I've read the threads on why email is not allowed

[swissunite]

to be displayed anymore and I do have a major complaint.  Members could make their email addresses hidden or not, so how that a privacy issue?  The member wishes to give out their email address to the board - they controlled that.

Also, this talk about well, proboards has this admin function so you can easily email members.  Err.  The reason WHY I emailed members was because PROBOARDS WAS DOWN.  And I needed to communicate with them that there was nothing wrong with the forum and I would keep them up to date when proboards came back up.

not everyone comes here for those alerts and the angry bear happens more times that it should.

Administrators need to have a way to get a hold of members when proboards is down and that is why the viewing of the email should be allowed.  When people sign up for anything, you can put wording in there to address privacy laws and the user has the choice to release their email address to the administrator or not join the board.  I have a closed board, invite only, and I used the email address to verify who they were.  Now, I guess I will register them myself - or is that option taken away?

this is just a crock with the removal of email addresses, taking away the right of the member who wishes to release it to the board and then using the excuse that about you can still email them - but the point is, if proboards is DOWN, you cannot.

unless you are now saying that the forums will never, ever go down ever again once we are upgraded to v5.

Sorry for starting the thread - but the email thread that was explaining things seems to have been locked and I could not add my comments in there.

[swissunite]

is the registration by admins option removed now?

also, how can a member change their email account now?  I can't even find it.

in the past, if a member forgot their password and they also forgot their email address, I would be able to help them out with their email address.  Now, as an admin, I cannot do that anymore.   What does a member do if that is the case?  They have to come here?  Most of them don't want to sign up here and most of them don't feel comfortable bringing it here.

This could led to a loss of membership.  thanks a bunch

[Patrick [ASE]]

Proboards are always working towards greater reliability, but because they are in the middle of V5 openbeta, there will be occasions where forums will be inaccessible for a short rime while upgrades are implemented.

Removal of the option for admins and other staff to see emails doesn't affect how you run the forum, you can still email them if needed.
There is nothing against members volunteering to send you their emails, as long as you are fully responsible for how you store that data.

Accounts can be managed from the global page (go to proboards.com click login, you'll also find the forgot password link

[swissunite]

I disagree that it doesn't affect how I run my forum. It is called communicating with the members when proboards is unavailable and helping them with their account issues.

can that link for the global page be added to the user profile? Most members have no idea about this support board or to even know to go to proboards.com, as our suffix for our board isn't even proboards!!

[Patrick [ASE]]

It would be no good adding to the profile if the forum is down.
Unless you are ad free, there is always a link at the bottom of the board (hosted by Proboards) and from there they will find support, or you can add links wherever you like.

Proboards has provided every means to communicate, there's threads,  PM's, email (even without seeing the actual email), and as stated, members can volunteer to give you a contact email, or you can post an email for them to contact you (i recommend an alternative email from your admin one)

[Sophia]

Mar 31, 2013 7:22:32 GMT -8 swissunite said:

I disagree that it doesn't affect how I run my forum. It is called communicating with the members when proboards is unavailable and helping them with their account issues.

can that link for the global page be added to the user profile? Most members have no idea about this support board or to even know to go to proboards.com, as our suffix for our board isn't even proboards!!

Well, swissunite I see your point, but needing to communicate with members when Proboards is unavailable will be very, very rare indeed, as Patrick pointed out.

Not only that, but it would also require you to keep a separate address book of all your members, something I would definitely vehemently be against if I signed up for a board... I get enough spam from hacked Yahoo and Hotmail users as it is.
If however all your members agree on such an arrangement, I'm sure they would volunteer their email address, which would reassure you and them that their address is stored in a 3rd party database with their full consent.

So,  in summary, your request almost pleads against emails being visible but that is only my opinion

[swissunite]

It hasn't been rare here. That is why I am asking if proboards has totally revamped their architecture, as there are always slow loading forums, angry bears (the other day, my members were upset with all of the angry bears they got) and so on.

I work for a university, so I know about FERPA and privacy laws. You don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one. You have a social media section - why not allow members to put in their email address in that section? Why not add a label there for that?

if members are on board with this, why is this an issue over privacy?

[swissunite]

Mar 31, 2013 7:47:06 GMT -8 Patrick [ASE] said:

It would be no good adding to the profile if the forum is down.
Unless you are ad free, there is always a link at the bottom of the board (hosted by Proboards) and from there they will find support, or you can add links wherever you like.

Proboards has provided every means to communicate, there's threads,  PM's, email (even without seeing the actual email), and as stated, members can volunteer to give you a contact email, or you can post an email for them to contact you (i recommend an alternative email from your admin one)

I am talking in GENERAL.  This request has nothing to do with the forum being down and yes,   my forum is ad free.

It would be much more in line with the user experience to have that link displayable in a way that is easy to find and SEE.   Not everyone has 20-20 vision and sees all of the little itty bitty icons,etc that are here.

How can I add that as a tab in my user's profile? 

[Brian]

In your admin area, select Members > Custom Profile Fields.

You can add a new Text Field, set the Options to Email Address and change its Location to Member Profile Only to achieve the same effect as in V4.

[swissunite]

thank you! I will see if I can get that to work.

[swissunite]

that is great - thank you! Now, my next question (lol) is how to get custom fields for a user in things like the member list?

I looked at the options in the member list and you do have email, but you must disable that. But I am not sure how to get my custom field to work with the templates - if they even can work with them...

thanks!

[Brian]

Structure > Layout Templates > Members

Add the line in red between the two that aren't in red.

<th class="username $[sortable_class.username]">Username</th>
<th class="name">Email</th>
<th class="rank $[sortable_class.group_and_rank]">Group / Rank</th>

Now switch to the Member List tab and do the same here, adding the line in red after the line not in red.

<td class="username">$[user.username]</td>
<td class="name">{foreach $[user.custom_field]}{if $[user.custom_field.name] == "Email"}<a href="mailto:$[user.custom_field.value]">$[user.custom_field.value]</a>{/if}{/foreach}</td>

Change the underlined word to the name you gave your custom profile field.

[swissunite]

thank you Brian!! Very helpful!

[moonbeam]

Mar 31, 2013 7:22:32 GMT -8 swissunite said:

I disagree that it doesn't affect how I run my forum. It is called communicating with the members when proboards is unavailable and helping them with their account issues.

can that link for the global page be added to the user profile? Most members have no idea about this support board or to even know to go to proboards.com, as our suffix for our board isn't even proboards!!

As forum admin, it's up to you to tell your members where to come look for information if the boards are down.

Likewise, if you are concerned that you're not able to communicate when the forum is down, then you should be providing YOUR address instead of making PB out to be the bad guy. You have some control over the situation, after all.

[swissunite]

I do send out emails and I do give our my email address to all of the members. However, how do I know it is them emailing me if I do not know their address?  Good god, what part of an administrator's duties do you not get?  I don't let my members twist in the wind, thank you.

and yes, I do give them instructions for here. They just prefer to get emails and notifications from me. Don't make ME out to be the bad guy when these options are currently available in V4. You have no idea how much I instruct my members with FAQ's, etc - only to find that they want ME to communicate with THEM directly, as the need arises. Not the other way around nor going to pB support.

you seem to think that people will remember everything and if the boards are down, they have it squirreled away somewhere.  If they cannot access the boards where this information resides, what good is it?

at least PB understands the need for publishing email addresses, as brian was able to give me custom code.  That is the "control over my situation" that I was looking for, not someone just chiming in to try and belittle my request.    Please don't SCOLD me for requesting a feature that was available in V4.   Not sure why you felt the need to chime in when you obviously could not help me with my request, other than to scold.