Member Contact Via Email

How can I limit "Contact Seller" in Classifieds to PM, only?

The only thing I could find is My Ads:Ad:Product Options:Disable Email Updates, but that ain't this; and there is nothing in Edit Ad or in the initial ad creation form to do so.

Settings:My Settings:My Account:General Settings:Receive Email from Other Members is unchecked, but the Classifieds' "Contact Seller" defaults to email. This is an issue of privacy and security, because the email message contains my private email address, rather than my SRP user name or a "mock" email address. Granted, the one who is contacting me doesn't receive a copy of the email message, but unless that person chooses to include his SRP user name, all I can do is reply to the contact email via email, which exposes my private email address. The other alternative is to not reply to their contact (which seems counter-productive, given the purpose of posting an ad in the SRP Classifieds).

I don't believe that anonymity is really productive, in this instance.

You can't. The only thing you can do is to specify in the ad that you want to be contacted via forum PM.
I can disable email only as a global setting in the classifieds.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

You can't. The only thing you can do is to specify in the ad that you want to be contacted via forum PM.
I can disable email only as a global setting in the classifieds.

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"Specify" doesn't limit; neither does it remove the "Contact Seller" button. I would suggest globally disabling email for the Classifieds -- after all, someone who is interested can always click on my avatar and send me a PM, without any need for me to specify doing so in my ad.

This is why we have user names -- privacy/anonymity. And, even if I choose to share my "real name" with someone, that doesn't mean I have to reveal my email address to them, or make it available to everyone else.

It strikes me as particularly absurd that I can turn on/off private messaging (and limit who can contact me via PM) through the Settings menus, but cannot do so for email contact. Bizarre.

Would seem to me as a seller,one would want to be contacted VIA SRP bye any way possible.

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Would seem to me as a seller,one would want to be contacted VIA SRP bye any way possible.

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And if not? Method of contact should always default to that which is least-revealing of one's private person; anything else should be the sole choice of the individual; that is why all Content-Management Systems feature "private messaging" (and make its availability a user-option, at that). I think the proper configuration -- and vBulletin might, stupidly, not offer it -- would be to permit a user to opt-out of Private Messaging, but implement it automatically if a user posts an ad in the Classifieds (and only for the Classifieds, not elsewhere).

This is the industry norm, and it's been this way for decades.

It amazes me that Contact Seller protects the other person's anonymity (not even revealing his SRP user name!), but forces me to either expose my private email address, or utilize an anonymizing email service, in order to reply securely.

The only time I should ever be given an SRP user's email address (or him, mine) by the system is in the course of a PayPal transaction. Note: a PayPal account does not require an individual's primary email address, and it's PayPal providing the email addresses, not SRP.

I can answer this. The Classifieds is a separate software from vbulletin. As such its PM system is completely separate from the forum's PM system. Years ago when that was enabled it was extremely confusing where was somebody contacted and how to get in touch with each other.
So, now we have only the 'contact by email' option, which at least makes it unambiguous.

I however do not see what is the problem with simply using the forum's PM system to contact a seller about their ad? I understand that it is more convenient to just click on the 'Contact Seller' link right next to the ad, but if you are concerned about giving them your email address, then three more clicks to go to the forum and send them PM from there do not seem like the end of the world. (And in that sense it's you, not SRP who is providing the seller with your email, when I do it I can also change the email I am providing, but that may be because of my admin account.)

And yes, I would very much like if that software were better integrated with the forum software, but it isn't, and I am not going go spend dozens of hours to merge the forum's PM system with the classifieds.
If you would like to do so, though, I'd be certainly happy to give you access to the code(s).

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Originally Posted by gugi

I can answer this. The Classifieds is a separate software from vbulletin. As such its PM system is completely separate from the forum's PM system. Years ago when that was enabled it was extremely confusing where was somebody contacted and how to get in touch with each other.
So, now we have only the 'contact by email' option, which at least makes it unambiguous.

I however do not see what is the problem with simply using the forum's PM system to contact a seller about their ad? I understand that it is more convenient to just click on the 'Contact Seller' link right next to the ad, but if you are concerned about giving them your email address, then three more clicks to go to the forum and send them PM from there do not seem like the end of the world. (And in that sense it's you, not SRP who is providing the seller with your email, when I do it I can also change the email I am providing, but that may be because of my admin account.)

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Thanks for the explanation.

Can "Contact Seller" be configured to include a person's user name in the email message that is generated and sent? If it did, I could continue contact via vBulletin's PM facility -- but as it stands now, all I get is the user's email address (TMI!). Does the user who clicks "Contact Seller" receive a copy of the email message?

WRT changing the email address (mine) on email sent by "Contact Seller": I cannot do so.

Here's a question: Is a local email address created by vBulletin when someone registers on SRP? (something like "JBHoren@straightrazorplace.com") For example, when I registered on Facebook it automatically creates a "username@facebook.com" account; email sent to that address is routed to my Messages folder, and I can reply to it without the originating email address being revealed to me.

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Originally Posted by JBHoren

Can "Contact Seller" be configured to include a person's user name in the email message that is generated and sent?

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Not by changing a setting, yes by modifying the code (it's php and markup type of thing), so if you feel like doing it let me know.

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Originally Posted by JBHoren

Here's a question: Is a local email address created by vBulletin when someone registers on SRP? (something like "JBHoren@straightrazorplace.com")

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No, there are no email accounts associated with the vbulletin accounts.

OPEN another e-mail account just for the classifieds. Of course this is a hoop to jump through but that's what I do. I have a couple of e-mail addy's I use for this type of purpose. 1 is for new prospects to get on my contact list and the other is top secret. I don't even know the password for that one. :<0)

Get one of these;

Attachment 144646

,,,and use one of these, JB :D

Attachment 144647