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New Registration - EMail Default Option

In Admin Panel,  Members -> Registration -> Settings :  an option to allow new members, upon registration,  to select email notifications for all boards (allowed by permissions).
[Update: I've discovered that email notifications can be set (by admin) for all boards, for any member, but the member only gets notifications (and board access) via the board permissions anyway, so it's acceptable - even desirable - to enable notifications for all boards (as if it was done by admin), and let the permissions then dictate which boards actually send email notifications to members.]

Nicety: Add a note on the Admin member profile notifications page that member/board permissions dictate which boards actually send email notifications.

New user registration form: Required Information;  (if enabled above), Receive Posts Via Email Checkbox - (default enabled and all boards enabled. If registrant clears the checkbox, email notifications for all boards are disabled)

Very handy for those of us "migrating" email distribution lists to the Forum. The member then by default gets all email notifications and can turn off  individual boards as desired, rather than have to turn them on.

Additional behavior:
  • if a member turns on any individual board notification in their profile, Receive Posts Via Email Checkbox is set (but all boards are not enabled as during registration).
  • if a member turns off all board notifications in their notifications profile, Receive Posts Via Email Checkbox is cleared.
    (Likewise, if a member clears Receive Posts Via Email Checkbox, all email notification checkboxes in their profile are cleared as well)
  • if a member subsequently checks Receive Posts Via Email after it's been turned off, all board email notifications and checkboxes in their profile are set as during registration
Last Edit: January 03, 2021, 05:22:11 pm by Steeley

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #1

Since radu81 is going to be annoying with his "feature insistence"  ;D   I'll follow his lead and be ready to duck.. 

Adding an option for a new user, during registration,  to select receiving email copies of posts would be way-cool.

A little differently than I described earlier (in this thread) might be simpler (or maybe not)..

During registration, a "radio-button":

  • I want Email Copies of All Posts
  • I'll select which Email Copies I want
  • No Email Copies (I can select email copies later)

All posts enables email in all topics (I believe the system will not send emails in topics the user isn't authorized for as default)
Select Emails sends the user to their Profile / Notifications screen following registration completion
No Email just continues with the registration process.

Most of my users came from a distribution list and/or forum with email which they are used to, but it's not obvious that emailed topics are optional but not default, and many don't sign up for email after registration is completed, and ... they don't come back (thinking there's no new posts? We're old farts - out of sight, out of mind - and discussion notifications in email are helpful.).   

We're trying to build communities, and if everyone signs up and then goes to their rooms with the door closed, I end up with a forum with lots of registered users but little interaction.  :P

My other thought was a big ol button on the Community Page [EMAIL] next to the [New Posts] [New Replies] buttons, that takes them to their Profile/Notifications screen. That might be the cheapest and dirtiest way to address the phenomenon.
(heck - someone pop some code for that at me and I'll shut up about it and you can focus on nurf-stoning radu81  ;) )

Last Edit: September 24, 2021, 06:18:09 pm by Steeley

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #2

The reason such things have been talked down for the last decade both here and on the progenitor forum to this one: this is likely to have consequences.

Cheaper hosting options have limits on the number of emails that can go out per site - I don’t know if anyone is still as low as 240 per day but I hate certainly seen it be that low in the past. And that’s all emails from the site - email approval, forgot password etc.

And of course, higher rates of email going out increases the chance that the sending server can be blacklisted for “spam”.

I also submit that on even a modestly busy forum, an email per post is actually rather aggravating, based on my experience of having been on forums that did do this.

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #3

Quote from: Arantor – The reason such things have been talked down for the last decade both here and on the progenitor forum to this one: this is likely to have consequences.

Cheaper hosting options have limits on the number of emails that can go out per site - I don’t know if anyone is still as low as 240 per day but I hate certainly seen it be that low in the past. And that’s all emails from the site - email approval, forgot password etc.

And of course, higher rates of email going out increases the chance that the sending server can be blacklisted for “spam”.

I also submit that on even a modestly busy forum, an email per post is actually rather aggravating, based on my experience of having been on forums that did do this.

Yup - which is why I said "option" - my servers have no inherent email limits, and my forum is relatively small (and membership is getting smaller as we go along,  the membership is a segment of military veterans from the 'Nam war), so the concerns mentioned, while valid in general, don't apply to my forum (and perhaps others?). I'd love to have the problem of having to limit email traffic due to tripping someones spam algo.

Perhaps I should look at this as a potential "add-on", and spend the winter increasing my PHP skills to see if I can build it myself - referring to that "EMail button" approach I mentioned.
(If anyone is interested in helping me with that, PM me. There may well be other "custom jump-to functions" that could be spun off from that effort).
 

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #4

The problem about your server not having inherent limits… is not your server.

Mail actually getting delivered to its destination is increasingly difficult, especially if your inbox is managed by any of the big providers who are more likely to treat it as spam sooner. Getting anything consistently delivered to Gmail is ok, getting consistently delivered to MSN/Hotmail/Outlook.com/Live.com requires occasional dark magic, getting anything consistently delivered to AOL or Yahoo requires multiple blood sacrifices.

While I appreciate your use case… I’d have to strongly lobby against this option because while it might not trouble you, I know a number of people will turn it on and get themselves blacklisted from anyone actually receiving emails. It’s surprisingly easy to get blacklisted :(

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #5

Quote from: Arantor – The problem about your server not having inherent limits… is not your server.

