Hi, these days I realized it would be nice to be able to get in contact with someone to get an e-mail, to hint to a certain point etc. without making it visible to everybody. Is it possible to do so in SUSANA? (I did not find a way) Or would it be a new feature?
Yours Christoph

Dear Christoph,
Do you mean like an internal e-mailing system inside of the forum? We once looked into that and it does involve some programming effort. It might be worth having so I think we should get our IT consultants give us a quote for that. (are others also missing this functionality?)

In the meantime, my suggestion is:

• For everyone who doesn't mind being contacted, simply add your e-mail address in your footer (like I have done below).
• If you want to contact someone and you don't have that person's e-mail address, just e-mail the secretariat ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and we will forward on your message to that person (we have everyone's e-mail addresses); or see if you find the e-mail address with a simple Google search

.

Kind regards,
Elisabeth

Yes, we should have this inside the forum. And while this "private message" (pm) system is usually a default item on most forum software, it can only be done via an external solution that is compatible with (the SuSanA forum software) Kunena.

E.g. this one: extensions.joomla.org/extensions/communication/pms/3206/details

Dear all,

I have good news for you today: There was a user request last year to add an internal e-mailing function to the forum (see above). I am happy to announce that this has now been added. From tomorrow morning (European time) onwards it will be possible to send other users short (!) direct messages, which they will receive in their inbox (hopefully not in the spam, as the sender of this e-mail is “SuSanA Forum”).

What is this for? So that you can:

• Thank someone for their post and make sure they see your thank you (there is also the like-button below a post).
• Ask someone for their e-mail address
• Alert someone to a post that you have made and that they should see.
• Alert someone that they should perhaps read a specific post (e.g. if they were mentioned) and reply on the forum.

What is it not to be used for:

• Any type of annoying e-mail, spam, advertisement, bugging, etc.
• Content discussions – rather have content discussions in the open please so that all can benefit! (that's why the message is limited to a maximum of 360 characters)

How do I use it?

Simply click on the green “CONTACT” button below the person’s photo that appears on the left side of the person’s post (see e.g. below my photo to the left of this post). Then you get to this page where you can write your message:

• Or find the user in the user list and then click on “CONTACT” under their photo of their profile page.

This is the link to the user list (you can get to it from “Forum tools”, then “Statistics” at the top black bar):
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/userlist

Obviously, you need to be logged in before you can make such a contact (and before you can even see the “CONTACT” button below the photo).

This is the fine print:
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We hope that you will enjoy this new feature! Feedback welcome as always.

Oh, and we have also built in an “opt-out” function - we have thought of everything! If you really, really don’t want to be contactable via the internal messaging function, then please select “No” in the tab “Forum Settings” inside your profile where it says “Allow users to contact me”. The default setting is set to “Yes”. See screenshot below (but be fair: if you think you might want to contact other users in the future, then do allow them to contact you, too…):



You get to your profile settings from the top black bar (see "My profile"), when you are logged in. This is also where you set your photo, personal text and signature, by the way.

Feedback? How about you try it out immediately to get used to it and to thank your most favourite user for his or her valuable contributions over the months and years.

Regards,
Elisabeth
(and the rest of the team who worked on this new function (Steffen Eisser, Trevor Surridge and Dorothee Spuhler))