By-passing Member to Member mail?

Is there a way to by pass the 'member to member' email and go back to the old way of actually sending them an email?

Send 'em a personal message, and ask them to give you an email address (and/or give them yours) so you can correspond off-site.

But if they're not on-line at Dave's than we are still subjected to waiting for them to log in and see the 'member to member' email.
I check my email a lot more offen than I log into Dave's. To bad we can't have both options.....I really liked the old system, but do see the benefits of the new one too.
Oh well.........................

I don't find it that hard to make a click and bring up the Internet browser I'm using. I have Daves as my home page One more click and I'm in my email, if it tells me that I have mail. I love the new email system. I sure have not had emails from non members since this went into effect. Thanks Dave. I really don't know of anyplace I could go for $15 a year and have so many options.

I'm not complaining about anything here....I simply asked if the new 'Member to Member' mail system could be by-passed so that my email would go through to the member I was writing. As it is now the message sits here on Dave's till the person logs in to see it....it is no longer sent to them as an email like it use to be.
This has nothing to do with my browser.....I too love the low $15.00 a year rate at Dave's....but sometimes 'improvments' don't actual improve anything. IMHO

Hi, Marc. I've been wondering the same thing, only because I have my email up at work at all times and I get a little "ching" when a new mail comes in. I'm not complaining either, Dave!
Marc, what does IMHO mean?
Terrie

Liked it better when youI could email the person and if they didn't want to acknowledge, didn't answer. JMO

Hibiscus,
Can't you ignore an email through member-to-member the same as you could before?

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

I'm such a ditz. I kinda thought that's what it was when Hibiscus used IMO (that one was a little easier to figure out). LOL

Rikerbear

Here's a posting from Dave on the other thread you might have missed, not surprising since it's a very long thread, regarding this.

"This morning I created an email notification system. If your recipient doesn't read their mail for 2 days, the system will email them (only one time) and tell them that there is email for them, and it'll give them a link to read the mail.

It only mails it once, at least 48 hours after it was sent.

dave"

I agree with rikerbear, I appreciate the improvement but I too wish the email went directly to the other persons email. I'm not complaining to Dave. I appreciate his work to improve the site but I'm just want to give personal feedback.
charlotte

Dave may be able to come up with a better alternative, but here's why I suggested what I did:

If you're contacting someone for the very first time, chances are your message isn't particularly urgent. (I guess it could be, but odds are that it isn't.) In that initial exchange, if you agree you need to be able to reach each other instantaneously AND one or both parties don't frequent DG hourly (*smile*) then you can agree to exchange email or IM information and talk offline.

Not a perfect solution, but it does alleviate others' concerns about wishing to communicate while protecting their email addresses.

It's just something different than what we were used to. If I didn't answer, seems message was still showing up, everytime I came here.

Will get used to it. Thanks Dave & Terry.

Guess I should have said, "Humble rather than Just My Opinion". ha

I'm still trying to adjust to it as well. I don't switch gears very easily so trying to be patient until I, hopefully, settle into it.

I undertstand ALL of that.....my question was simply. "Is there a way to by-pass it?" I see now that the answer is NO.
The system might be better if an immediate notification was sent to the members emails address notifing them of a waiting member to member message......but again that is just my humble opinion.

Rikerbear, I'm sorry - I really wasn't trying to frustrate you. Your question was "is there a way to bypass member-to-member mail?" and I tried to give you a way to do that. But it requires that you and the other person agree to exchange email or IM addresses first - and that exchange will most likely be through the personal message system here.

Thank you Terry....that will only work once initial contact has been made.
I will make a point of doing just as you suggested with all the members I am in contact with. This will insure my ability to by-pass this 'member to member' system in the future.
Thank you again for your time and input Terry.

Marc, I agree. I wish there was an option for us to allow people to email us personally or only through DG mail. I just had an experience with a trade where I the person contacted me through DG, I answered her and accepted the trade, but she doesn't check her DG mail very often. So the two day wait for the notification caused a slight bit of delay in getting the trade out. It's not a big thing, except at this time of year our weather is changing quickly. Certain things still in the garden are about to be "wilted"...cuttings won't look too great. :-D

~julie~

Terry/Dave, IF, and only IF, the e-notice after 48 hours is being sent out automatically, why not have it sent immediately as soon as the system detects a message as having been sent?
That should satisfy EVERYBODY (finally, hopefully).

Thank you for your support Julie...you'd think I'd said "lets all kill puppies" from some of the responces I've gotten.
But I've recieved several private (actual) emails from other supporters too, so I guess it all balances out.
Oh well, it's Dave's garden, and he can do what he wants.....If I truly find it to be something I just can't deal with (which I highly doubt) I can simply not renew my membership, but I just don't see that happening. This site is wonderful for the most part, and I enjoy being a member here so very much.
I regret that my simple question became such a hot button issue. believe you me it will be a LONG time before I ask admin any more questions.

And, rikerbear, what do you think of MY idea? Would that not be a big step in your direction?

Edited to wonder why folks supporting you in this have to go off-site. That's the beauty of having forums for intelligent discussions.

This message was edited Sep 28, 2004 7:45 PM

Ulrich, I think your suggestion is right on target!

Ulrich, your idea is a good one, except you are overlooking the fact that your solution would create one email being sent to the inbox for every email sent on this system. That almost completely defeats the purpose of this. The delay is so that the most active users have a chance to read the mail themselves before being bothered in their email inbox.