That was one of the 3 issues you raised. ("cheaper hosting options have limits on the number of emails that can go out per site")

Quote from: Arantor – Mail actually getting delivered to its destination is increasingly difficult, especially if your inbox is managed by any of the big providers who are more likely to treat it as spam sooner. Getting anything consistently delivered to Gmail is ok, getting consistently delivered to MSN/Hotmail/Outlook.com/Live.com requires occasional dark magic, getting anything consistently delivered to AOL or Yahoo requires multiple blood sacrifices.

That's what I was referring to when I said" I'd love to have the problem of having to limit email traffic due to tripping someones spam algo."

Quote from: Arantor – While I appreciate your use case… I’d have to strongly lobby against this option because while it might not trouble you, I know a number of people will turn it on and get themselves blacklisted from anyone actually receiving emails. It’s surprisingly easy to get blacklisted :(

I have encountered that (when another email account on the host got hacked and turned into a spam sender - the whole top-level domain gets blocked). It's not that difficult to 'correct the problem, gain absolution, and 'white-listing' again."

However, more to the point - where do you draw the line on features if you justify doing so because 'some people" might use the feature without awareness of the potential consequences and create problems for themselves?  As a matter of fact, if I swing through the EA admin configuration files I see a good number of 'warnings" about the consequences of enabling (or disabling) certain options. This merely appears to be yet another "education issue".

However, I have resolved myself to the notion I'll have to spin it myself, so this discussion has become one of philosophy, rather than technology, and I'll be satisfied if it ends there..

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #6

Quotewhere do you draw the line on features if you justify doing so because 'some people" might use the feature without awareness of the potential consequences and create problems for themselves

For me personally? When the likelihood of having the feature means it will very likely create more support work and people shooting themselves in the foot than the value derived from the feature.

Can't speak for the Elk team, they have different views on it to me, but that's my take on the situation.


I'd respond to the rest but, honestly, neither of us is going to convince the other. My experiences are very, very different to yours and these inform my opinions on the subject and why I feel the way I do.

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #7

The hooks to do what you’re looking for already exist I think. So it should be a case of creating an addon to allow that functionality.

Arantor raises valid points about emails etc although I don’t think I’ve had as bad an experience as he has with regards to mail servers, but then I’ve also ran multiple ones for corporations and had issues that come with that providing you control it, they’re not too bad.

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #8

I don't disagree with the validity of Arantor's points at all, and yea, we all (hopefully) learn from our bad experiences.. (and mine includes enterprise-scale issues as well).  But letting the "lowest-common denominator" dictate your feature set reminds me of an old hillbilly  joke between Elmer and his mama.. where she asks him what he's pushin around... "Elmer says "it's a wheelbarrow I borrowed from neighbor Clem.", where upon mama says "You give that back! You know you don't know nuthin' 'bout machinery!"
If I watched folks dump a few brick-loads on their foot, yea, I'd be wary about 'em too - maybe 4-wheel carts would be a better choice for them, but banning 'em from the farm seems a bit extreme. (Ever watch an old mason run a wheelbarrow full of mortar up a 4x12 plank to the second floor (because it's faster than the elevator!)? I was impressed.  :o  I can only wonder how many loads of mud he dumped before he got good at it. )
 
Anyway, I'm gonna take a whack at the Email button thing on the community home page, that takes 'em direct to their Profile/Notifications page  and see if that suffices.  Don't need a dump truck if a wheelbarrow will do.

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #9

Sometimes solutions are so simple they completely escape consideration...

Recapping my dilemma..  Users are creating accounts, but failing to set email preferences (most are coming from an email distribution list). Not getting any forum traffic in email as they are used to getting, the forum is soon out of sight/out of mind, which leads to a stagnant forum.  Objective (if the forum can't be set to automagically opt-in a new account to receive email by default), is to make it obvious and easy to enable email rather than nested deep in the user's profile settings.  EMail button on the main menu? How about something even easier, no code-fiddling...

Create a news banner.  "Sign Up For email - click here!: "https://yoursite.com/forum_path/index.php?action=profile;area=notification; "

Yes, the forum knows what user is clicking the link and brings up their own notifications page, so the trailing "..;user=x" isn't necessary (and if the user isn't signed in, it just brings up the sign-in page)

I still think an email default option for new users in admin would be more elegant, but this solves this issue as well.  (And this approach can work for other forum features one might want to highlight or emphasize for new users - or added features - also..)
Last Edit: January 21, 2022, 12:20:09 pm by Steeley

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #10

You can modify the user settings on registration via a hook to enable that setting. If you weren’t aware.

Edit: just noticed I already said that. So apologies.

Re: New Registration - EMail Default Option

Reply #11

Quote from: tino – You can modify the user settings on registration via a hook to enable that setting. If you weren’t aware.

Edit: just noticed I already said that. So apologies.

Yep - I looked into that, and a couple other approaches, but when it comes to php as a second language,  "Lo siento, no hablo bien el idioma".  It's rudimentary, but 'point and click', with a news banner is cheap and easy (and impervious to software upgrades).

// Deep inside every dilemma lies a solution that involves explosives //