that composing a post saves it in Drafts? > [@noAxioms](#): > > Clicking on any tab with that (1) in front of it makes the (1) go away for a while, but the orange circle remains. I haven’t been able to replicate that. > [@noAxioms](#): > > My question is, how do I figure out which notification is unseen? The menu bar on the left has no ‘notifications’ link, but it has ‘My messages’ which gets to a personal page which has ‘Summary, Activity, Notifications, Messages, Invites …’, None of these has anything unread, yet that orange circle remains. So how do I figure out what it’s trying to tell me, so I can turn it off and actually know when there might be a new response to something of mine? You can get to notifications by various routes. - `User menu > bell icon` - `Main menu > Preferences > Notifications` - `User menu > User icon > Summary > Notifications` - etc. Some screenshots or clarifications might enable me to get to the bottom of your problem. First, can you confirm that you cannot view the user menu? To repeat, this should appear when you click on the top-right avatar (your profile pic). You can also just hit p to do the same (but not when you’re in the composer). ---
**Author:** ![noAxioms](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/noaxioms/32/658_2.png) [@noAxioms](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/noAxioms)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410/3 "2026-03-21T06:58:07Z")
> [@Jamal](#): > > **User menu:** this is the menu that appears when you click on your avatar in the top right of the screen (if indeed that’s not working for you, as you imply, then that will be a problem) Doesn’t work for me, because I do it wrong. I typically don’t want to leave the page I’m on so my instinct is to click the icon to get a new tab with wherever the link takes me, which does nothing. Yes, I see the menu now, and it’s what I was looking for, which on other sites you typically get by hovering over a bell-icon that lights up when there’s unread notifications. Thanks Jamal. Part of my problem is I say ‘clicking on’ when what I really did was [ctl]clicking on. I tend to open tabs furiously and close them when I’m done there. Firefox tab groups are your friend. > [@Jamal](#): > > > [@noAxioms](#): > > > > While I’m composing this post, it gets me to the Drafts page. > > I haven’t been able to replicate that (I know I sound like a robot but I’m just trying to be clear). While there is a notification, and while composing my OP here, there was a (1) in the orange circle in my avatar. I apparently [ctl]clicked that (not wanting to abandon a post being composed) and it took me that time to my ‘drafts’ page. But you never know where it’s going to take you. Sometimes to a topic. Took me to a page once saying I had zero personal messages. > [@Jamal](#): > > > [@noAxioms](#): > > > > Clicking on any tab with that (1) in front of it makes the (1) go away for a while, but the orange circle remains. > > I haven’t been able to replicate that. OK. Wait for there to be unread notifies, and all the TPF tabs have a (1) in front. I click on any of those tabs, and the (1) vanishes from the tab title, but still remains in the orange circle. Not too important since you showed me how to see my notifies in one click instead of several. How to know which are unseen? From the notify page (and not just the drop menu), the unread one is a different color, and apparently the only way to clear the ‘unread’ status is to click it, despite the fact that I already not only read the post I’m being notified about, but I’ve replied to it. None of that clears the notify away. Edit: All my mentions of \< ctl \> vanished altogether. I had to edit the post using square brackets instead. Apparently the angle-bracket verson (without the spaces) means something and is absorbed. ---
**Author:** ![Jamal](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/jamal/32/95_2.png) [@Jamal](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Jamal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 7:10am UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410/4 "2026-03-21T07:10:29Z")
> [@noAxioms](#): > > Part of my problem is I say ‘clicking on’ when what I really did was clicking on. I tend to open tabs furiously and close them when I’m done there. Firefox tab groups are your friend. Indeed, but at least in TPF you might be overusing tabs. > [@noAxioms](#): > > Edit: All my mentions of \< ctl \> vanished altogether. I had to edit the post using square brackets instead. Apparently the angle-bracket verson (without the spaces) means something and is absorbed. `` or `` will be interpreted as badly formed HTML, since there is no such HTML tag. You can put it between backticks like I just did in the previous sentence, written like this: ```auto `` or `` will be interpreted as badly formed ... ``` You can also use `Ctrl` to represent a keypress. It shows up in the post as Ctrl. Otherwise, I’m not sure how to answer your questions about notifications, partly because I’m still learning about Discourse’s quirks myself. Let’s see how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![noAxioms](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/noaxioms/32/658_2.png) [@noAxioms](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/noAxioms)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410/5 "2026-05-28T00:34:29Z")
Thanks for the neat shortcuts and tricks to say show Ctrl and such > [@Jamal](#): > > **User menu:** this is the menu that appears when you click on your avatar in the top right of the screen, or type p (if indeed this is not working for you, as you imply, then that will be a problem) I’m getting used to it all now. Still a steady annoyance about that user menu is the lack of time stamp on it. ‘Bob’ replied to me, but since he’s done that dozens of times, it would be quite helpful if a little tag on each notify included 15m or 6d or some such, so I can see which ones are really new and not just ones I’ve seen already. ---
**Author:** ![Jamal](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/jamal/32/95_2.png) [@Jamal](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Jamal)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 7:19am UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/finding-notifications/410/6 "2026-05-28T07:19:38Z")
> [@noAxioms](#): > > Still a steady annoyance about that user menu is the lack of time stamp on it. ‘Bob’ replied to me, but since he’s done that dozens of times, it would be quite helpful if a little tag on each notify included 15m or 6d or some such, so I can see which ones are really new and not just ones I’ve seen already. With one more click you can view the full list of notifications with timestamps. First, open the user menu, then click on the bell icon: ![Screenshot from 2026-05-28 10-15-04-mh](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/uploads/thephilosophyforum/original/1X/4790a87dfefe19c08359cda6e90dcbeb37875cc7.jpeg) That will take you to the screen shown below. ![Screenshot 2026-05-28 at 10-12-38 All - Notifications - Jamal - The Philosophy Forum](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/uploads/thephilosophyforum/original/1X/0588476917ef6418d9c184888ba580ff6b449722.png) As you can see, it shows you when they were sent.