If a classmate's e-mail has been designated as bounced or if a classmate has elected not to receive e-mails from the site their e-mail has the designation "Notify Flag Off." In either event they will not receive an e-mail sent from the site.

However, one can seemingly send them a message from either the bottom of their profile or through the Message Center. Accordingly, a classmate may send a message and become upset that they never get a reply. They don't know that a message hasn't been sent as there is every indication that it has.

Suggestion: If a message can't be sent remove that option from the bottom of the profile. Additionally, treat that classmate as unreachable through the Message Center also.

Sir, you bring up a very valid point. The message can be delivered to the Message Center, but the email notification cannot be sent. I suppose it is better to send the message to the message center, to be discovered later, but to the person sending the message, you are correct, they do not know that the recipient may never know about it. Interesting issue. I'm not sure that there is a good solution for this. There are some people who use the system on purpose like this... not wanting to receive notification of the email, but actively using the Message Center for messages. If you remove the ability to send messages, then these specific people will not be able to receive any messages. Left the way it is, many senders may not realize that their messages are potentially not being read. Sort of a catch 22. I'll circulate for additional thoughts.

I agree Scott.

Only thing that even comes to mind is we could potentially do something like this:

1) Allow anyone to send email into Message Center at any time
2) Should the notification email of that message bounce to the recipient, then email the sender that it's possible the recipient didn't get the email, or won't be getting it soon.

Problem with that, like you said, is many people turned off these notices because they log into the site regularly anyway. So now they'd start getting notices which, to them, would amount to annoying.

One other thought: For those who choose to be Facebook enabled shortly, they'll have the option to route their notices to the Facebook globe instead of email. This will be far more reliable than email. For anyone doing that, bounced emails will be a thing of the past.

This sounds good to me!!!
I like the idea of notifying the sender that no messages will be received because the classmate chose to opt out. I think disabling the message box automatically would be the best solution for classmates that opt out of emails....the admins could notify the whole website that this will happen if you opt out. JMHO!!!!

Brad Switzer wrote:

would it be possible to just display a message along the lines "Jane Doe will not receive notification that you've sent this message and, therefore, may not see it."?

[Edit] Add second sentence "Contact your site administrator if you need further information."

The problem with this is many users are on the class sites virtually every day. So they voluntarily choose to opt out of the notices. I.E. they're already going to get their email anyway. They don't need yet another email to tell them about the email. If we do this then the system will start alerting senders that the very people who use the system the most might not get their message -- when the actuality is they're the most likely to get their message.

Obvious solution of course is to activate this if the user's email address is currently in a bounced state, vs. a voluntarily opt out state.

Webmaster Darlene wrote:

This sounds good to me!!!
I like the idea of notifying the sender that no messages will be received because the classmate chose to opt out. I think disabling the message box automatically would be the best solution for classmates that opt out of emails....the admins could notify the whole website that this will happen if you opt out. JMHO!!!!

Brad Switzer wrote:

I agree Scott.

Only thing that even comes to mind is we could potentially do something like this:

1) Allow anyone to send email into Message Center at any time
2) Should the notification email of that message bounce to the recipient, then email the sender that it's possible the recipient didn't get the email, or won't be getting it soon.

Problem with that, like you said, is many people turned off these notices because they log into the site regularly anyway. So now they'd start getting notices which, to them, would amount to annoying.

One other thought: For those who choose to be Facebook enabled shortly, they'll have the option to route their notices to the Facebook globe instead of email. This will be far more reliable than email. For anyone doing that, bounced emails will be a thing of the past.

Along the lines of FC, the best compromise is adding a positive information message (where message is composed):

"User will receive message only in the Message Center and will not receive an email notice."

Or something like that.

@ Brad
I like that idea...enabling the Message Box IMHO..would solve the problem..it's simple...Just a thought.

Brownies on the way soon..will be baking Friday

@ Kyle & Gwen....Get your orders in now! and pm me your addresses so I can send them out to ya.

What a great treat, Darlene! Be sure to split Brad's part between Kyle and I, as well. I'm sure he'd like to share! After all, we deserve an extra treat this month... especially, Kyle! It's his birthday!

Gwen..I need you home address...need Kyle's too!!! When is his b/day???

Darlene,

Actually, my 50th birthday was today (October 15th). I just got back from DISNEYLAND!!

Happy Birthday

Thanks.

Well...Happy Belated Birthday, Kyle!!! Now you can get your AARP card..and start getting some senior discounts!!

Plus I see brownies in your future!!!

Well...Happy Belated Birthday, Kyle!!! Now you can get your AARP card..and start getting some senior discounts!!

Plus I see brownies in your future!!!