UI for subscribing to a bug is confusing

Not a bug, just a question

It should read "You are not directly subscribed to this bug's notifications. Edit bug mail" on the right side of the page if you haven't already subscribed. Can't see the text? Convert back to bug ;-)

No its not a question it's a bug! It is not clear on how to subscribe yourself to a bug that is already created where as I can suscribe someone else much simpler.

It's a bug not a Q&A

A nice bug "Subscribe me" link is a lot easier to spot than "not directly subscribed to this bug's notifications".

Do we gain anything by using "not directly subscribed to this bug's notifications" as the link text rather than having a "Subscribe me" link?

s/A nice bug/A nice big

I'd love to help fix this bug. I agree that its very non-intuitive. Can we do a "Subscribe Me" link just below "not directly subscribed to this bug's notifications." if I am not subscribed to the bug?

Alternatively, we could just show "Subscribe Me" instead of the whole "You are not directly subscribed to this bug's notifications." when I'm not directly subscribed.

Mathew, I'd love to hear your inputs on how to go about fixing this.

IMO:

 * The solution should be fully user tested, unlike the approach we have now, which was only mocked up and circulated for comments to members of the product team and the yellow squad.
 * The solution must support the new notification levels.
 * The solution should address bug 799914, bug 800900, and bug 800779.
 * The solution should also communicate if you are not directly subscribed but "[y]ou have subscriptions that may cause you to receive notifications". For my next points, let's call this state "you might have indirect subscriptions."
 * The solution should eliminate the "Edit bug mail" link, addressing bug 795165, bug 771217, and bug 800901 and decreasing the importance of bug 771284. I also think it would close bug 795180, because the problem described there is for using an interface that was user tested and approved *for the purpose of explaining and responding to an undesired email*. It was not approved within the context of being a generic "edit bug mail" link, and I think the concerns are valid in that context.
 * However, as I mention in bug 795180, in order to eliminate the "Edit bug mail" link, if "you might have indirect subscriptions," (see above) then we ought to include an overlay that explains the indirect subscriptions. This is the information that is rendered in the "Other subscriptions" part of the the "Edit bug mail" page. See, for instance, https://bugs.launchpad.net/launchpad/+bug/816105/+subscriptions . Many people reading this bug will have an expandable "Other subscriptions" link on that page. That code is fairly well factored, and could probably be inserted into an overlay relatively easily. Note that the data it needs should be loaded dynamically: it is not always cheap to calculate and will only be necessary in some cases.

Is it possible to meet all those requirements incrementally? E.g. one
at a time, or only a few at once?

Adding another thought to the bug, it would be nice to have a heading like "My Subscription" making it at least slightly more helpful on where to look.

Meet requirements incrementally: that's not my call to make. User testing and user design is expensive, so combining it all appeals to me. If I had to come up with a division, I'd postpone the second two bullet points (eliminating the "Edit bug mail" link and replacing it with an overlay that explains the indirect subscriptions). I'd be tempted to design the whole UI, actually, with user testing, and *then* decide what, if anything, can be divided out initially.

To repeat though, this is not my call. I was just trying to help by cataloging the tightly related issues.

s/postpone the second two bullet points/postpone the last two bullet points/

> To repeat though, this is not my call.  I was just trying to help by
> cataloging the tightly related issues.

Very much appreciated!