EMAIL OPTION not working?
 

Hi,

I had someone tell me they could not send me an email because I had disabled that function.

I knew that was not true and verified it:

Receive EmailFrom time to time, the administrators may want to send you email notices.

If you do not want to receive these notices, disable this option.
Receive Email from Administrators

You can allow other members to send you email messages.
Receive Email from Other Members

I have check marks by both these options... however, when I go to "EMAIL Member" it says I have disable the function... but I have not.

Anyone else having this problem? Suggestions to resolve?

William

Allow vCard download
 

William, this is highly confusing to me, you and I suspect the vast majority of FTers. Enabling email doesn't actually reveal your email to others. What you have to check is the following:

Allow vCard download
You may choose to allow other users to download a vCard containing your email address and username.

If you want to keep your email address private, do not allow vCard downloads.
Allow vCard Download

I did that...
 

and then logged out and restarted and still people can't email me??

We've disabled the email system in order to protect email address from harvesters. If you want to communicate with other FTers, we suggest you use the Private Messaging feature. Depending on your individual profile settings, you may have to enable it from within the MyFlyerTalk area. Just check the "Enable Private Messaging" option from the "Edit Options" link.

Please let us chose to reveal email addresses
 

I thought that it was to be our option if we wanted to reveal our email addresses. Honestly, I'm not all that keen on the private message capability of FT. 70 messages isn't much in an FTers life nor is the individual length sufficient. Perhaps I am verbose. Yesterday, I responded to a private message and discovered I had exceeded the allowed length. But how can you discuss a travel experience succinctly? ;)

I've been a frequent Do organizer, and have found access to email addresses invaluable in communication. I've harvested emails from FT profiles, and then sent group emails.

I hope that you will rethink this policy as we all grow more accustomed to what we want and need with this new board format. Please let each of us make our own decisions as to whether we are willing to give our email addresses.

what Carol said
 

goes for me too!

I would like normal email as well.

Can't access FlyerTalk messages from my cell phone, is just one reason why. :(

Ditto Premex! and Carol!
 

I would like to see the option back to what we had on the old Flyertalk.

If I choose to make my email address available, then it is my decision.

I also rarely check Flyertalk while traveling but I do check my email.

So, the private messaging would do me no good... and as Carol said, the 70 private message limit is not helpful either. I can only imagine the server space it would take if every member used the private message feature to save messages.

I am with Carol, please reinstal emails.

Regards,
Robert

Only other option Carol is to add your email to your signature.

One of the vBulletin admin control panel options is:

This, as people have found, is presently turned off on FT.

The next option on the control panel is:

This might be the way to go for FT if they wish to allow users to reach each other by e-mail but without revealing the recipient's e-mail address. Of course it means a bit of a load on the server, but it looks like that shouldn't be a problem, as FT is blazingly fast lately. :)

FewMiles..

Was going to start another thread & I still will cuz this needs to be addressed & the current - new - way is NOT a good way to handle it.

Ok, I know you want to avoid harvesting emails - fair enough, but those of us who allow our emails to bed posted hope it won't be harvested but understand stuff happens & it's not FT's fault.

Going on to FT is a pain to get messages. I'm on email a lot; I'm not always on FT & it's a pain to log onto FT just to get messages. I want BOTH options.

In the Private Messaging area, there should be a "Jump to Folder:" drop down list from which you can select your "Sent Items" folder.

FewMiles..

Absolutely - especially in light of the numerous posts from Moderators (and perhaps even Randy, though I'm not sure) that we should always try to communicate with other users via e-mail if we have a problem with their posts ...

Turn back on the email addresses please ...................
 

Agree with all the above.

Lets allow those who wish to email each other do so please.

If my email address has not been harvested years back I'd be most surprised! It has always been my choice to leave it on public display, and I still would like to do that please.

As we have seen many times before - huge lists of FT email addresses have been able to be rapidly sourced via Google, and I suspect they still are there is anyone wants to go looking.

Entering an archived FT portal like this one below from a few months back will offer any harvester all the real emails addresses they require, so why turn it off now?

http://web.archive.org/web/200306032...milesfr.shtml:


Joh was going nuts a few days back trying to assemble an email data base of the 50 or so folks recorded as being interested din OzFest 94 next month, and basically gave up in frustration. I (wrongly) had advised her most of those replying had email addresses visible.

Until a well known FT'er emailed me today advising my email was not visible I had no clue that was the case. Which is annoying as Forums like Coupon Connection most especially need the ability to contact others via email.

I went and looked at my box in my profile:

You can allow other members to send you email messages.
Receive Email from Other Members

And the second option WAS checked, so how many FT'ers have no clue they can't be emailed after they have checked that box?

Please turn e-mails on.

My private message box is filling up, and I'd like these messages in my normal e-mail box... It's also MUCH easier to read my 100+ e-mails a day in my regular mail program.

