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I am asking this here, because only the Science Fiction & Fantasy site seems to be affected. The other stacks I am active on are behaving normally.

For the last few weeks (at least) every time I have a new notification from SF&F, it pops up a number showing how many new notifications I supposedly have; and the number is almost always wrong, always from one to three larger than the number of actual new notifications. (I initially thought that the number was always wrong, but it may be correct, if I already have Stack Exchange open in a browser when the notification appears.)

Screenshot

Is anyone else experiencing this? And does anyone know what is going on?

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  • Do you have a screenshot? – Alex Oct 17 '18 at 2:52
  • @Alex I will take one when I get a chance. When the notification for your comment popped up, it didn't happen though. So it may only happen when I do not already have Stack Exchange open in a browser window at the time the notification arrives. I have edited the question accordingly. – Buzz Oct 17 '18 at 2:57
  • My other thought is that it might be because multiple comments are on the same post. I think I've had that, i.e. it says there are two new comments but only shows one new one because they're both on the same post. Have you noticed such a pattern? – Alex Oct 17 '18 at 3:11
  • Indeed, there's a post about this: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/312634/… And another post arguing that the system should be changed so the number and actual notifications match up: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/261540/… – Alex Oct 17 '18 at 3:14
  • And you should be able to test this right now because the number should tell you that you have three new comments, but since they're all on this post it might only show you the most recent one. – Alex Oct 17 '18 at 3:15
  • @Alex Yes, it showed a numeral three but only one actual message. I'm adding a screenshot, but it seems that the main meta post covers it. – Buzz Oct 17 '18 at 3:26
7

The red number is the total number of new items. However, if you have multiple answers or multiple comments you got on a single post, it only displays the most recent one in your dropdown inbox. This lowers the chance of you missing something when you have 20 new comments on one post and one new comment on another. Your full inbox (here, which you can navigate to by clicking "all items" in the dropdown) shows all the items separately. If you're only looking at replies on a specific site you can also check the response tab in your profile (here, for example)

It probably made more sense when they showed how many items were in each stack.

Also, this behavior is similar to how the reputation dropdown works.

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  • Also worth mentioning the Responses tab on your profile shows all items individually since your last visit to that tab: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/[userid]?tab=responses – TheLethalCarrot Oct 17 '18 at 7:59
  • Thanks Yani. :) – Möoz Oct 22 '18 at 3:13

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