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Am I Understanding This Feature Correctly? - Printable Version

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Am I Understanding This Feature Correctly? - Chuck Colsch - 08-28-2024

Hello Fellow FocusMe Users!

I am a NEW USER & do Not Know whether I Understand a Specific Feature!!  So: Please let me tell you what happened ---

In the Early Afternoons—From 1:00 PM TO 3:00 PM—I always NEED to have a Few, Very Specific Social-Media Websites (E.G.: Reddit) BLOCKED, Since they tend to Distract me from my work.

So, into Plan "•Stay Focused, •Scheduled" – Set _ONLY_ for Today—"Wednesday, 28 August" — I entered THREE Websites by their Titles—with Protection of "FORCED" for BOTH “Active” AND “Inactive”.  I Set the "End Date" To Likewise END On this Same Day: "Wednesday, 28 August." 
Now, I Had Planned (Apparently in ERROR!!) for Later Today that, when the timing became apparent Later This Evening, I would ADD another Block for LATE Tonight – So I Could Avoid Social-Media too close to bedtime.

So, you see: I Had Thought that, since the above-described Plan has Zero Effect after the Set 3:00 PM, the FM Program would let me simply ADD another Block-Period. 
But I now notice that FocusMe permits my making ZERO Adjustment To THIS Plan Whatsoever(!!)–>For ALL Of TODAY, and the ONLY way I can block the 3 above-mentioned websites for later today is to create a Totally Additional, Duplicate plan {except that the block-period will be set for LATE Tonight}.

SO:: (1) IS my described understanding accurate?  And, in future, should I simply have a Duplicate Plan for my Late-Day Blockage?
AND More Importantly: (2) IS my understanding Absolutely Accurate that the above-described "Plan" will indeed permit ANY & ALL edits Whatsoever After Midnight Tonight?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH For Your Assistance with this Issue!!

~ Chuck Colsch


RE: Am I Understanding This Feature Correctly? - FocusMe Admin - 09-01-2024

(08-28-2024, 11:02 PM)Chuck Colsch Wrote: Hello Fellow FocusMe Users!

I am a NEW USER & do Not Know whether I Understand a Specific Feature!!  So: Please let me tell you what happened ---

In the Early Afternoons—From 1:00 PM TO 3:00 PM—I always NEED to have a Few, Very Specific Social-Media Websites (E.G.: Reddit) BLOCKED, Since they tend to Distract me from my work.

So, into Plan "•Stay Focused, •Scheduled" – Set _ONLY_ for Today—"Wednesday, 28 August" — I entered THREE Websites by their Titles—with Protection of "FORCED" for BOTH “Active” AND “Inactive”.  I Set the "End Date" To Likewise END On this Same Day: "Wednesday, 28 August." 
Now, I Had Planned (Apparently in ERROR!!) for Later Today that, when the timing became apparent Later This Evening, I would ADD another Block for LATE Tonight – So I Could Avoid Social-Media too close to bedtime.

So, you see: I Had Thought that, since the above-described Plan has Zero Effect after the Set 3:00 PM, the FM Program would let me simply ADD another Block-Period. 
But I now notice that FocusMe permits my making ZERO Adjustment To THIS Plan Whatsoever(!!)–>For ALL Of TODAY, and the ONLY way I can block the 3 above-mentioned websites for later today is to create a Totally Additional, Duplicate plan {except that the block-period will be set for LATE Tonight}.

SO:: (1) IS my described understanding accurate?  And, in future, should I simply have a Duplicate Plan for my Late-Day Blockage?
AND More Importantly: (2) IS my understanding Absolutely Accurate that the above-described "Plan" will indeed permit ANY & ALL edits Whatsoever After Midnight Tonight?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH For Your Assistance with this Issue!!

~ Chuck Colsch
Hello Chuck,

Thank you for bringing this up with the community! We're definitely here to help  - we appreciate you for being very clear about your concern. We're here to help! 

1. Your understanding is almost correct! When you set your plan to Forced Mode even when inactive - that won't really allow you to do any modifications at all unless your plan expires. Which in your case, that'll be the next day since you set an end date on the same day. What I can recommend is to not set it to forced mode when it's inactive so that you can make changes like adding to your blocklist, etc. No need to create a duplicate plan to make it easy for you but if you choose to have Forced Mode for both inactive and active, then yes... you'll need to create a new plan. 

