Support

Hi Picht,

I decided not to implement that feature. As it is right now, many people are still getting confused and believe that the update notification email is sent out by a mailing list on AkeebaBackup.com instead of their site. I know that the sender address says otherwise, but I even had a moron who reported HIS OWN EMAIL ADDRESS for spam and cc'ed me the email, calling me several colourful things and threatening me with legal action for "hacking his site" (the update URL, he considered "hacking"). As a result, adding a feature which would further make it more difficult for these users to properly identify the origin of the email is a no-go.

At the same time, when you receive an update email, all you have to do is to go to https://www.AkeebaBackup.com and click on the latest release announcement link, right below the login button. There I analyse with great detail what are the changes in this release and paste the Changelog at the end, thus helping you to perform an informed decision. I believe this is the best approach.

That said, I will add a link in the Live Update page which allows you to see the Changelog directly.

Still, if that option is turned off by default, only you and me would know about it (nobody reads the documentation). If the option is turned by default, I have the same issue. If I add the option to the post-installation wizard, the people who want it won't bother reading the explanation and will miss it, while the people who don't need it would just check the box. It's a lose-lose situation. So, I have decided I won't implement that feature. After all, all you need is two clicks.

I can certainly try to add a configurable option that you have to know where to go and enable it. In fact, that's the best approach, as only the people who read the documentation will find the option, leaving no room for misunderstanding. My only concern is that by doing that, I essentially create a hidden feature and wonder: is there a point doing that? If it's just for the benefit of a dozen people, can't they subscribe to my RSS feed or the Feedburner "RSS to email" list (the subscription box is on the frontpage of this site)? Should I really add this feature or is it too much trouble for nothing?

Also note that I don't complain about customers. This feature was actually present on the free (Core) release and removed only in version 3.3.5. The only reason it was removed is that I was flooded with email from people swearing at me and accusing me that I have hacked their sites. If I ever published those emails you'd probably wonder why I didn't discontinue the feature altogether :) This is what made me reluctant in implementing any change which could lead to anyone misunderstanding the source of the update email.

Moreover, the changelog is in HTML format and must be re-rendered in a text-only format which looks good in order to send it to your email. This is harder than it sounds.

Given the above, should I spend 5 hours writing this feature, or should I spend the same amount of time to implement one of the pending features, e.g. integrate box.net? For me it's a very easy choice. I will implement the feature which will benefit the most (e.g. box.net integration) and if I have some free time I will implement the feature which benefits only a handful of people.