Members option to allow contact by email, or not.

Hello,

I've started a private forum and members are gradually joining. I would like members to be able to contact each other either by emails or private messages, but most members (so far) haven't enabled the option to allow others to contact them by email. As an administrator, is there any setting I can use that disables members choosing the option to be contacted, or not, by email and/or makes the default to allow contact by email, rather than new members having to individually opt in?

Sadly there is no option for this.

Hello ^^

You can remove the option from the preferences page of the profil to prevent users to change it (template profile_add_body), but as it is set to no by default, you will have to edit manually that setting for each member.

And as email is a very personal thing, you might get your members angry if you force them to accept to be contacted via email.

Many thanks Derri for your very prompt reply. Shame, but at least I won't spend ages searching for something that isn't there!

And thanks to, Neptune for yours. Presumably I'd have to do that as each new member joined and that might be a bit of a problem, especially if I remember some and not others.   So I think I'll leave it.

But about your comment that email is a personal thing and members might not like it, surely, it would only be the person /sending/ the email who be giving out their personal email address, so it's their choice? When you send an email from within the forum, I thought you couldn't see the recipients address but just that your message was delivered with your own address to the recipients mail-box. So wouldn't it still be up to the email recipient to either reply within the forum by private message and keep their address private, or reply directly to the email if they are happy for their address to be known by the originator? And if I'm right with these assumptions, no-one's email addresses would be compromised except from their own choice and actions. Or have I got something wrong? Probably, I'm still very new to this!

In the past we had three choices for receiving emails (and though only 2 choices are displayed nowadays, there is still 3 buttons in the template.

- No email at all from members
- via form (email is not shown)
- via software (email is shown on hovering button)

But anyway email is very personal, it should remain the members choice to accept to receive emails or not.
Me for example, i can unscribe if i discover some admins tick yes to Newsletters though i always tick no for it. I prefer receive MP (and eventually email for mp received only for boards i do not log in every day) and minimum emails.

Hi Neptune,

Just had a look and don't actually know where to find (template profile_add_body) so can't yet do it if I wanted to! Can you point me in the right direction, as out of interest, I'd like to see if I can do it, anyway!

And having looked at my second (non-administrator) profile (the one that I use to see what ordinary members can do and will see, rather than what as an administrator I can do and see) and tried to send myself an email, I haven't found where hovering anywhere discloses my email address. But I do take your point, though, that some may not like it so they should make the choice.

Administration Panel > Display > Templates
You have to be in advanced mode and the founder of the forum.

Many thanks SLGray. Found it, had a look. It's WAY beyond my knowledge! So retreated out of the modification fast. But thanks again!

In profile_add_body

Search and remove following code (lines 203-213 in default template)

Code:

         <dl>
            <dt><label>{L_PUBLIC_VIEW_EMAIL}&nbsp;:</label></dt>
            <dd>
               <label><input type="radio" name="viewemail" value="2" {VIEW_EMAIL_FORM} /><span class="radio-rtl">{L_YES}</span></label>
               <!-- BEGIN switch_enable_mail_view --><label><input type="radio" name="viewemail" value="2" {VIEW_EMAIL_FORM} /><span class="radio-rtl">{L_FORM}</span></label>
               <label><input type="radio" name="viewemail" value="1" {VIEW_EMAIL_MAILTO} /><span class="radio-rtl">{L_MAILTO}</span></label>
               <!-- END switch_enable_mail_view --><label><input type="radio" name="viewemail" value="0" {VIEW_EMAIL_NO} /><span class="radio-rtl">{L_NO}</span></label>
               <br />
               <span class="desc">&nbsp;</span>
            </dd>
         </dl>

Save, publish    enjoy   

Your members wont see any more email choices within their profile.

Hi again Neptune.

Thanks for all your help and, yes, I took the plunge and did what you said - removed those lines and it worked perfectly.  It was really quite easy, so I'm feeling very pleased with myself, though the credit is of course yours, not mine. However, I've put it back to how it was - for the moment, at least!

That's because, as you said originally, although members can't then change their email option, it appears to me that those who had it set to receive emails will be able to continue to do so, and those that don't no longer have to option to say yes if they choose. So the next question is how do I, as the forum's administrator, make it so that receiving emails is turned on for all members, so that they can all can send emails to each other? Also, presumably, at the same time enabling the appropriate 'email option' to appear in the drop down lists on members' details in the memberlist and elsewhere on the forum that contact with each other can be made from? 

Sorry if I'm being very slow, and thanks for being so patient and helpful. I feel so lucky to have created my forum in a place full of such nice and helpful people!

ACP > Users and groups > Users > Search user

On a user's profile, go down to preferences, it is the first option
Allow members to contact me by e-mail : By a website form / By e-mail client software / No

For users, with Invision you clic on username (the one top avatar) and choose Send e-mail. On other versions icon is usually under the avatar (phpBB3/PunBB) or under the post itself (phpBB2)

Excellent! Very many thanks indeed! All done - profiles updated so they are all now 'email by web-form', and the email choice removed from members profile preferences. So now I'll have to see if anyone notices the difference (or complains!), and I'll have to remember to add that option when anyone joins. Very good evenings work, thanks again!

So you're taking away someone's option to disable being emailed by other members? Don't you feel that's taking away a right of the member?

I'm just saying I'd rather people contacted me via email if I want them too.

Hi Derri,

Thanks for your comment.

This is for a not going to be a forum for an enormous number of people, just colleagues who work together, but are spread all over the country, so it's often difficult to keep in touch with each other about what's going on. Consequently, it's set up so that the forum is private and membership has to be activated first, too. In telling colleagues about the forum, I have said that this can happen, and to be honest, many already knows each others email addresses, so I can't see it being an issue at all. But really, that's the whole point. By setting it up so that emails are sent by web-form, any member can email another and send them a message giving their own email address, but they only know the user name of the recipient - not their email address. It's still up to the person receiving the email to chose to reply by email or private message and thus decide to give their own address in return if they want to. So the privacy of an individuals email address is still preserved until _they_ decide to 'publish' it. If messages can only be sent as private messages, it depends on the recipient logging on the the forum to see it, which they might not do for a while, and so not actually receive the message. 

But, thank you, I am aware of what you and Neptune have said, and that some may not like it this way - and if it does prove to be a problem (which I don't think it will) I am ready to change it back again.

Thanks again for all the help I've received tonight from everyone.

p.s. Personally, I would have preferred it if the administrators could just choose to have the 'receive email' option set as the initial profile default. So that members had to decide to opt out if they really wanted to. Most people joining haven't actually set any personal choices in the options available to them, and so their not being prepared to receive emails isn't really a decision, just how it is. Well, now it is the other way round! And if anyone has taken the positive decision that they don't want to have others email them, I'm sure they will  be the ones that tell me quickly, and I can change their settings back for them.

Anyway is this topic solved now?

Yes, thanks, I think it is. Should I have clicked on something to say so? Sorry.