Emails for pressing issues... What do you think?

[Mia Chloe]

So lately I've been thinking how effective it would be to quickly save a lot of OGs on the forum from mass hacks and firmware exploitations like we've seen recently. No doubt this forum has a lot of big holders and a lot of them both active and inactive actually depend on this forum for most of these life saving news but it's kinda slow if you ask me.

Basically a suggestion I had in mind is the admins make preparation for bulk emails to be sent out when any of all these mass hacks happen. The email obviously should not contain any link just a warning that there's a current hack on...... And a short brief. No links to avoid phishing and if they did need further clarification they could visit the forum normally since the link to the thread will always be pinned.

Making this suggestion because security is a topic that actually can't be overemphasized.

[_act_]

This is a very good idea.

But are we not demanding too much?

This is not a news online media but a forum. I do not think this is necessary.

The most important thing is that it can be shown in the news part of the forum just like how it was shown about Coldcard and Ledger Nano.

It is also good people should know that admin may decide not to show anything.

[aioc]

SMF has a built-in email sender, which can send emails to all members and specific groups. There is also a built-in newsletter, so people will know even if they are not logged in to the forum. I'm also a member of some SMF community, and they use it to send promotions.
The only issue is that the email could fail because of the hosting's hourly and daily email sending limit.

[Odohu]

I love this suggestion and the caution of no links added. I know that something like will be very helpful in alerting people in the advent of a serious security concern.

I don't know it will be a lot of work assembling the email address of everyone in the forum in order to disburse such message when the need arises.

Meanwhile, I don't know which level of the forum administrators have access to user emails. Such sensitive information should be guarded carefully so they don't fall into the wrong hands.

[Ambatman]

Well a great proposal though I'm sure especially on the inactive not many's email might still be active
And some use or created dummy mail for the forum so wouldn't be considered priority.
Personally I don't know how I would feel receiving a mail from the forum about a breach when I knew they don't normally.
I might be skeptical it would create an awareness that would warrant me to investigate.

[Upgrade00]

Many users use throwaway or random emails which they do not check often.
Also, in comparison with social media platforms the news will likely already be main stream before it gets here to then be distributed to emails. Users interested in getting information from here can set notifications for posts in the Important announcement board. Any issue important enough to be sent to emails will be posted there.

[Churchillvv]

But are we not demanding too much?

Of course it seem so, since lately we’ve been getting suggestions here and there! Necessary and unnecessary suggestions.

Personally I don't know how I would feel receiving a mail from the forum about a breach when I knew they don't normally.
I might be skeptical it would create an awareness that would warrant me to investigate.

Being skeptical is one rule people follow when it comes to crypto related issues, so when such email is sent being skeptical is even better! That will only do good than harm since it’s going to force some to check the forum directly for verification.

.
The only issue is that the email could fail because of the hosting's hourly and daily email sending limit.

This is the one of the limitations I can agree with and the admin decision whether to do so or not!.

[JeromeTash]

The administrators probably do not want to bother users so much with emails from the forum like other spam forums do, which is why even when you subscribe for emails for the boards you are watching, if you get inactive in those boards for a while, you stop receiving them

To an active user who checks on the forum every couple of days, they will probably get to see the information as soon as possible. Those who are completely inactive will probably miss out of the email alerts too.

It could also open the door for phishing scams because users have become accustomed to receiving emails from the forum

[DYING_S0UL]

Honestly speaking, I believe using the newsletter (the news announcements we see above the home - help - search buttons, I meant that) is far better than using emails for such matters. I mean, how many users do you want admin to send emails to? Forget about total registered users, if we just consider the active ones, even that makes up a big number. Right now, according to BPIP, there are 758,064 Active Profiles. That surely gonna take up a lot of forum's resources to send that many bulk emails.

And the most important part, do we actually check our emails that often? I'm being very frank here! I rarely check my emails nowadays! I'm only occasionally opening my gmail app when I need some codes for the registration. Other than that, I don't open it.

But with newsletter, users are bound to get hold of the warnings whenever they log in. It's a must, it's clearly visible to the naked eyes.

OP, I understand your concerns, I know it's important. And that's why I shared my side of the opinion. Now what do you think? Which is truly effective?



Edit: I meant this btw...

[Moreno233]

It could also open the door for phishing scams because users have become accustomed to receiving emails from the forum

You are very correct, if people are accustomed to receiving emails from the forum administrators, they may become complacent and this will eventually become a problem. Apart from that, I was thinking that the idea of no adding links may solve that phishing problem.  This is because as soon as people see email with links, it will automatically be regarded as a phishing email.

[Stalker22]

SMF has a built-in email sender, which can send emails to all members and specific groups. There is also a built-in newsletter, so people will know even if they are not logged in to the forum. I'm also a member of some SMF community, and they use it to send promotions.
The only issue is that the email could fail because of the hosting's hourly and daily email sending limit.

