Post Via Email

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  • dwessell
    Member
    • Apr 2005
    • 45

    Post Via Email

    Does vBulletin allow users to post to the forums via email, and recieve the posts back, via email?

    Thanks
    David
  • Steve Machol
    Former Customer Support Manager
    • Jul 2000
    • 154488

    #2
    No sorry. That is not a feature in vB.
    Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
    Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

    Steve Machol Photography


    Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


    Comment

    • eva01
      Senior Member
      • Jan 2005
      • 249
      • 3.0.6

      #3
      damn how many times has this feature been asked.

      seems like it would make people buy this product more


      *hint hint* >_>

      Comment

      • feldon23
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2001
        • 11291
        • 3.7.x

        #4
        I would like to see this feature too.

        Some kind of tagging in the e-mail would control which thread the messages are attached to.

        Comment

        • amphicar770
          Member
          • Mar 2005
          • 37
          • 3.0.0 Release Candidate 4

          #5
          Originally posted by feldon23
          I would like to see this feature too.
          Having a post2forum capability does introduce a good deal of complexity as well as potential security holes due to spoofed email addresses, etc.

          That being said, it seems that a forum2mail capability could be implemented without too much difficulty and I am surprised it is not there. Today you can receive a daily digest of a forum but that does not contain full text. It would be nice if users could elect to receive individual full-text emails of all posts made to selected forums. The mail message could contain a link back to the post to facilitate replies.

          If this is a must have then you can look at digiposts which costs big $$$. Wowbb does offer the forum2mail. It has a nice interface but falls far short of VB in extensibility and integration with other things like a portal or hacks. Mailgust is interesting but still not ready for prime time IMHO.

          It does seem like people have been asking about this for YEARS so I would not hold my breath.

          Comment

          • feldon23
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2001
            • 11291
            • 3.7.x

            #6
            The e-mails that go out could have a lenghty code which is only valid for 72 hours and which corresponds to a threadid, postid, userid, IP address, and other necessary information. Sort of an access key AND bookmark so that your post will go to the right thread, in response to the right post, and posted by the correct userid.

            Something suitably hashed and md5'ed, perhaps?

            And maybe in order for a user to get access to the ability to post by e-mail gateway, they would have to reply to an automatically generated e-mail from the forum and then enter their forum password in a webform. Then vB could take a snapshot of the relevant headers in the e-mail and expect them in future e-postings.

            Basically, make it so that someone has to be e-replying from the same ISP and within 72 hours of receiving a message.

            Anything can be abused, the question is how tight can this be made?
            Last edited by feldon23; Fri 8 Apr '05, 2:48pm.

            Comment

            • Reaktor7
              Member
              • Mar 2005
              • 52
              • 3.0.7

              #7
              I cant see the need (not reasons) for posting via email. However, it might be justified i guess.

              However, i guess it would be possible.. Maybe when the user signs up make them reply to an email ot something so we can get their headers. Which will be cross reference so we cant get those email spoofers (just added security perhaps? if you can localize where the email come from, you could disgard the rest)
              The only things they would ever need to do would be reply to something and possibly make a new thread. First part is easy, md5 the users id, passsword md5, an emailid (to stop the users replying multiple times) and the threadid, and then format the subject so it includes the threadid, and make sure the last line of the email has this md5'ed string on it.

              Then just parse their email, pull the userid and password hash from the db, md5 it with the threadid in the subject and if it equals the md5 in the subject you go about posting the thread (you could also check the email headers there as well).

              And jsut to make sure topics dont get broken up, maybe have a "quote" feild or a different postbit for an email reply..
              Last edited by Reaktor7; Sat 9 Apr '05, 3:58am.

              Comment

              • feldon23
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2001
                • 11291
                • 3.7.x

                #8
                Originally posted by Reaktor7
                I cant see the need (not reasons) for posting via email.
                People who are averse to forums. I mentioned switching a popular e-mail list at Yahoo Groups (idiots worse run that site) to a vB forum. I never saw such violent, aggressive responses.

                Comment

                • amphicar770
                  Member
                  • Mar 2005
                  • 37
                  • 3.0.0 Release Candidate 4

                  #9
                  Originally posted by feldon23
                  People who are averse to forums. I mentioned switching a popular e-mail list at Yahoo Groups (idiots worse run that site) to a vB forum. I never saw such violent, aggressive responses.
                  Same experience here. Spent a lot of time and money setting up a very nice VB based system. People liked the layout but as soon as they realized they can not receive messages by email I had a revolt on my hands and am thus stuck in YahooGroups. Users seem OK with replying via web but they do not want to have to pull messages, they want them pushed.

