Email integration is key

A lot of users of Google Groups use it exactly like a mailing list. They don’t want to go to a website. They are mad people are moving away from mailman, and still complain about HTML in email. While we probably can’t convince all of them of the benefits of Discourse, I hope we can at least set up the forum to be as friendly to them as possible. Is this an area where the mods/admins are putting in some effort? Because I think it’ll be a big deal for a smallish but significant group of the community.

1 Like

Discourse supports this (both replying via email and creating new topics via email). We just have to set it up.

Currently, users can get updates (digests) sent to them via email at a frequency of their choice. So I think if we allow posting via email, we can serve users who prefer that.

Cool, glad you’re thinking about it. Hopefully someone who cares about that kind of integration will speak up if it’s inadequate :slight_smile:

1 Like

Hi @NateFinch,

This is a good point that you are making. Mailing lists like Google Group decreases in effectiveness once the number of active participants exceeds a certain number. We are providing this forum as an alternative with that in mind, since it offers a more scalable platform for structured, asynchronous discussions.

One other goal we have is a clean slate to moderate the content and activity of the participants. We need everyone who participates to feel safe and respect each other in the course of any discussion, whether they are brand new to the community or coming from an existing mailing list. And many of the active participant in existing mailing lists are being individually invited to this forum.

Yeah, that’s a great idea. ;)

And for that reason it’s important that per message emails are supported, not just digests. Digests should be an option for those who prefer them, but not the only choice.

There is support for per message emails, so we’re good there. :smile:

Settings > Preferences

1 Like

This has been configured and enabled, you’ll now be able to reply to emails to post on the forum

Please let me know if it wouldn’t be working well :slight_smile:

Testing replying… how do you get an email?

Turned on notifications for myself. Hopefully I get an email.

Oh, nice! I overlooked that one.

1 Like

You can also now create topics by sending emails to the email address of the category you’re posting to. See the pinned topic in each category to find its email address.

2 Likes