I doubt that such limitations pose a problem, given that this forum uses a highly customized hosting solution, or most likely, a dedicated server.

That said, raw email limits are only half the battle... the real nightmare with SMFs default mailer is deliverability.  Gmail and Outlook will probably flagg the whole batch within minutes, and vast majority of the users will never even see the messages.  Not even in spam.  

TBH, any admin who has been around the block sets up an external SMTP relay like Mailgun or Amazon SES to handle things like this.
Costs practically nothing.  Saves you from having your server IP dumped onto every spam blacklist on the planet, which takes forever to clean up...

[robelneo]

So lately I've been thinking how effective it would be to quickly save a lot of OGs on the forum from mass hacks and firmware exploitations like we've seen recently. No doubt this forum has a lot of big holders and a lot of them both active and inactive actually depend on this forum for most of these life saving news but it's kinda slow if you ask me.

I think the Telegram notifier bot will suffice for this; we should just encourage people to include the meta section for notification and encourage them to have a local Telegram group, as we do in our local group.
Email notifications on bulk are not reliable because of Microsoft and Google rules on sending mass email, it's likely that it will land in spam folders

[Charles-Tim]

Users interested in getting information from here can set notifications for posts in the Important announcement board. Any issue important enough to be sent to emails will be posted there.

If a topic or some topics has been posted on the board before the informatory post and the person has not visited the board, the person will not receive any notifications until he visit the board.

I think the common Telegram bot will be better.

Anyone that is into crypto that is following what is going on online, the person will know such information.

[Mia Chloe]

I think the common Telegram bot will be better.
Anyone that is into crypto that is following what is going on online, the person will know such information.

Yeah I think that's better but the only reason initially I thought email was a better option was reach. Not the entire forum has and used the telegram bot but everyone should at least have an email plus inactive users too get to also not be left out regardless of if they use the bot or not.

There are still bitcoiners who still Hodl decent bitcoin numbers but actually do not actively post here so to an extent they actually are one of the most vulnerable.

[Alvin_talk]

Brilliant idea in my opinion.

If you watch, before these security information gets pinned at times, a member needs to remind thymos by creating a thread in meta such as this one and that one. And most at times, these requests don't come the same date the incident was reported. Perhaps, some users may not receive the information on time if they miss the thread about the security threat. I'll suggest using a hybrid system (pinned announcement + Mia's suggestion + telegram bot). So that the likelihood of missing such vital information becomes naturally narrower.

That surely gonna take up a lot of forum's resources to send that many bulk emails.

I don't think sending bulk emails cost much, see Amazon ses pricing and remember that these hacks don't happen every day.

[TryNinja]

[...] Right now, according to BPIP, there are 758,064 Active Profiles. That surely gonna take up a lot of forum's resources to send that many bulk emails.

With AWS, sending 800k emails will cost you at most $80-130

Even at 1 email per month, that's $1,5k per year. Don't forget the forum spent $59k with hosting in 2025 alone.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Don't want any notification emails. That is not and should not be the job of the forum.
Security issues are flagged soon enough here via regular posts.

[Rhow]

I appreciate your idea. But the inactive users among them may not use their email anymore. It may be that they use an email for the forum that is not their personal and never log in to this email. However, there are countless users on this forum to whom the admin may probably spend a lot of time sending such messages. I understand the reason for your concern. However, I am thinking of those who are inactive on the forum and do not even log in to the email provided in the forum.

[libert19]

I disagree. Forum is not, 'breaking news' — news outlet. It's a place for discussions and only thing admins should do is keep it alive and keep it welcoming place for users; content should be solely in hands of users.

Just sign up to some reputable crypto news site's newsletter to keep up with these things; they are fast, and it's their job (and of course, afterwards remember to post here).

I don't know it will be a lot of work assembling the email address of everyone in the forum in order to disburse such message when the need arises.

Lol, you say this as if it would be a manual labor work.

Meanwhile, I don't know which level of the forum administrators have access to user emails. Such sensitive information should be guarded carefully so they don't fall into the wrong hands.

In, 'Account Related Settings' — there is setting to hide email address from public, so user emails are not really a secretly guarded thing to begin with.

...And the most important part, do we actually check our emails that often? I'm being very frank here! I rarely check my emails nowadays! I'm only occasionally opening my gmail app when I need some codes for the registration. Other than that, I don't open it.

But with newsletter, users are bound to get hold of the warnings whenever they log in. It's a must, it's clearly visible to the naked eyes.

How do you check for newsletters without opening email?

[DYING_S0UL]

How do you check for newsletters without opening email?

Isn't this below a sort of newsletter? If not, sorry for the confusion. I meant this thing, tbh. Wasn't sure of the right term at first. What's it called again? I mean officially? Forum news announcement section? Yeah that thing.

P.s: Edited the initial post to avoid confusion.  



Imho, it's quite eye catchy, more than any emails i would say. You log into the forum and you see it, and for emails many don't use it regularly, or doesn't goes through hundreds of random emails (including myself).