History: Forum and Mailing List Synchronization
Preview of version: 9
Forum and List Synchronization
Related: Mail-in
This page describes how to set up a Tiki forum such that all e-mails from the forum go to a mailing list, and all e-mails to the mailing list go back into the forum. It preserves e-mail threading, even on posts in the forums! This allows Tiki to become both a web-based and email-based forum or group where users can use either email or web, or both, to view and submit messages.
Note that the Tiki does not provide the mailing list server capability. You will have to use some external service like Mailman, YahooGroups or similar. Also, a unique email account with POP3 (not browser) access will be required. Tiki will use its sendmail access to send forum posts out to the mailing list.
Basic Setup
The portion of the forum administration page you need to modify is as shown:
Each option and its setting is covered next followed by some setup required in the mailing list software later.
| Option | Description
|
| "Forward messages to this forum..." | The mailing list that people subscribe too. This should be the email address you submit messages too. For example, ListName@myMailListServer.com or ListName@yahoogroups.com. Tiki will send a message to this address when someone posts to the forum. Tip: Do not associate the TikiWiki Forum option "Send this forums posts to this email" with this mailing list in any way. Emails sent to that email address are sent from the Tiki Admin email account in link format and will cause a duplicate message back in the forum. |
| "Send mails even when the post is generated by inbound mail" | If you enable this option, you will likely generate an undesired loop. Best to leave unchecked. |
| "Append a reply link to outbound mails" | If checked, mails sent to the list from the forum will include a link to post a reply back in the forum directly. Generally not needed if your mailing list software has reply-to processing setup as desired. But some Tiki registered users may want this option. |
| "Originating e-mail address..." | This is the email address that a forum post will be sent from. That is, posts in the Tiki forum generate an email from this address to the mailing list given earlier. An account for the address does not have to exist but SPAM processing may block the message if the domain or account cannot be validated. In this example, we are using: ForumOut@myTikiSite.com. If meant to be a real address, you may need to use your mail servers domain (if different). Note: this email address must be able to submit to the mailing list. So the email address should be subscribed to the list if closed. Unfortunately, forum posts by registered Tiki users cannot be sent from their email account. |
| "Add messages from this email to the forum" | The mail server, user and password of a POP3 account that is solely for retrieving email from the mailing list into the Tiki forum. No one should ever login to this account except Tiki. This email address should be subscribed in the mailing list and receive messages individually (no digesting). In this example we are using: POP3 server: mail.myMailHost.com User: ForumIn@myMailHost.com , and Password: (the password for that email account). |
Tiki checks the mail server and processes pending incoming emails each time the forum is accessed in a browser. So any visitor will see the latest posts available. Emails are sent out to the mailing list immediately on a forum post. So the setup is transparent to the users of either mechanism (mailing list or Tiki Forum).
Common Tiki Users and Mailing List Subscribers
A registered Tiki user who makes a post in the Forum will appear in the email mailing list with their Tiki user name (although from the ForumOut@ email address). A user who emails the mailing list, if they are also a registered Tiki user with the same email address, will appear in the Forum post as that Tiki user. Otherwise, unrecognized email addresses (or Forum users not logged in when posting) appear as Anonymous. The nice thing is that Tiki registered users can use email to read, write and respond to posts and it appears as if they did it via the forum directly.
Mailing List Setup
The tricky part is to avoid mail loops during set up and operation. There are up to three different host domains that will be used. The mailing list software (or groups) domain, the Tiki's domain (for originating messages from forum posts), and the domain of a unique email account with POP3 access you use to subscribe to the mailing list. It can all be the same domain but does not have to be. You cannot have all three be the same email account though. And never make the "Forward messages ..." (mailing list) and "Add messages ..." (subscribe email) be the same address.
Make the mailing list be moderated, first of all, until you're sure that everything is working OK. You may want to keep it moderated even later during normal operation; especially if you allow anonymous posts in the Tiki forum. This will help control the email coming from and going to the Tiki forum during setup and break any unintentional loops. Linking a Tiki forum into an active, operating mailing list is possible but difficult to get right.
Forum users will likely be confused by automatic messages generated by the mailing list software such as password reminders, automatic response messages on submission, and bounce processing. So if you can avoid those being sent, do so. This is why having a separate account for incoming email (for example, ForumIn@ above) is helpful as you can usually set the membership properties in the mailing list uniquely for that account.
Some email lists make the reply-to be reset to the list itself. That can be more logical here but can be annoying to some users when seemingly private responses are broadcast out unexpectedly. Simple email replies to posts originated in the Tiki Forum go back to the email list if reply-to is overriden in this way. If reply-to is not overridden and left to the senders email address, then simple replies to emails sent from Forum posts will be lost (as the ForumOut@ account is purposely bogus). A trick can be to use the list email address in place of the ForumOut@ address. Or make the ForumIn@ and ForumOut@ addresses actually be one in the same. But this can also get you into trouble in some other ways and begin to make the mailing list and forum get different messages. For example, when a message to the mailing list causes a bounce from one of the subscribers. Best to use three separate email addresses, with reply-to left to be the sender's email address in the email list.
Make sure the email accounts (ForumOut@ and ForumIn@ in the example above) are subscribed to the mailing list. ForumOut@ posts should be pre-approved (not moderated) and should not receive emails back from the list. Only moderate this address if you allow anonymous posts in the forum and do not want to clutter your mailing list with them. ForumIn@ should get emails directly and individually from the mailing list; no digesting. If you have the option, text emails are generally better than HTML going to the Forum. The address can be moderated as it will never be used to post a message.
Each mailing list engine may require some other unique options. Some common mailing lists and their setups are covered next.
Using "Yahoogroups"
For yahoogroups (http://groups.yahoo.com), it is recommended that you set:
Step 1: contact details
Yahoo Profile: your profile name in yahoo (something like yourprofile at yahoo.com),
Email address: Select the email address that you want the messages to be set to. Here you have to add the same email address used before: ForumIn@myMailHost.com
Step 2: Messages delivery
Select Individual messages only (don't select "Daily digest", or "Special announcements", or "Only Web").
Step 3: Mail preferences
Select Traditional (instead of "Complete (New and Improved)"), for easier viewing in your Tiki (all ads come below the text message).
Press Save changes when done, and that's it.
Using "Mailman"
Mailman ("The" GNU Mailing List Manager) is free software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists, and is used all around the globe. More information: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/
How to configure it?
That's pretty easy... 😊
Follow a similar approach as in the previous list server case, and if needed, request some help in http://tikiwiki.org/forums 😉