Former Member Still Receiving Calendar Reminders

I recently updated an event on the stake calendar and because the event was important, I checked the box that sends a notification Email to those who had signed up for reminders. A couple of days later I get a friendly "hello" from a former member of my ward who passed along a greeting as well as a copy of the event reminder.

Her membership records are no longer in my ward as she moved out months ago. I'm wondering why she received the calendar notice. Obviously, her Email address is still listed somewhere.

I seem to remember reading there are problems with member move-outs. Another ward has to "accept" their records before the change happens. You say they moved out months ago which is certainly long enough. But where they moved out to another ward, or to "address unknown"?

The individual moved out of the stake to another stake, not to an unknown address.
She's since moved back to a neighboring stake. I checked with our ward clerk this morning and did a search of all stake MLS records (On-Line) and she's definitely not listed. The problem must be with SLC somewhere. Looks like a phone call may be necessary.

techgy, were you able to resolve your problem. I recently had the same thing happen. I started receiving emails from people who have moved away from our stake (to other real addresses) more than 4 months ago. They can log into the calendar site, but none of our calendars are listed in their available calendars to subscribe or not subscribe from.

I can say ditto to this complaint. I have received several e-mails from confused members who moved out of our stake months ago. Their records are long gone, and I didn't have any explanation for them.
Dana in Omaha

Just yesterday, I received e-mails from two former members of my stake, requesting the I remove them from my distribution list. I told them I had no control over how notifications for changed calendar events are sent to members. I wish I did, but I no longer have their records in my stake.
Dana in Omaha

We thought we had a good process for removing old subscriptions. It could be we've missed some scenarios. It may be helpful to have them log in to the calendar. If they haven't logged in since they moved, there is a chance their old subscriptions have not been removed.

For our next release I'll see if we have time to take a look at this code again to see if we've missed something.

Had this same problem with people moving. I will recommend they try and log into their new ward calendar and see if that stops the notifications. The people who have received notices are members who do not use the calendar/directory system often, so they may not have tried to log on yet. The members I have had move into my ward haven't complained about receiving notices from their old unit, but most of them have accessed our calendar since they moved.

We have the same situation with a member who moved out almost a year ago. They tried unsubscribing from all calendars (although our ward was not among the ones listed) and re-subscribing. They are active in the new ward and use that wards lds.org site. They only get notifications about RS and Stake YM.

Thanks for any help,

jdcr256 wrote:We thought we had a good process for removing old subscriptions. It could be we've missed some scenarios. It may be helpful to have them log in to the calendar. If they haven't logged in since they moved, there is a chance their old subscriptions have not been removed.

For our next release I'll see if we have time to take a look at this code again to see if we've missed something.

Are you talking here about logging into the calendar site at lds.org after they move? Is the code set up so that if they do that, the site will recognize their new ward and automatically unsubscribe them from their old calendars? I have a member who is still receiving on his iPod Touch every single calendar from our stake to which he was subscribed. He moved nine months ago.

I will query him and ask if he has logged into the actual lds.org/church-calendar site and report back. I thought he told me he had done that to try and unsubscribe from the old calendars, but they were not there, of course. But that may have been too soon after he moved or too long ago to have worked.

lajackson wrote:Are you talking here about logging into the calendar site at lds.org after they move? Is the code set up so that if they do that, the site will recognize their new ward and automatically unsubscribe them from their old calendars?

Yes, that's how the code is set up now. Once a member logs in to the calendar, not just lds.org, the app can recognize that they are in a new ward and take the appropriate action to remove their subscriptions from their previous ward/stake. This should also stop email reminders for events form the previous ward/stake. We are looking into this again to track down any new issues.

kyleq wrote:Yes, that's how the code is set up now. Once a member logs in to the calendar, not just lds.org, the app can recognize that they are in a new ward and take the appropriate action to remove their subscriptions from their previous ward/stake. This should also stop email reminders for events form the previous ward/stake. We are looking into this again to track down any new issues.

Very well. I am working with someone who moved from our stake months ago and got another notification last week. It turns out he had continued to use the calendar on his iPod Touch but had never logged into the actual lds.org/church-calendar site since he moved.

Sunday he logged into the actual site. Returning to his iTouch, he says he now sees only his current stake/ward calendar information. I will trigger an e-mail alert this week and to see if he receives it. If he does not, the system works. (At least in his case.)

lajackson wrote: I will trigger an e-mail alert this week and to see if he receives it.