As FewMiles mentioned, I think we can have our cake and eat it too. If e-mails are allowed via the form method, the e-mail address is not made public for spammer consumption (the vCard, a separate option, does make it public, but I don't think spammers are harvesting from vcf files, though I could be wrong). The address is only revealed to the e-mail sender (from the form) once the recipient replies and 2-way communication has been privately established.

Can we implement FewMiles and mkincaid's suggestion?
 

I like what FewMiles and mkincaid have suggested. Is it possible for FT techno wizards to implement it?

I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express. It appears to me that downloading .vcf info requires using these programs. FewMiles and mkincaid have proposed a much more direct solution that will allow me to use my existing email program to carry on communication after a response.

I guess I can't see why the wheel needs re-inventing. Those (like me) that choose to have their email addresses left public should be allowed to do so. The only victims of any possible "spam" are them.

Simple as that. Board software seems to allow this option.

Anyone me who CHOOSES to be only contacted via internal email can hopefully have that option. Board software supports that too from what I can see.

That path seems unwieldy to me, but agree as a last resort it is better than we have now, i.e. zippo. As posted, I prefer to have all emails on file, and making initial contact via FT does not acheive that end.

Interim Measure
 

This isn't a good long-term solution, but the IM addresses are being displayed with your profile, so you could place your email address in one of those slots for access by others. Not a long term solution, but something to communicate your email without too much pain until FT hopefully opens it up for display again.

I mentioned this problem on 3 April (see below link), and in e-mails to Flyertalk, but to no avail.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310159

Thanks to cblaisd for posting the warning, though.

Now, if they can just turn the e-mail back on, for those of us who can't always readily access Flyertalk, . . .

No answer from me or Dan because it's not a tech issue gang. It's a policy issue and we don't set policy.

Fair enough - thanks, John. Can you move this thread over to Randy's forum, then? ;)

I agree; pls move this over to Only Randy Petersen so we can get this sorted out.

Right now some FTers are resorting to including their email addresses in their signatures so other FTers can reach them (and presumably someone could harvest), so that certainly defeats the purpose of not having email turned on/trying to prevent harvesting.

Agree.

It is really silly now that we might opt to have our email address showing, when in fact it is not if others go to access it.

We need email option working!
 

And I know someone who turned his PM off & his email on (not realizing email is not working right now, which is probably the case w/ a lot of FTers) because he didn't want to have to go on FT (especially from the office) just to pick up messages & he checks his email all the time. He just found some Do organizers are trying to reach him because others saw they were & did have his email address from previously, but it shouldn't be dependent on something like that.

I didn't follow the technical details above, but if they're accurate & in the other thread I started about turning Vcard/email on, then I say let's implement them as it sounds like it solves both problems of having them accessible & also hidden.

It cost me a lot of money!
 

Not being able to contact each other expeditiously just cost me hundreds of dollars by missing out on cheap fare. Most of us check our email each day or even throughout the day as some email systems are impetus driven and notify the user when each mail arrives. But we don't always check Flyertalk each day. Sometimes it is vital that we contact each other.

But there is a solution so that Randy can give us privacy and we can still send email to each other. Simply have the Flyertalk server send the email. It already does just that when we subscribe to threads. Just add an option (perhaps to Private message) that will send an email to the users email account on record (if they have one). Then the server will send the email and the person sending the email will not see the address. Then the person receiving the email can choose whether to treat it as spam or not. This option would also prevent a spammer from attacking our user database. Let me know if you need help with this.

Stimpy - there is an option available under My Flyertalk where you can request an email be sent out whenever a PM is sent to you. I have this turned on so I know to check FT for the message.

Hope this helps.

Yes, but that still requires then logging on to FT to get a PM, which is inconvenient & takes time.

Also, some folk are not allowed by their biznesses to access FT (other sites too; don't think the biznesses discriminate!) so they'd have to wait until they were somewhere where they could access it.

I'm lucky in that I have some FTers email addresses stored from before, but now have to go through the entire PM thing if I want to send a message to someone - and with a limit of 70, that's not great either.

And having email addresses available for those planning Dos is much easier.

If the FTer is ok with having his/her email address made visible, then that should be enough. If they're not, they can leave it off.

I hope Randy addresses this post-Freddies.

But Sharon, to play devils advocate, just because I want to display my email address to Flyertalkers doesn't mean I want spammers to get it. So the workable alternative is as I suggested above. Have the Flyertalk server send an email to my hidden registered address. That way I will get your message immediately on my own email server and you can't find out what my address is unless I choose to reply to your message. Of course the server will have to insert the registered address of the sender too.

Oh puhlezze - did you actually get thousands of email spams on FT before we went to the new system? No. There's an occasional one, & I & a heck of a lot others are willing to deal w/ that to not have to go through multiple steps to get a message. Having the same system as before is no big deal!!!

But having said that - I vote for (when Randy surfaces from post-Freddies) having the easiest method for us to access - for that, me means my having the ability to send a message (heck, I want IM capability! :D) rather than going through multiple steps w/ PM & FT, but if he's got something else that works easily, I'm all ears.

