Creating a special forum admin mailbox

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Hagar Delest
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Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by Hagar Delest »

We are rather on our own since several months now regarding administration. I raised the issue of the administration mail several times in the past (last one in June in this discussion: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.apac ... devel/7550 ) but nothing changed.

As proposed by acknak (here), we could open a mail account for the forum administration.
Moderators would have access to it and be able to handle the complains about login/registration issues like in the past. But we would not have the automated checks (for already registered user, ...).

The quickest way is to create an account with a gmail/hotmail/whatever provider, share the login information by PM among moderators and that's all. And put the mail address somewhere in the site feedback stickies.

Thoughts?
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RGB
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

For the short/mid term, it's seems the only possibility so a (somewhat reluctant) +1 from my side. But sooner than later we'll need a proper solution for this and other problems :crazy:
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acknak
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by acknak »

Would it be worth asking the ASF to provide a mailbox for us?

That should be simple enough; it's the forum integration that takes more time & effort--right?
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by TheGurkha »

I think something with an Apache address would look better (more official), but if we have to, then a generic one is better than nothing.
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

acknak wrote:Would it be worth asking the ASF to provide a mailbox for us?
That's a good idea. I'll wait until 4.0.1 release on Monday and then propose the creation of a mail box for each NL forum. Can we discuss the proposal? Something like this
  • [Discuss-proposal]Admin mail box for NLs forum

    New forum users with registration problems do not have an easy way to communicate their problems to the board. In the past there was an email address that sent an automated message to a particular forum thread on the private forum area. This system is not working since the move to Apache. Instead of such complex system, a mail box for each NL forum, accessible to forum admins and moderators will be more than enough, something like forum-admin-<locale>@aoo.
Something more to say?
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acknak
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by acknak »

That seems good to me--thanks for making a proposal!

Does anyone know if ASF can provide a shared mailbox? I'm not even sure how well a shared mailbox would work. I assume IMAP access would work with multiple people accessing it; each could see the replies and there would be a shared record of who wrote what--right?

I don't know if ASF might prefer a mailing list, but it would have to be a list that anyone could submit messages to; there's little point in requiring people to register for a mailing list just to report a problem with the forum.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by Hagar Delest »

A mailing list would not be very helpful IMHO. The mailbox would be used only once by users, they would be lost with a ML.

An ASF address would be good indeed.
For the mail proposal, I would put instead of "Instead of such complex system": "Until the automated reply is re-activated". I hope we will see it again in the future!
The automation is a bit complex but was definitively good! It saved a lot of time (by checking if the mail address was used for example).
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

Second round:
  • [Discuss-proposal]Admin mail box for NLs forum

    New forum users with registration problems do not have an easy way to communicate their problems to the board. In the past there was an email address that sent an automated message to a particular forum thread on the private forum area. This system is not working since the move to Apache. Until the automated reply is re-activated, a simple mail box for each NL forum, accessible to forum admins and moderators will be more than enough, something like forum-admin-<locale>@aoo.
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by floris v »

Great.
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by acknak »

+1
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

Ok, the first day after the 4.0.1 release I'll move this to the mailing list.
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

There are two types of people: those who believe that there are two types of people and those who do not.

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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

I don't think the discussion will go anywhere any time soon, so I propose to move forwards: if in the future an aoo address/alias is finally created for the forums, we can change again.

I've never used it, and maybe other free providers offers them too, but I think gmail have a "templates" facility: maybe we can set a gmail account and create some templates with the automated answers we used to have. I think on some thread buried on the private forum the text is still available.
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by acknak »

+1
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by Hagar Delest »

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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by RGB »

The mailbox is now active for the ES forum. Thanks to Mauricio Baeza, who offered a free, .org account on his server (correolibre.org) we have now an email address with a web interface that sends an automated reply to any incoming email. We only need to check the mailbox to answers the situations not covered by the automated answer.

Below is a rough English translation of the message originally written on Spanish, in case you want to use it as basis:
  • This is an automated response from the administrator's group of the Apache OpenOffice Community Forums. This mailbox is primarily for assisting users with registration difficulties. The best place to find out information and to ask Questions is on our forums. We therefore only respond by email to those questions that cannot be resolved through using our forums.

    The forum admins regularly check this email address and one of them will write to you if we believe that your question is not covered by the automated response.

    <link to "What do I do if I can't successfully register on the Forum?" thread> gives you guidance if you have registration difficulties. Below you'll find detailed instructions about how to correctly register on the forum.

    <link to "How to ask a question on the forum" thread> explains how to ask a question on the forum.

    In order to participate on the forums, please read the forum rules:
    <link to the "Survival guide for the forum">

    ============ Solving registering problems ============

    In order to register yourself on the forum, you must follow the following steps:

    1- Start the process with a click on the "Register" link, top right on the main forum page.

    2- Read the site rules and if you agree with them, click on "I agree with the rules". If you do not accept the rules, you cannot register on the forum.

