I've tested this out and can't reproduce the problem - the notification is sent whenever the noticeboard or weblog entry is published, whether saved as a draft first or not.

Also if I unpublish then republish an entry then the notification is sent again.

It's too far in the past to have a record in the database of whether the notification was sent - but if you want to be sure that it's working then next time you publish something drop an email to admin@e-voice.org.uk and I'll check if something was sent.

Cheers

Joe