Originally Posted by
Ledsteplin You can also use the Do Not Disturb feature in messages. Toggle off those you don't want notification alerts from.
This is helpful, but it cannot be done until you actually send or receive a message to a contact or group. You can't preemptively DND a message thread.
Most of the time I want to be notified whenever I have messages, but there are times when it would be nice to be notified only if it is from family. I don't think it's a huge deal, but it is nice to have. So the issue with using DND for this, as well, is that you'd be switching threads from DND and back again. (At least DND threads are marked by an icon.) One setting, such as with Settings/Notifcations for Mail, would be great.