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Email Address Question — Parallax Forums

Email Address Question

Jim EwaldJim Ewald Posts: 733
edited 2004-09-12 03:34 in General Discussion
Hi all,

We're finishing up the first phase of the email subscription system this week. Before we put a bow on it, we need to decide what address to use in the 'From:' field in the email message. Right now, we are using a generic address, TestForum@parallax.com. I think there are at least three options available.

1) Continue to use a generic email address, such as forums@parallax.com.

2) Use the poster's screen name and email address.

3) Use the poster's screen name and email address unless their profile says not to show their email address. In that case, we would use the generic email address.

What's your opinion?

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Jim
Parallax IT Dept.

Comments

  • Buck RogersBuck Rogers Posts: 2,160
    edited 2004-08-11 02:10
    Hello from Buck Rogers, also known as GCL
    Jim, your poll thinks I already voted. What gives? I actually want the option which is that of 3. Obviously there is something wrong. But what?
    Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon@att.net

    ·
  • Jim EwaldJim Ewald Posts: 733
    edited 2004-08-11 02:16
    The system apparently registered your vote with your desired option. The system records who voted and a running talley of votes, but does not store each members vote individually. That rules out a re-count. I'll keep checking for hanging chads at the polling place.

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    Jim
    Parallax IT Dept.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2004-08-11 13:44
    IT Guy (Parallax) said...
    The system apparently registered your vote with your desired option. The system records who voted and a running talley of votes, but does not store each members vote individually. That rules out a re-count. I'll keep checking for hanging chads at the polling place.
    lol.gif·· My wife was sitting here when I read that message, and she started laughing out loud when she saw the chad thing...Good one!· Anyway, I cast my vote...I can see everyone so far is on the same wavelength (Those who voted, anyway).


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    Chris Savage

    Knight Designs
    324 West Main Street
    P.O. Box 97
    Montour Falls, NY 14865
    (607) 535-6777

    Business Page:·· http://www.knightdesigns.com
    Personal Page:··· http://www.lightlink.com/dream/chris
    ·
  • RalphSRalphS Posts: 3
    edited 2004-08-13 12:37
    The system gives Forum members the option to conceal their e-mail address from Web postings. The wording does not make it clear whether it is still possible to retrieve an e-mail address for someone else given a screen name. Presuming that the profile option is intended to keep e-mail addresses completely private, it is reasonable that the mail interface respect that policy also.

    There are other mail headers I hope you will consider using as well, in addition to the From:. I will write a separate topic about those.
  • danieldaniel Posts: 231
    edited 2004-08-15 20:06
    Jim,

    I assume that option three means using the profile name and either the registered address or the generic address, depending on the setting.

    Daniel
  • Jim EwaldJim Ewald Posts: 733
    edited 2004-08-15 20:14
    I didn't make that assumption when I wrote the options, but you bring up a good point. Using the member's screen name with a generic address might give one the impression that the generic address belonged to the member. I was thinking along the lines that option three, if privacy was enabled, would present a generic address without a screen name.

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    Jim
    Parallax IT Dept.
  • danieldaniel Posts: 231
    edited 2004-08-15 21:20
    Jim,

    A 'public' identity is required to register and participate, right? There is no 'privacy' of the screen name is there?

    The reasonable assumption a member would make (or at least I would make) when give the choice of selecting whether their email-address 'private' or not is that it is indeed private when such is the choice. If not, why bother about any illusion of privacy?

    Elsewhen, someone has clearly articulated one reason for tagging responses to people. Personally, I'd probably ignore any postings from someone who was unwilling to have their statements attributed to themselves. However, consistent use of a screen name does give me that sense of ownership.

    For example, you now have at least four different persona. I first knew of you as 'IT Guy (Parallax)' which associated you with your company and implied a stature within that organization. In that character, it was understood that you spoke with some authority on the subjects at hand.

    Second, I noticed that you are 'Jim'. Knowing that you are probably male has nothing to do with your role or voice-of-authority. But us is nice to know that you have a name, even though it may not actaually be 'Jim'.

    Third, your avatar constantly reminds me that you were out riding on the nice days, instead of being in the office fixing the forum software <grin>. Again, it exposes a bit of personality that has nothing to do with your role or why I should pay attention to what you might say on the forum.

    Fourth, your arrl.com address you used duing some of the testing gave a whole new perspective on why I would want to pay attention to your pronouncements.

    I'm not meaning to pick on you in particular, but I tend to have built up an image, no matter how likely it is to be right, about many of the regular, and even occasional, contributers. Some I'll read regardless of the subject, others I'll ignore no matter the subject. In all cases, I'm using the public screen name (on this forum) or the name associated with the Yahoo messages, to make that selection.

    For me, a generic only address will probably destine the message into the 'ignore' category.

    Note, however, I'm not making that determination based on the presence or absence of an email address. Instead it is made on having no discernable way of assessing the importance of a message's content without having to read the whole thing. Yes, a book is sometimes judged by its cover.


    Best Regards,
    Daniel
  • Jim EwaldJim Ewald Posts: 733
    edited 2004-08-16 14:44
    Daniel,

    It does appear that there is a mandate to protect the poster's email address if that is requested. I can get started on that change today.

    I get your point about withholding the screen name. I was simply saying that I had not considered it when I assembled the options for the poll. I see no harm with including the screen name with a poster's email address.

    The concern I have is that, when the poster has requested that their email address remain hidden, we assemble a from address that contains the poster's screen name and the generic email address. Anyone who doesn't take the time to understand that is likely to start sending email to the generic address, believing that they are communicating with the poster directly. If I'm the only one that see that as a concern, I'll gladly stand down and implement it.

    As an aside, your detective work is quite good. I am employed by Parallax in the IT department, hold a general class amatuer radio license and ride my Harley every chance I get. Remind me to look you up if I ever need to track someone down out there on the Internet wink.gif)

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    Jim
    Parallax IT Dept.
  • danieldaniel Posts: 231
    edited 2004-08-16 14:55
    Perhaps configure your mail server to politely bounce any mail received on the generic address with an explaination?

    OTOH, If two-way email linkage becomes a reality, then the issue might be moot.

    Daniel
  • Jim EwaldJim Ewald Posts: 733
    edited 2004-08-16 15:02
    The generic addressed are remapped within the Parallax network and are delivered to me. That gives me a real-time sense for how message delivery is going for the forum site. Eventually, that will be handled by a bounced-mail manager.

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    Jim
    Parallax IT Dept.
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2004-09-12 03:34
    Folks -

    How does one participate in the poll? There is nothing in the help area regarding "voting".
    It appears as though one should press the "buttons" on the actual poll display at the top of this web page, but there is no active response from doing that. This is not progress the way I define it <sigh>.

    Had I known how to participate, I would have opted for option #3.

    Bruce Bates
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