One thing I think is important -- double opt-in on the
email
addresses. We don't want anyone to use us as an annoying means
of mailbombing someone.
I'm not sure double opt-in is critical in this context since we're
not talking about putting the address on a list. Nor would this be a
convenient way to mailbomb someone, because it would require dealing
with a webform for each message. But maybe it's better.
Here's what I envision: when someone views a "User" page, an "email
this user" link appears (perhaps only if that user has opted in, and
perhaps only if the person doing the browsing is logged in so we
don't allow anonymous mail). On clicking that link, the user is
presented with a form much like the one I'm typing into now on
Nupedia webmail, except that the e-mail address of the recipient is
not shown. When submitted, the software mails it off to the e-mail
address stored in the database.
The questions, then, are (1) when a new user signs up, giving an e-
mail address, should we further require that he check a box
saying "allow other wikipedians to mail me" or should we let him
check a box saying "don't allow other wikipedians to mail me". The e-
mail address is never published in any case, and the only mails
received are one-to-ones, not lists, but I suppose opt-in is still
the more responsible thing to do. (2) Perhaps the double opt-in
confirmation message could be sent whenever this option is selected.
(3) The mail messages themselves might have a section something
like "This mail was sent from Wikipedia's e-mail function. If you
don't want to receive mails like this, go to..."
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