Allow inbound email delivery to forum contact email for inactive users

[md-misko]

After configuring Direct-delivery incoming email for self-hosted sites

@md-misko

• new user registers to the forum and receives confirmation email
• account is created, email is not yet verified
• user is (for some reason) unable to use the confirmation link
• they send email to the forum contact email, which was set according to the instructions in this howto
• the email is rejected with the reason Email::Receiver::InactiveUserError

I have caught this purely by chance, by reviewing the logs.

Is there any chance to configure inbound email so that it receives emails from inactive users (perhaps limiting it only to forum contact email)? Otherwise there is no way for a user to contact the forum support in such scenario.

Details below, please move the entire conversation from the original topic here if appropriate:

https://meta.discourse.org/t/straightforward-direct-delivery-incoming-mail/49487/263?u=md-misko

[Dannii]

Do they get a notification email explaining that emails are not accepted from inactive users?

[md-misko]

Full details are in the conversation linked above.

@Dannii

Do they get a notification email explaining that emails are not accepted from inactive users?

Yes, this was the reply sent to user:

We’re sorry, but your email message to [“support@discourse.forum.tld”] (titled Issue with signing up) didn’t work.

Your account associated with this email address is not activated. Please activate your account before sending emails in.

But this is exactly where the problem lies: they couldn’t activate their new account in the first place, and when they contacted forum support for help (using the forum contact email address) they were notified that their email was not delivered, because their account is not activated yet.

The main issue is that this email was not delivered to the group inbox connected to the forum contact address, and I would have no idea, if I didn’t stumble upon it by chance while reviewing the logs.