Idea for your Template Revision on E-mail Routing

[RMA FORUM ADMIN]

I have built a Semi-Private Forum for use as a "Classified" page for advertising Cars and Parts for sale.  Semi-Private means that all Internet Viewers can view posts, but only Members of the Forum can post an Item.  We wish to LIMIT the items for sale to those of the Members of our club.  As such, it is important for visitors to be able to reply by E-mail to an intended person that is selling a car or part on the forum.

1)  There are two possibilities, the person selling the car or part wants to get an E-mail himself, or the member of the forum is posting a car or part for sale by another person with a different E-mail address and wants the  visitor to send an E-mail to that person (not himself).  Currently, an anonomus visitor is stopped from replying directly to the posting member by clicking "Replay", because he/she is not a member of the forum.  However, an text E-mail link (either in the clear or "[Hidden]"  can be written into the body of the post. This E-mail can be to the author or to any other E-mail address.

2) What ever E-mail address you use in the body of the post is arbitrary, IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE THE AUTHORS.  For example, lets assume that a member of the forum is posting a car or part for sale for a friend who is not a member of our club.  The author simply types the e-mail address into the body of the post, and then optionally select "[Hidden E-mail] from the options menu.  Then anyone who clicks on [Hidden E-Mail] will be allowed to send an E-mail to his friend.  The author will not be notified, or will be aware of this transaction.

3) However, there are three ways that a visitor who is viewing a post can send an E-mail directly to the author. In the following procedure it does not matter if the author has posted a car or part for sale with instructions in the body of the post to contact an E-mail address which is not the authors [either in the clear, or hidden].  A visitor when viewing a post has three options, he/she can choose  the "Reply" button on the main menu, the "[Hidden E-Mail]" link in the post message body, or the "More" button on the main menu.  The following are the resultant actions of these three possibilities.


a)  Choosing "Reply" ... If the visitor is a member of the Forum, the visitor will  be able to reply by E-mail to the author directly by clicking "Reply".  All other visitors will be rejected.  If the author has put a different desired E-mail address in the body of the post (hidden or not) that E-mail address will NOT receive the e-mail.


b)  Choosing either a posted in the clear E-mail address or a "[Hidden E-mail]"  address typed in the body of the post.  If the author typed another person's e-mail address in the post message body to allow the visitor to E-mail only the address posted in the body of the Post a visitor clicking on this link will be presented with an E-mail form to fill out.  If that is the author's address, the author will get the E-mail.  If it is a different E-mail address, that E-mail Address will get the E-mail.  All visitors, members of the forum or not, have this option.


c)  Choosing the "More" button ... If the visitor selects "More"  a menu item is presented which offers to "Reply to the Author".  If the visitor selects this option then he/she will be presented with a form that allows an E-mail to be sent directly to the author wether or not this is the desired intention.  If the author had posted another persons "E-mail address" in the body of the post (hidden or not), the E-mail will go to the Author of the E-mail  ... and NOT the desired E-mail address the author typed in the body of the post!

Suggestion:  To avoid this confusion in your next release of the Template Design,  for a Semi-Private Forum (All can view, but Members Only can Post) please add an option to set up a special reply button which allows an anonomus visitor to respond  to either the author or an arbitrary E-mail address depending on the desire of the author of the post.  Additionally, the More>Reply to Author link should be disabled in this case

Thanks ... Andy   aka  RMA FORUM ADMIN

The link to our "Classified" Forum is www.rockymountainmodelaclub.org/classifieds/classifieds.html