# 回复邮件的最佳实践
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107
**Category:** Community Building
**Tags:** data-explorer
**Created:** [2018年八月31日 16:27 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107 "2018-08-31T16:27:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 16:27 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/1 "2018-08-31T16:27:50Z")
我正在运营一个启用了“邮件回复”功能的网站，但现在觉得这可能不是个好主意。以下是我打算禁用该功能的几个原因。我是否遗漏了什么？
- 如果用户可以通过邮件回复并在不访问网站的情况下与网站互动，那么我们将损失广告收入（尽管金额不大）。
- 我曾担心禁用“邮件回复”也会禁止向群组发送邮件，但在我的测试中似乎并非如此。（除非存在缓存问题，而我在设置真正生效之前就进行了测试。）
- 诸如“您的消息太短，请重试”之类的提示，在邮件中比在网站上更令人烦恼。（当然，只有在极少数情况下，当某人确实有理由发送简短消息，而仅仅一个 ❤ 表情无法表达时，这种提示才会显得“令人烦恼”。）
是否有理由 **不** 禁用邮件回复？这虽然是一项便利功能，但我在这里很少使用；我认为对于我们的社区来说，关闭它应该没问题，对吧？
### 顺便提一下另一个相关的问题……
我们遇到的另一个问题是新手错误……我公开宣传了一个邮箱地址，该地址被用于向群组发送邮件……结果这个地址被一个每天发送 100 倍垃圾邮件的发送者盯上了。如果您打算让未确认用户向群组（或分类）发送邮件，请务必确保已启用垃圾邮件过滤器！
---
### Author:  [@omarfilip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/omarfilip)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 16:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/2 "2018-08-31T16:48:23Z")
The main reason it’s enabled in my community is to retain the old-school life-long listserv members who otherwise would not participate at all.
It would be great to have a clear picture of how much exactly they contribute to the conversations. I’ve asked for [better post by email reporting in the dashboard](https://meta.discourse.org/t/help-us-build-the-new-dashboard/86468/188).
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 16:51 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/3 "2018-08-31T16:51:56Z")
Here’s the beginning of a data-explorer query. My intent is to do something like percent posts via email per user for each of the last 4 weeks, but my SQL-fu is a bit short of that query just rolling off my fingers.
```sql
SELECT user_id,
count(1) as post_count
FROM posts
WHERE via_email=true
GROUP BY user_id
ORDER by post_count desc
```
---
### Author:  [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 19:16 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/4 "2018-08-31T19:16:33Z")
```
select username, sum(case when (posts.via_email='t') then 100 else 0 end)/count(posts.id) as perc_by_mail
from posts
left join users on users.id = posts.user_id
where posts.created_at >= now() - interval '4 weeks'
group by username
```
> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> if users can reply by email and can interact with the site without visiting it, then we’re losing ad revenue, although small.
That sounds very short sighted. Having more content will bring you a multitude of visitors.
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 20:45 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/5 "2018-08-31T20:45:46Z")
> [@RGJ](#):
>
> That sounds very short sighted. Having more content will bring you a multitude of visitors.
I guess that’s why I’m asking! With this particular community, it seems that people who reply via email (as opposed to on the site) are those most disenchanted from the move from Ning.
---
### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 21:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/6 "2018-08-31T21:25:54Z")
I have never made a post via an email, so I’m admittedly clueless. But are there any situations where someone might be able to email but not have a browser? eg. at home I have my desktop browser, but on a long commute I can only send emails. Not a matter of preference, but a matter of ability.
In other words, not that I am participating only with email, but that I participate both ways.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 21:37 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/7 "2018-08-31T21:37:06Z")
It’s quite rare for any site to have a ton of email-only participation. 25 years later, people are pretty darn comfortable with the concept of a web browser 😉
The reality is that email replies capture a small percent of the time people are “on the go” and want to reply but all they have access to is email. It is a convenience feature.
If you turn it off, you turn off convenience – but it’s not _essential to survival_ in my experience. I’d still recommend it though.
---
### Author:  [@omarfilip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/omarfilip)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 21:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/8 "2018-08-31T21:42:48Z")
In my community - yes. Our topics revolve around aircraft construction and flying, so a post will often be seen by a member while they’re at the hangar, away from the desktop browser.
Email is also pushed, so they are engaged on a daily basis. There are those who prefer email to stay engaged even though most have a smart phone and the Discourse mobile interface is good.
---
### Author:  [@omarfilip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/omarfilip)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 21:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/9 "2018-08-31T21:48:27Z")
Richard, do you have a query to find the count and percentage of all posts made by email vs in browser?
---
### Author:  [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 22:14 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/10 "2018-08-31T22:14:52Z")
> [@omarfilip](#):
>
> A query to find the count and percentage of all posts made by email versus in the browser?
Per user:
```
select
username,
sum(case when (posts.via_email='t') then 100 else 0 end)/count(posts.id) as perc_by_mail,
sum(case when (posts.via_email='t') then 1 else 0 end) cnt_by_mail,
sum(case when (posts.via_email<> 't') then 100 else 0 end)/count(posts.id) as perc_not_by_mail,
sum(case when (posts.via_email<> 't') then 1 else 0 end) cnt_not_by_mail
from posts
left join users on users.id = posts.user_id
where posts.created_at >= now() - interval '4 weeks'
group by username
```
All:
```
select
sum(case when (posts.via_email='t') then 100 else 0 end)/count(posts.id) as perc_by_mail,
sum(case when (posts.via_email='t') then 1 else 0 end) cnt_by_mail,
sum(case when (posts.via_email<> 't') then 100 else 0 end)/count(posts.id) as perc_not_by_mail,
sum(case when (posts.via_email<> 't') then 1 else 0 end) cnt_not_by_mail
from posts
left join users on users.id = posts.user_id
where posts.created_at >= now() - interval '4 weeks'
```
---
### Author:  [@omarfilip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/omarfilip)
#### Post date: [2018年八月31日 22:27 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/11 "2018-08-31T22:27:44Z")
Superb - thanks, Richard!
The result is 19% of our posts were made via email in the last 4 weeks.
---
### Author:  [@peternlewis](https://meta.discourse.org/u/peternlewis)
#### Post date: [2018年九月4日 06:27 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/12 "2018-09-04T06:27:05Z")
We have some long standing (and long suffering!) users who swear by reply-by-email which is why I would never turn it off. I doubt it makes up a large percentage though.
I’d be curious to know what the stats are, how does one run the SQL query on the Discourse database? Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@omarfilip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/omarfilip)
#### Post date: [2018年九月5日 01:53 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-practices-on-reply-by-email/96107/13 "2018-09-05T01:53:59Z")
Very easy, just install the [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) plugin:
> [@Discourse Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/data-explorer-plugin/32566):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) allows you to make SQL queries against your live database, allowing for up-to-the-minute stats reporting.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately.information_source If you’re looking for examples or support for any custom queries, you can find lots of topics in our #Data & reporting category under the #sql-query tag. If there’s not one to suit your pa…