                  Comment

                  • csimo
                    Member
                    • Jul 2003
                    • 45

                    #10
                    I would LOVE to see Post Via Email implemented. I would even pay extra for it. My forum morphed from an original listserver and I still have hundreds of members that HATE the web based forum.

                    Post Via Email would make my life much easier!

                    I've been begging for it for years. So far requests have fallen on deaf ears. Not even a good add on at vBulletin.org that I know of. Several have tried, but no success so far.

                    Please, please consider this. As I said I'd be willing to pay extra for it.

                    -Joe

                    Comment

                    • Moparx
                      Senior Member
                      • Jan 2005
                      • 209
                      • 3.6.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by feldon23
                      People who are averse to forums. I mentioned switching a popular e-mail list at Yahoo Groups (idiots worse run that site) to a vB forum. I never saw such violent, aggressive responses.
                      a forum is not a mailing list... nor should it ever be made into one.
                      if your members dont want to learn how to use a forum, stay with what makes them happy.
                      http://www.virtualinfusion.net
                      An Anime and Manga discussion forum.

                      Comment

                      • chaeberle
                        Senior Member
                        • Nov 2004
                        • 241
                        • 3.0.7

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Moparx
                        a forum is not a mailing list... nor should it ever be made into one.
                        if your members dont want to learn how to use a forum, stay with what makes them happy.
                        No, it isn't, but some people travel a lot, and some still only have dialup access so dialing up, uploading and downloading their email, and then disconnecting so they can read the posts and reply offline before dialing up again doesn't mean turning the forum into a mailing list, either.

                        Comment

                        • feldon23
                          Senior Member
                          • Nov 2001
                          • 11291
                          • 3.7.x

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Moparx
                          a forum is not a mailing list... nor should it ever be made into one.
                          if your members dont want to learn how to use a forum, stay with what makes them happy.
                          If you don't like our suggestion, you don't have to post here.

                          Some people are married to mailing lists, even though for archiving and user profiles, they suck.

                          A forum-to-e-mail gateway would allow us to transition people over.

                          Comment

                          • csimo
                            Member
                            • Jul 2003
                            • 45

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Moparx
                            a forum is not a mailing list... nor should it ever be made into one.
                            if your members dont want to learn how to use a forum, stay with what makes them happy.
                            Don't remember asking you, or anyone else, for the definition of a mailing list or forum.

                            I'm not interested in what you think a forum should be. I'll not tell you how or what you should run so why not offer me and others the same respect?

                            What a damned rude rude comment! Wouldn't it have been easier to go about your merry way rather than say such ignorant things?

                            Comment

                            • Moparx
                              Senior Member
                              • Jan 2005
                              • 209
                              • 3.6.x

                              #15
                              Originally posted by chaeberle
                              No, it isn't, but some people travel a lot, and some still only have dialup access so dialing up, uploading and downloading their email, and then disconnecting so they can read the posts and reply offline before dialing up again doesn't mean turning the forum into a mailing list, either.
                              when you put it that way i understand the request a bit better..
                              thanks for your helpful reply

                              Originally posted by feldon23
                              A forum-to-e-mail gateway would allow us to transition people over.
                              i guess its because i've personally never had to worry about transitioning between the two.
                              i've been using both for so many years that i personally feel that they are extremely simple and need next to no learning curve. (again thats just how i feel, and it could be incorrect when concerning noobs)


                              Originally posted by csimo
                              Don't remember asking you, or anyone else, for the definition of a mailing list or forum.

                              I'm not interested in what you think a forum should be. I'll not tell you how or what you should run so why not offer me and others the same respect?

                              What a damned rude rude comment! Wouldn't it have been easier to go about your merry way rather than say such ignorant things?
                              Originally posted by feldon23
                              If you don't like our suggestion, you don't have to post here.
                              i love how its ok to voice your opinions but the second someone goes against it and makes a valid comment about it, you think they dont deserve to voice theirs..

                              it wasnt a rude comment at all... but a valid observation based on fact.
                              if your members do not feel comfortable using something different and they are happy with what they are currently using.. there should no need to change anything and try to transition them into using something else.
                              http://www.virtualinfusion.net
                              An Anime and Manga discussion forum.

                              Comment

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