Email Integration Question

[Amphicar770]

Looks like you have put together a really nice offering here. As a VB user, I am intrigued. The big question for me is around email integration.

One feature long missing, and oft requested in VB, is the ability for users to view and post messages to the forum direct from email. The lack of this feature is what keeps hundreds of YahooGroup admins from moving to a more robust forum. I use an add-in to support this functionality in VB 3.x but it is not available in 4.0.

If this is a feature supported by xenForo, I will by buying a license today!!

Thanks.

 

[Paul B]

It has been suggested but there are no indications as to whether that functionality will be incorporated or not at this time.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-reply-by-email.1801/

 

[dutchbb]

It has drawbacks.

1) your board will seem more dead if a lot of irregular users are not visiting but reading/replying through mail, it will not promote activity on the forums
2) when running advertisements, your sponsors/advertisers will not be happy if you allow users to communicate without visiting the forums, or you will not be happy because users are less likely to click your ads

I actually disabled reading posts in e-mail in vB exactly for these reasons.

 

[Amphicar770]

It has drawbacks.

All of the email traffic still gets posted to the board so I actually think having more access channels increases overall activity. tain My bank probably has fewer customers walk in the door because of ATM's but they would certainly have very few customers without ATMs.

My board, like many, is not operated as a profit making venture. Thus, I am less concerned about pleasing advertisers than I am users.

Certainly, any such feature should be configurable by the admin. However, I think such a feature could offer xenForo a real differentiating advantage. The big market is not in going after the VB sites, it is in all those Yahoo Groups who have no alternative because of the email hook.