    3- Fill the form by providing the following information:
    - a user name between 3 and 20 characters
    - a valid email address that belongs to you (at the end of the process, a message will be send to that address to complete the registration process and to active your account)
    - a password between 6 and 30 characters
    - your preferred language
    - your time zone
    - your signature (this is the text that will be added to the end of every message you write)
    This signature needs to content at least the Apache OpenOffice version you use and the operative system on which you run it
    - Finally, copy the confirmation code you see on screen (this code is used to avoid automated computer programs trying to register on the site to fill the forum with spam)
    - Click on "Send"

    If any information is wrong, correct it and click Send again

    If the system tells you that the signature is not valid, you can copy and paste one that is similar to your system (you can later change that once your account is active) and click on Send

    4- When this process is completed, an email will be send to the email address you provided to verify that that account belongs to you. If you cannot see the confirmation email on your inbox, please check:
    - the spam folder
    - the trash bean folder
    - check if your anti-spam filter is not blocking the message

    5- Once you receive the email, please follow the link on it to activate the account: your browser will show you a page telling that the process is now completed and that you can now log-in and write your first message.

    IMPORTANT: The first message of every new user is moderated, so your first message will not be available on the forum until a moderator approves it. Once the message is approved, you'll be able to write new messages without limitations and they will be published immediately.

    If after completing at lest the first three steps you cannot end the registration process, please contact us on this email address. You must provide the following information:
    - the user name of your choice and
    - the email address that you'll use on the registration

    It is preferable that you send the email from the same address that you want to use on your account.

    After we receive your email, we will try to activate your account as soon as possible.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by Hagar Delest »

For the record, I've made a template in the EN mailbox, to be used in case we need it.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Creating a special forum admin mailbox

Post by Hagar Delest »

The template has disappeared since, so I put it here for the EN version, based on RGB's proposal with minor changes and the links added for the EN forum.

Code: Select all

This is an automated response from the Moderator's group of the Apache OpenOffice Community Forums. This mailbox is primarily for assisting users with registration difficulties. The best place to find out information and to ask Questions is on our forums. We therefore only respond by email to those questions that cannot be resolved through using our forums.

The forum admins regularly check this email address and one of them will write to you if we believe that your question is not covered by the automated response.

The following thread gives you guidance if you have registration difficulties:
https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=527
Detailed instructions about how to correctly register on the forum are also provided below in this mail.

The following thread explains how to ask a question on the forum:
https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=5569

In order to participate on the forums, please read the forum guidelines:
https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=166

============ Solving registering problems ============

In order to register yourself on the forum, you must follow the following steps:

1- Start the process with a click on the "Register" link, top right on the main forum page.

2- Read the site rules and if you agree with them, click on "I agree with the rules". If you do not accept the rules, you cannot register on the forum.

3- Fill in the form by providing the following information:
- a user name between 3 and 20 characters
- a valid email address that belongs to you (at the end of the process, a message will be send to that address to complete the registration process and to activate your account). Don't use an alias of a @outlook.com if you use Outlook for Windows.
- a password between 6 and 30 characters
- your preferred language
- your time zone
- your signature (this is the text that will be added to the end of every message you write)
This signature needs to content at least the Apache OpenOffice version you use and the operative system on which you run it
- Finally, copy the confirmation code you see on screen (this code is used to avoid automated computer programs trying to register on the site to fill the forum with spam)
- Click on "Send"

If any information is wrong, correct it and click Send again

If the system tells you that the signature is not valid, you can copy and paste one that is similar to your system (you can later change that once your account is active) and click on Send

4- When this process is completed, an email will be send to the email address you provided to verify that that account belongs to you. If you cannot see the confirmation email on your inbox, please check:
- the spam folder
- the trash bin folder
- check if your anti-spam filter is not blocking the message

5- Once you receive the email, please follow the link on it to activate the account: your browser will show you a page telling that the process is now completed and that you can now log-in and write your first message.

IMPORTANT: The first message of every new user is moderated, so your first message will not be available on the forum until a moderator approves it. Once the message is approved, you'll be able to write new messages without limitations and they will be published immediately.

If after completing at least the first three steps you cannot end the registration process, please contact us on this email address. You must provide the following information:
- the user name of your choice and
- the email address that you'll use on the registration

It is preferable that you send the email from the same address that you want to use on your account.

After we receive your email, we will try to activate your account as soon as possible.

Kind regards,
The Moderators team
How to handle the mail?
The default settings of the mailbox have been kept.
When replying, use the standard reply above or just reply on your own, depending on the question.
Once a reply is made, it is important to add a post in the monthly topic of the Site - Forum Administration where is provided the original question (forwarding the answer and then copying/pasting the content usually gives the header data) and roughly what was the action taken.
Then, the mail in the admin mailbox can be moved to the "Starred" folder.
In case there is a follow-up discussion, no obligation to add it in the monitoring topic of the forum, except if it needs discussion among the Moderators.
So far, only trivial replies have been deleted (like thanks from a happy user), and (rare) spam, automated replies... Some cleaning may be needed once we reach the quota limit of the Gmail mailbox.
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