Notifications Policy

Why we send notifications, what they must do, and what they must never do.

Last Updated: April 08, 2026

TL;DR

• Every Meetball notification must earn its place and deliver real value to the recipient.
• It should do one of four things: activate a user, close a loop, reconnect meaningfully, or inform with something they care about.
• Never fake urgency, send messages just to drive engagement, guilt people, or broadcast irrelevant content.
• Limit non-essential notifications to max 1 per day (3 per week).
• If a notification wouldn't make someone glad to receive it, don't send it.

Let's be honest about where we are

It may be foolish to publish a promise before we know we can keep it. But we are on a mission to build differently, and we need our community to understand our intentions and judge us by how we stick to them. Sometimes we'll need to make adjustments. When we do, we'll explain why.

The one rule

Notifications can be annoying. We've all turned them off for apps that abused them. And yet some are essential. If someone messages you on Meetball, you need to know. If someone says "I Can Help" to something you posted, you absolutely need to know.

The question is not whether to have notifications. It's whether each one earns its place.

We're getting started, and we need to strike a balance: not annoying people, but making sure they know when something matters. Some people love notifications. Some hate them. We won't get this right immediately — we'll learn what our community values and adjust accordingly.

Our goal is simple: can we make Meetball notifications something people actually look forward to receiving, because something good happened? That's where we want to be.

The three jobs a Meetball notification can do

Every notification does one of three things. It either activates, closes a loop, or re-connects. Nothing else. Ok, we also have many members who are here because of our mission — they love following the journey as we build Meetball, so we will also inform and entertain, but not spam.

1. Activate

Get someone from "signed up" to "first real action". A member who posts their first need within 48 hours is far more likely to stick around. Activation notifications reduce friction and remove fear. They say: here's what to do next, it's simple. They show the path, they never push.

2. Close the loop

When something happens because of a member's action, they need to know. Someone offered to help. Someone joined their Space. A post got a response.

These are not marketing messages — they are the product working. This is the most important category. If we deprioritise these, we break the core mechanic of the platform.

3. Re-connect

Bring back members who've drifted, but only with something real. Not manufactured urgency. Not dark patterns. A genuine need in a Space they're in, someone who could use their help, an event coming up. The message must answer: why now, for this person, specifically?

4. Inform

Meetball is built in the open. Many of our members are here not just to connect, but because they believe in what we're building. When something real happens — a new feature, a milestone, a decision we made and why — we'll tell you. Not to keep you engaged. Because you're part of this, and you deserve to know.

The promise: real updates, not broadcast noise.

What we must try never to do

1. Manufacture urgency. No fake counters. No "your post is getting attention" unless it genuinely is. People feel the difference, and when they catch us faking it, we lose them.
2. Send just to keep someone engaged. "Engagement" is not a reason to interrupt someone's day. The reason is always what the member gets from opening the message.
3. Guilt or pressure. No "your community needs you." Meetball is built on people helping freely — obligation as a lever destroys that.
4. Send the same message to everyone. A notification that isn't relevant to the recipient's actual situation isn't a notification, it's spam.
5. Over-notify. The test: would a thoughtful person be glad they received this? If the honest answer is "probably not", don't send it.

How we handle unsubscribes

We will always give members the ability to opt out. But we must be thoughtful about how. A single "unsubscribe from all" button is a blunt instrument — click it and you'll no longer even know when someone says "I Can Help" to something you posted. That's not protecting you, that's disconnecting you from our ability to deliver our promise.

So we aim to make unsubscribe options specific: opt out of re-engagement nudges, yes. Opt out of match suggestions, fair enough. But we'll always make sure you understand what you're turning off, and we'll never bury the important ones inside a single toggle.

How we'll get better at this

Right now, most of our members use the web app, which means email is our primary channel. We won't abuse that. As the platform grows we'll offer more ways to receive notifications — in-app, push, and others — so members can choose what works for them.

We'll consolidate where possible. One message covering three things beats three separate interruptions.

Most importantly, we will listen. We watch unsubscribe analytics, read complaints, and pay attention to appreciations. If a notification type is consistently ignored or turned off, that's a signal we got something wrong. We'll act on it.

How often we'll reach out

Good intentions without limits become noise. So we're setting a ceiling: no more than one non-essential notification per day, and no more than three per week. Notifications that close a loop — someone offered to help, someone responded — don't count against that limit. Those are the product working. Everything else does. If we can't stay within this, we'll say why. But we must try to stay well under this limit.

How to write a Meetball notification

Direct, concise, warm, human. No jargon. No filler.

Lead with what happened, not with Meetball. "Ana offered to help with your event logistics" — not "You have a new notification."

One CTA. Always one. Make it specific. "See Ana's offer" — not "View notification."

Respect the channel. A push notification is five words. An email has room to breathe. A DM is a conversation. Don't copy-paste across channels.

If you're unsure whether to send it, don't. That instinct is usually right.

We will update this policy as we learn. The version you're reading is a starting point, not a final answer. If we stray from this, call us out. If you can improve our notifications strategy, we'd love to hear it.