2. Yes, you should be able to make adjustments after midnight. 

In case you still need further help, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us for faster response: focusme.com/support/

Thank you and we appreciate you! 

Ryan

The FocusMe Support Team


RE: Am I Understanding This Feature Correctly? - Chuck Colsch - 09-02-2024

(09-01-2024, 11:41 PM)FocusMe Admin Wrote:
(08-28-2024, 11:02 PM)Chuck Colsch Wrote: Hello Fellow FocusMe Users!

I am a NEW USER & do Not Know whether I Understand a Specific Feature!!  So: Please let me tell you what happened ---

In the Early Afternoons—From 1:00 PM TO 3:00 PM—I always NEED to have a Few, Very Specific Social-Media Websites (E.G.: Reddit) BLOCKED, Since they tend to Distract me from my work.

So, into Plan "•Stay Focused, •Scheduled" – Set _ONLY_ for Today—"Wednesday, 28 August" — I entered THREE Websites by their Titles—with Protection of "FORCED" for BOTH “Active” AND “Inactive”.  I Set the "End Date" To Likewise END On this Same Day: "Wednesday, 28 August." 
Now, I Had Planned (Apparently in ERROR!!) for Later Today that, when the timing became apparent Later This Evening, I would ADD another Block for LATE Tonight – So I Could Avoid Social-Media too close to bedtime.

So, you see: I Had Thought that, since the above-described Plan has Zero Effect after the Set 3:00 PM, the FM Program would let me simply ADD another Block-Period. 
But I now notice that FocusMe permits my making ZERO Adjustment To THIS Plan Whatsoever(!!)–>For ALL Of TODAY, and the ONLY way I can block the 3 above-mentioned websites for later today is to create a Totally Additional, Duplicate plan {except that the block-period will be set for LATE Tonight}.

SO:: (1) IS my described understanding accurate?  And, in future, should I simply have a Duplicate Plan for my Late-Day Blockage?
AND More Importantly: (2) IS my understanding Absolutely Accurate that the above-described "Plan" will indeed permit ANY & ALL edits Whatsoever After Midnight Tonight?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH For Your Assistance with this Issue!!

~ Chuck Colsch
Hello Chuck,

Thank you for bringing this up with the community! We're definitely here to help  - we appreciate you for being very clear about your concern. We're here to help! 

1. Your understanding is almost correct! When you set your plan to Forced Mode even when inactive - that won't really allow you to do any modifications at all unless your plan expires. Which in your case, that'll be the next day since you set an end date on the same day. What I can recommend is to not set it to forced mode when it's inactive so that you can make changes like adding to your blocklist, etc. No need to create a duplicate plan to make it easy for you but if you choose to have Forced Mode for both inactive and active, then yes... you'll need to create a new plan. 

2. Yes, you should be able to make adjustments after midnight. 

In case you still need further help, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us for faster response: focusme.com/support/

Thank you and we appreciate you! 

Ryan

The FocusMe Support Team


Thank You, Ryan, for your very helpful response!!

It is SOO Nice to have finally gotten past the Total Newbie Stage, & to now find the FocusMe Program so much easier than initially!!

TWO additional questions that the above-described issue bring up for me::
Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that I continued to use "Forced Mode" for both Active & Inactive Blocks ---
Firstly, if I Simply Take Good Care that I ALWAYS set the "End Date" to be the Exact Same Date as the Block, And
Further, let’s say that this resulted in my creating a whole BUNCH of Plans for a given day::
  1. Is that Perfectly SAFE to do it that way?  And
  2. Will Creating MANY Plans {SAY: Eleven [11] Plans} for ONE Specific DAY, exert a Strongly Negative Effect upon FocusMe’s System Impact?
AND One Other Question, Please::

When Possible, I Prefer to Block Websites by their Title {Rather Than by their URL}.  Generally Speaking, is it a Totally Acceptable practice to Block Websites By Title?  AND when I Block a Website by its Title, does doing so present any potential downside that I should be aware of? 

THANK YOU!

~ Chuck