I'm just glad I had email addresses stored for folk I talk to on a semi-regular basis from before. Right now I know the folk who are planning Dos (especially big ones) are ready to just kill themselves under the current method!!!! It's especially painful if you're planning Dos.

I had an email address posted in my profile in the "old" system and I just assumed it would carry over to the new one. So add my vote to allowing us to choose this option on an individual basis. I don't mind if people email me and I never had serious problems with Spam from this feature before.

It's not multiple steps. You click send an email, type in your message and click send. That's it. In fact it would be less steps than before if you think about it. And the benefit is that spammers can't see our addresses. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. I think Randy is showing good foresight.

Got it thanks

No stimpy, it's not that easy - and i want one-stop email like i had before. And as others have said - on this thread & others - if we choose to have our email address accessible then that's our decision.

Before if others didn't want theirs exposed (or if they were ok w/ it) it was an option - on/off - and that worked. Now it's a multi-step process. That takes time - mine is valuable, and I get a LOT of messages from FTers.

And others get a lot of emails and/or PMs as well, especially the more experienced & well-known FTers. Right now I'm lucky that I had a # of folk's email addresses already stored of folk I deal w/ on a regular basis (like yours). Otherwise, it becomes a major hassle sending messages.

It ESPECIALLY becomes a hassle for those who are planning dos - you can say 3 clicks but if you were planning the London MegaDo like sandiego1K last year, that's 330 clicks every time she wanted to send out an email re: the Do & there were a lot of emails towards the end. And she wouldn't have had the time to do it all that way.

If you don't want to give up your email address & want to work through PM, then you have that right & can just set it up that way. But for the majority of folk who prefer to have it accessible again like it worked before we ever switched to the new program, we would like Randy to make the switch to the way it was. Meets both your needs & ours.

Let's see. The old way you click on the mail icon for each person. So that's 330 clicks and 330 popup windows and 330 clicks again to send the address to your mailer. The old way doesn't seem very efficient to me. For such mass DO mailings, wouldn't it be more efficient to send one message to the thread asking everyone to email you? Then your local mailer could deal with it. You could even write a script to do it automatically if you your talents lie in that area. Then only the people who want to get mail from you will respond.

Believe me I want and need to get instant email working again. So far my proposal seems to be the best way to have that happen and prevent spammers. But I'm all ears!

No stimpy, once I have someone's email address (which was a single click under the old system), I could store in my own electronic address book, make groups, etc., and it was easier, at least in my opinion. And didn't require my going through additional steps.

And yes, some could post & say email me, but because of folk traveling not all read FT every day or check every thread, and in some cases the Community folk have had to send out calls to others asking if folk know how to reach some of the people, something they didn't need to do under the old email system.

I, and others, believe that it should be our decision whether to have our email addresses accessible & to take our chances on getting spammed (which rarely happened), and for us, the old method worked fine.


stimpy, I think we both want to accomplish the same thing here, hence your original post in a dif thread saying what a pain it was to have to access FT/PM to get your messages (and one reason why this thread was started as well), and my suggesting you post in this thread.

If Randy's team comes up w/ a similar easy method, that's fine, whether it's one they design, one you suggest or another person does (someone else actually had a solution as well; can't remember the thread). Doesn't matter to me whose method they use, as long as the option is again available. And right now it's not. Unless you already had someone's email address in your address book, PM is currently the only method available to reach someone - and it's inconvenient & takes up time, which was both of our original complaint.

Hope now that Freddies are behind us hopefully Admin can decide that email can be turned on. ^

Those that wish to use it and display their real email (like me) can do so.

Those that wish to PM (unlike me) can opt not to.

Seems simple enough?

Right now it is a disaster to contact anyone. Indeed for me impossible, as I have PM turned off.

I'm bumping this up because

a) there are a gazillion threads on the reputation thing & this is getting lost in the mayhem (and if anyone responds, then please don't take this OT);

b) I would like it to be seen/addressed by Randy, and I think the solution is as folk have said - for those who are willing to allow our email addresses to be shown, turn the option on; for those who aren't, keep it off. Cheers.

bumping this up cuz Randy's 'back' to FT & hopefully he can review/make a decision, but not sure how long it will take him to get to this thread cuz it got pushed down by the various reputation, old threads being ressurected, etc, and don't want it to get lost in the shuffle. cheers.

For what it's worth, I've just been through the 'throws' of organising OZFEST 2004 (see: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...34#post2846434). For this I needed to stay in touch with probably 30-40 FT'ers.

I started using the FT system and it didn't work for me:
- only 70 messages total allowed
- only 5 can be contacted at the same time

After the first go I started asking people to email me a private address so I could set up a 'Group contact list' within my own system. Towards the end of the exercise I was able to reach 90% of the people with one hit!

During the process I also had to delete many messages, just to make sure that my FT 'inbox' stayed relatively empty...