Sending Email to Member vs Forum

Hi,

iChat is good for this.

As some have said I list my email in my Profile.

With the previous forum software I did get some people apparently "Queue Jumping".

It was very similar to posting "Bump" in a thread to move it to the top.

I have system where I respond to Subscription alerts first then work through the oldest Unread post in a Forum Community (or Refined view).

If someone does email me and I come across a thread as well I point out the queue jumping nature of doing this and ask they donate to my Site for "work at home".

Of course I also have this page which does have iChat Links on it. (if iChat is set to be your AIM app then it will open iChat and Message me)

Every now an then I do get someone who will try to abuse the offer. (Video invites without Texting first, blank screens and silly noises out of sight and so on) I eventually end up blocking these people. (in seven years my list is still less than 15 people)

I subscribe to the idea that answers should be available to all.

Having said that I can see that asking a specific person to have a look at a thread might be useful. That said I think that it would not get that used by myself due to where I help out the most.

I think on the whole I would give it a miss.

8:23 PM Thursday; June 2, 2011

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi Ronda,

At the Computer Start up iChatAgent launches.

Mostly it monitors if you get Off Line IMs and will then Start iChat and show you the IM.

(You do have to have your AIM valid accounts set up to allow Off Line IMs - which cannot be done in iChat once you have replied with a "No" to the AIMSysMessage asking if you want to allow it)

Face Time has a similar *Agent app that runs in the background. (I think it is IMAgent)

It "Listens" for any calls and will open Face Time (with said silly noise) which you can miss if running a full screen app/Game like Civ 4

When you Quit the app or game you will find yourself staring out of the Screen in the Face Time window.

The only other cue is the camera light will come on.

NOTES

Logging in here with an AIM, @Mac.com or MobileMe name will allow you to Reset Off Line IMs

8:30 PM Thursday; June 2, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
 Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK) Attempts have been made to get all the letters in the right order :-)

babowa wrote:

Sorry, I don't have iChat activated and I'm not available 24 hours a day - I actually turn off my phone! Which reminds me, I guess it's time to turn it on this morning...... 🙂

😁

I don't have a cell phone; and my landline does not have voicemail nor an answering machine. If someone wants to get in touch with me, they have to actually speak to me, not to a machine.

It can take me weeks or months to answer snailmail (except bills).

Email - it's not as important to me as it seems to be for other folk. I try to remember to check it every 2 or 3 days, but....

I'm retired, and I choose to live life at my pace. 🙂

I hang out in these forums a lot, responding where I think I might have something to offer, but I will not invest the same effort in private, e.g. via email.

Meg The Dog wrote:

Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

Facetime will intrude even if it's not running unless you take steps to stop it.

Please explain this?

MtD

Correct me if I'm wrong about this: my understanding is that if someone calls you on FT then even if the app isn't running you still get the call. If you don't want to be interrupted you have to open the app, go to prefs, and turn it off: then turn it on again when you do want to be available. With Skype and iChat you just don't run it if you want to be left alone. It's several steps in FT.

Incidentally with Skype someone who wants to be able to see whether you are online has to get your approval: and though someone can call you out of the blue you can block anyone who becomes a nuisance (I've had the odd spam call). I don't know whether Facetime has any such safeguards built in.

I'm retired, and I choose to live life at my pace. 🙂

Ahh, yes, indeed.......althouth it seems it's a bit more difficult for me to do here because everyone thinks you have to be textable, reachable, and "in touch" 24/7...... that's why I turn my phone off 😀

Dansyacht wrote:

Just about every other forum on the internet allows sending a reply to a poster's message to the poster only. This is useful when you want to send contact info for a real time exchange without broadcasting it to the world. Any chance this feature will be added to ASC? Or is it hiding somewhere? 😝

It's already there. Any member who wants to have their e-mail address public can turn it on in their profile. If it isn't turned on, that means they don't want e-mail.

In some cases, people will offer to assist with specific issues that cannot be addressed in a web forum setting. I sometimes do this for people asking for e-mail help. There is no way to debug that without actually seeing the e-mail. In those cases, I will post a poorly obfuscated e-mail address.

I think the current system works very well. If I need to help someone via e-mail, I can get that done. I have never had anyone contact me from Apple Support Communities that I didn't ask first. While my e-mail isn't public, it (and my web site) are really, really easy to guess.

I tried the Apple Mailing lists once and didn't like it at all. No matter how nasty and mean people get here, I've never had them "follow me home" so to speak. That happened almost right away in the mailing list. Sometimes, an unofficial, unwritten, ad-hoc system is the best.

Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong about this: my understanding is that if someone calls you on FT then even if the app isn't running you still get the call. If you don't want to be interrupted you have to open the app, go to prefs, and turn it off: then turn it on again when you do want to be available.

It stays off until you turn it back on? Some other person can't call you (or whatever it is they do) and activate the thing on your computer even if you've turned it off in the preferences? It would be bizarre if they could.

Just to be clear, FT callers can't see or hear you unless you

click the Accept Call button. The app does spring to life but

not in full screen. The ringer is rather subtle and unobtrusive

and assuming you've placed a picture of the caller in your

Address Book that likeness is displayed onscreen with name.

Tom Meade1 wrote:

Just to be clear, FT callers can't see or hear you unless you

click the Accept Call button. The app does spring to life but

not in full screen. The ringer is rather subtle and unobtrusive

and assuming you've placed a picture of the caller in your

Address Book that likeness is displayed onscreen with name.

I call that intrusive. If for example I'm doing audio copying, or concentrating on something complex, I don't want that sort of interruption: with Skype you just don't run it, but with FT you've got a several step process, and nothing to remind you to turn it on again.

The ringer is rather subtle and unobtrusive

Sorry, but I consider any process that I have not initiated as intrusive, especially if it pops up a screen, makes a noise, or whatever else. One of the reasons why I only check for updates manually (same procedure for Mail).

etresoft wrote:

Dansyacht wrote:

Just about every other forum on the internet allows sending a reply to a poster's message to the poster only. This is useful when you want to send contact info for a real time exchange without broadcasting it to the world. Any chance this feature will be added to ASC? Or is it hiding somewhere? 😝

It's already there. Any member who wants to have their e-mail address public can turn it on in their profile. If it isn't turned on, that means they don't want e-mail.

That's something else. Private messages on forums don't require email disclosure. Although I appreciate the temporary email flash suggested in this thread as a workaround, there are some situations where a PM would work better.

there are some situations where a PM would work better.

I agree, but it's probably best to keep most of the interaction, um, interactive, so the largest number of users benefit from questions, answers, and advice.

Ronda Wilson wrote:

there are some situations where a PM would work better.

I agree, but it's probably best to keep most of the interaction, um, interactive, so the largest number of users benefit from questions, answers, and advice.

And I agree with you. Overall, if I were running this forum, I'd make the same choice and not allow PM's.

My point was that there were circumstances (outside of recruitment into one-on-one help sessions) where PM's might be nice. For example, I recently saw someone ask a question here who I know but I haven't seen or talked to in a few years. If there was a PM feature, I would have used it to say hi.

All of which is moot because PM's are not activated and likely never will be for all the legitimate reasons described above.

If I encountered someone here who I knew from way back when, I wouldn't hesitate to say, "Hi." Then I would open up my e-mail address briefly and direct him/her to my profile so we could get in touch. Nothing wrong with that.

I wouldn't chit-chat here as on iChat, but a brief message just to get in touch wouldn't be so bad.