Well, whatever. This is indeed My Garden but I do what the members want. If enough people stand up and say they want the old way, I'll put it back to the way it was before. I'll need a majority, though.

dave

Since I'm not crazy about emails coming into my computer and if there could be an option to choose emails or no emails, that would work for me. I happen to be one that is on Daves off and on during the day, every day and don't need to be reminded of having mail other than on the site.

Dave, thanks for the response. If it came to a vote I'm all for the new way.

Please note an Edit on my previous post.

Dave, your response makes sense, and frankly I like the new email format.

Great idea Ulrich! You must have posted it while I was answering Julie88. That would make me a very happy DGer!
And I never said people who supported me had to go off site to voice it, some just did, as they already had my email address. Please let's not make this an 'us and them' thing......I really only asked a simple yes or no question. Since I now know the answer is No, than I'm done with it...........

i for one like the new mail system. that way i know its from here and only here. its a safety issue for me.

a suggestion only a suggestion

cant it be incorparated some how (for those who rather have the person email them) have like on their page their email address and a brief statement that they rather have their emails sent to them personally? only paid memebers can see their email??

then for those who dont want it it can be let alone. this may be too much a suggestion but i guess some like the old way better.

like i said to me this is a safety issue. no one can send me a virus or my email is given to someone else without my permission.

my vote is for the new way.

Dave, I like to get notifications from DG in my inbox...mainly because it's usually filled with stuff I'd rather NOT read. LOL So it's refreshing to at least get to see the daily newsletter arrive. I have to admit, I'm always "sitting" on DG anyway (not always at the computer...but there's always a DG window on my taskbar) so it's not a problem for me to get my mail. Just that others don't get their messages quite as soon as I'd like. ;-)

Thanks Dave...

~julie~

I think the new system should stay too. I have to admit I wasn't very thrilled at first but after getting used to it it works great. I could do without the the notifications. I'm here every day anyway and don't need to be alerted to new e-mail. A notification for every e-mail would be more of a nuisance then if the e-mail itself, arrived in my in box. I thought the big point behind this new system was to avoid unwanted e-mails, as well as the security.

Ricker, did you ever stop and think maybe your e-mail recipient saw your message but chose not to reply? After all, everyone still has the choice to reply... or not.

What are you talking about PoppySue? Someone not answering an email from me was never an issue....nor ever in question.

I think the current system works OK too. I do subscribe to other sites that allow immediate notification of new private messages via e-mail, and I use that feature. But I could live without it. How about an option where the user could select, "Send a notice of new messages to my personal e-mail address:" and the options are, "After 48 hours, After 24 hours, Immediately, Never". That should make everyone happy! But it might be a pain to implement - I don't know the details of Dave's system, so I won't say it would be easy.

Dave can never make all of us happy! I wonder sometimes why he even tries. At first I was all in a tizz over this new email system and now I just love it. I guess that is a sign of age, loss of flexibility in body and in mind! LOL! I qualify!

Sue, I think Rikerbear was so concerned about the speed or lack there of, of his emails getting to his intended recipients. He must have much more exciting email life than I do! LOL

Oh and I agree Sue, I find the notification in my home email a nuisance. Now that people are aware of this new system, and if they choose not to check in on a timely basis to read their Dave emails, it obviously is not of an urgent priority to them. I for one can have emails for several days or even longer before I open them. I am drowning in emails.

I think the new email is just fine & would vote to keep it. If someone has "speed" issues, they should probably just go regular email. On the average I would guess we're all just regular gardeners & not ER Docs on call....lol

i liked the old system.. but i like the new system, as well
i can see it from both points of view..
the not wanting to give out your personal email address to everyone in the free world and be subjected to spam
and also as the person who doesnt spend all day every day at dave's (i do when i can.. but sometimes i cant)
my way of getting around not having to give out my personal email address was to create a gmail account (gmail is great.. i've got 2 accounts.. with 11 total invitations currently if anyone wants an account) especially for DG email
and i've posted that email address publicly for anyone who wants to contact me, because i prefer to have some things go directly to my mailbox , though i can understand why some people would want to make their initial contact through the Dave's email system..
there could be a thread started in General Discussion.. or wherever, for people who dont want to use the new system to post their email address ..
or something like that as a quick alternative
or maybe in the addy exchange .. when you're editing your info, there could be a box there to check that says "reveal my email address".. or something like that.. but only on the address exchange page, not where just anyone can see it

i love DG.. and i'm certainly not complaining about anything here, it's a bargain to get all of the options and have all of these nice people here to talk to about just about anything plant related (and sometimes not plant related stuff) and the wealth of
knowledge and information here .. for only $15 a year


btw... my DG gmail addy is dgmisskitty@gmail.com
if anyone wants to email me about anything.. ever :)


Kim

This message was edited Sep 29, 2004 1:35 AM

Dave, I'm curious how many 48 hour notices have had to go out compared to the amount of messages sent through the new system. I'd be willing to bet it's not that many compared to the amount of mails. I think most of the people that generate e-mails here are active DGers that check in frequently. I know not everyone "lives" at DG like some do but I bet most of the active participants check in a few times a week. Is the e-mail notification something that has been used a lot since it's been implemented?

My vote is for the new email. I've used it already and I really like it. I also like the fact that my inbox isn't clogging up with email. I vote for the new member to member email. I really like it!

rikerber,sorry to see your simple question turned into such a controversy,but perhaps it shows the interest,concern and involvement of the DG members.A yes or no answer would have sufficed,but I was very happy to see the thoughts of other DG'ers on the subject.If a consensus was needed, I'd have to vote for the present system.

Controversy? Seems like a reasonable discussion to me.