I sent an e-mail alert this afternoon. He did not receive it. The problem apparently is solved.

So it seems that if someone has moved and is still receiving e-mail alerts from their former stake/ward, they should log into the actual lds.org/church-calendar site, allowing the site to notice they have moved to a new stake/ward. The actual site should unsubscribe the member from any old stake/ward calendars.

This also should stop any further e-mail alerts relating to calendars in the old stake/ward from being sent to the member in the new stake/ward.

Thank you for the help, jdcr256 and kyleq. It worked for us.

lajackson wrote:the actual lds.org/calendar site,

Nit-pick: http://lds.org/calendar won't work. It's http://lds.org/church-calendar.

That said, perhaps it's simpler to say that they need to update their subscriptions. Since the only way to do that is to log into the calendar - that will fix it. It also gives them the opportunity to set up their subscriptions and notifications for their new ward.

RussellHltn wrote:Nit-pick: http://lds.org/calendar won't work. It's http://lds.org/church-calendar.

That said, perhaps it's simpler to say that they need to update their subscriptions. Since the only way to do that is to log into the calendar - that will fix it. It also gives them the opportunity to set up their subscriptions and notifications for their new ward.

Bad link, true. I should have said "the calendar at lds.org" just as kyleq said it.

Because they are trying to update their old calendar subscriptions, I still would say simply that they should log in to the actual site. They will never see their old subscriptions and therefore cannot unsubscribe, but logging in should reset/remove them.

And then I would add that, while they were logged in, they might want to set their subscriptions and notifications for the new stake/ward as you have suggested.

Just telling them to update their subscriptions is not enough. This member never realized he would have to go to the site to do it. He has been trying to figure out how to do it on his mobile device for nine months.

While not a huge issue, this seems a bid enough issue that I hope it is "re-visited" by the programmers. I suspect most of us have seen it. In the mean-time, perhaps the calendar help files should be updated with this information, and a FAQ about fixing it inserted. Maybe even consider adding a note in the "fine print" at the bottom of the notification email about moved members updating their profile? Having just the calendar admin of a ward/stake know the answer is not enough, because the question will come back to the calendar event submitter...It is their return email that is sent with the calender notification, so the moved member fires off a reply saying "Hey, you know I moved, why did you send this!" If he can also know the answer and say "log in to your calendar and select new preferences" it would help.

I have a similar issue. My daughter has recently returned from Goteborg. Her records are now in our ward and showing in MLS as a member of our household. She is not aware that she subscribed to any calendars whilst in Sweden, but now I am receiving reminders from the Goteborg Stake Activities calendar to the household email. Neither she or I can see the Goteborg stake calendar to unsubscribe. I've attached a screen shot of my calendar subscriptions.

tfb47 wrote:I have a similar issue. My daughter has recently returned from Goteborg. Her records are now in our ward and showing in MLS as a member of our household.

Is she appearing in the Directory? This will help determine if the Calendar application recognizes she is now a member of your ward.

tfb47 wrote:She is not aware that she subscribed to any calendars whilst in Sweden, but now I am receiving reminders from the Goteborg Stake Activities calendar to the household email.

If she was a member in Goteborg while the new calendar was in early release I believe the default was to be subscribed to all new calendars then.

tfb47 wrote:Neither she or I can see the Goteborg stake calendar to unsubscribe.

This is as it should be. You should only be able to view calendars of your ward and your stake.

If the system is working correctly it should behave as noted in post #11.

You did not mention how long it has been since your daughter's record appeared in your ward. A quick check to see if the system has recognized she is in a new ward is to log onto the Directory and see if she is listed there. If she is not a member of your household she would have to do this because the default for the EC is a privacy visibility setting of "Private - Leadership Only".

jdlessley wrote:If the system is working correctly it should behave as noted in post #11.

Which requires the daughter to log into the calendar subscriptions once her record is in the new ward.

Thanks. She is in the directory and has been since Sep 2011. I got her to log in tonight so we'll wait to see if that fixes it as it said in post 11

tfb47 wrote:Thanks. She is in the directory and has been since Sep 2011. I got her to log in tonight so we'll wait to see if that fixes it as it said in post 11

The key seems to be to log in to the actual calendar site at lds.org as mentioned in post #11. In addition to the member I helped (post #13), I have since asked three others do the same thing (actually log in to the calendar at the site. In each of the three cases it has solved the problem.

