What's with the Envelopes flying on my screen?

So we've had a few people asking... what's with the envelopes that keep flying over my screen? And how do I make them go away?

Well, the envelopes mean that you have a private message from someone. They will follow your cursor around until you click on them. It's not meant to be annoying, although I guess it can be, but they are part of this new system.

All you need to do to get rid of them is click on one of them and you'll go to your messages page. If you read your messages, the envelopes go away! It's as simple as that.

Sorry for the confusion. We're looking into see if it is possible to disable them altogether, but some people actually like them...

We'll keep you guys updated!

Thanks for your support! :D :D

its not working.... please get rid of them.... its very annoying

did you read your messages? I've tested it a few times on different accounts and different browsers. If you click on the envelope and go to your inbox and read the messages there, the envelopes disappear....

I clicked on an envelope and landed in some technicolor field in which it is just about impossible to read anything. A small, light font disappears into the intense purple background. For a few days this site was designed with a more neutral color scheme that was easier on the eyes and in which text was easier to read. Now it's like a constant battle with complexity. I think I'll go away for a few days and maybe your designer will rate usability as more important than complex visual assault.

Could we get rid of the floating envelopes? They're kinda juvenile and not very useful.

I kinda thought it was a cool feature, whats wrong with juvenile, sometimes acting or thinking juvenile keeps a person young of heart mind, body, and spirit!
I say keep the feature!

lots of fun until you click three times on them and get redirected to your mail,then have to reload the page.I say they go.

This thread should've been posted in the General section. Also there's a similar thread there :)

I agree that need to go!

It's not just the flying envelopes, or the dazzling technicolor, or the intense background, etc, it's the whole usability of the site that has taken a dramatic turn for the worse! First rule of business: don't fix what isn't broken. For many years this was a really great site that offered a neat, intuitive interface that was practical and easy on the eyes. You knew at once which threads had new posts because the thread was highlighted in bold. You knew at once which page in each thread had new posts, because new pages were also highlighted in bold. You could browse through pages upon pages of threads, going back several months. There were no flying envelopes sending you into epileptic seizures, just a discrete line at the top right of the page alerting you to any new messages. You came in, you clicked on the bold page number of whatever thread interested you, you gratified yourself, and then you were out. Things could have not have been more perfect!

Why, oh why, did you guys decide to fix what wasn't even broken? Now you spend twice as much time wading through threads, trying to figure out which pages are new (the new pages are no longer in bold). And that's when you're not being constantly molested by flying envelopes darting from every corner of the screen! God help you if you need to view threads not listed on the page, for now you have to go all the way to the bottom, configure "thread display options", click on "show threads", after which any unread thread now shows up as read, so you have no way of knowing if you missed out on any new George Clooney pics. And the grandest gesture of UNusability? The "show threads" settings don't get saved, so every time you revisit the site, it defaults to showing just the new threads of the past 24 hours. Woe be to those who were careless enough to go on a weekend trip! They're condemned to only seeing new threads of the past 24 hours.

Come on guys! You had THE BEST male feet site on the net, I'm really disappointed that you felt the need to mess it up! I'm hard pressed to imagine how any of the new interface's advantages outweigh its many disadvantages.