We are still having problems with previous members getting calendar reminders. Some have been getting them for over a year--but just barely told me. I asked other friends who have moved and some are and some aren't. Even ones who use the calendar in their new wards are still getting the emails. Any new suggestions?

Gettinsorted wrote:We are still having problems with previous members getting calendar reminders. . . .
Any new suggestions?

If members have actually gone to LDS.org after their move and signed in to the site, then still receive old calendar reminders, I see no other option than to have them, with their clerk, contact Local Unit Support and seek further direction.

lajackson wrote:If members have actually gone to LDS.org after their move

More specifically, once they have gone into the NEW calendar page (not classic) ....

There are several threads about this problem so I wasn't sure where to post this observation, but I have found a member that just recently moved from our ward/stake (July 2012) receives e-mail notifications from repeating events created before the move, but events created after she moved do not send events. For example, an Elders quorum repeating event of a monthly meeting created pre-July 2012 sends a reminder each month that she has received (July, August, September & October) but a different Elders quorum event created in September with an e-mail reminder selected did not trigger an e-mail to her account (e-mail did go out to our current ward members). This person has logged on to her new ward and subscribed to her current wards calendars.

Just thought I would add this to the mix as it is still a problem when people change wards/stakes.

jhowell2000 wrote:This person has logged on to her new ward and subscribed to her current wards calendars.

And this person continues to receive emails from her old ward?

Is this only for repeating events, or are they only the most common that fit the pattern?

It seems to be for repeating events created before she moved. She tells me she is receiving reminders for events on our ward's Elders Quorum calendar (only event on this calendar is a repeating event for a monthly meeting created before she moved). Events created after she has moved she does not receive.

jhowell2000 wrote:It seems to be for repeating events created before she moved. She tells me she is receiving reminders for events on our ward's Elders Quorum calendar (only event on this calendar is a repeating event for a monthly meeting created before she moved). Events created after she has moved she does not receive.

Interesting. I'll forward that to the developers.

Was she added to these calendars via her calling or by her name? If she was added by her name I'm thinking that may be why she's still getting emails. Thanks.

LisaAn wrote:Was she added to these calendars via her calling or by her name? If she was added by her name I'm thinking that may be why she's still getting emails. Thanks.

That's assuming she was a calendar editor. But that is a good question.

Just had one of these today. I've asked her to log in; we'll see how it goes.

But is there any other solution? I guess the subscriptions are based on static calendar-specific information and not live directory information. This doesn't seem ideal; what are the drivers behind it?

Calendar maintains its own database of user preferences and selections. Until you login to lds.org and go to Calendar we don't know that we should run out to the other membership databases and update your information.

I was just wondering why it was designed this way and if it could be done differently. Just something to think about. Thanks.

LisaAn wrote:Calendar maintains its own database of user preferences and selections. Until you login to lds.org and go to Calendar we don't know that we should run out to the other membership databases and update your information.

This works well when there is no messaging involved. We see reported numerous times in the forums that waiting for members to sign into the system after they have moved is not a user friendly method of maintaining user loyalty or trust of the system.

Can't the other membership databases trigger a change notice to Calendar when a member moves?

LisaAn wrote:Was she added to these calendars via her calling or by her name? If she was added by her name I'm thinking that may be why she's still getting emails. Thanks.

To my knowledge she was not a calendar editor so she wasn't added by name or calling, she was just a member who had subscribed to the calendar (probably automatically when the calendar was created).

jhowell2000 wrote:To my knowledge she was not a calendar editor so she wasn't added by name or calling, she was just a member who had subscribed to the calendar (probably automatically when the calendar was created).

Can you check the calendar in question and ask around? Just to be sure? I find it interesting that this complaint isn't more widespread.

RussellHltn wrote:Can you check the calendar in question and ask around? Just to be sure? I find it interesting that this complaint isn't more widespread.

She is just receiving notifications for events even after she moved, I didn't think that was different from what has been previously reported by others. I was just trying to narrow down what was causing it. She receives notices for events created before she moved not for events created after she moved. She was not added as an editor to any calendar, stake or ward, when she lived in our ward. She is just a ward member subscribed to calendars.