Wikipedia:Emailing users

For automatic email notification of user talk messages, see Help:Email notification.

If you have received an abusive or objectionable email, please see Abuse below, or if necessary, the policy on dealing with harassment.

"Email this user" is available from the "toolbox" on the left of the screen, when any User or User talk page is viewed.

This page sets out information on the Special:EmailUser feature, which allows registered users, if they wish, to exchange emails. The contents of emails between users are private. As a result, limited help is given if the feature is abused, other than disabling it, and the contents of such emails cannot be checked by others for appropriateness as easily as communications left on users' talk pages. The feature can be disabled for any user by an administrator as part of blocking, although this is not usually done unless the facility is abused.

General

If you have set an email address in your User preferences, you can exchange emails with other users through the Wikipedia user interface. To do that, visit your correspondent's user page and follow the "Email this user" link in the "toolbox" on the left-side navigation menu. The email address you entered in your user preferences will appear as the "From" address of the mail, so the recipient will be able to reply.

Users who have openly disclosed their email addresses can be emailed directly. However, Wikipedia doesn't encourage such open disclosure. Emailing users through Wikipedia is a privacy feature that protects your email address from spam.

Wikipedia emails are sent immediately when you click on "send". You can set your preferences so that you'll also receive a copy of every email you send; if you don't choose this option, this can still be done for individual emails. It may be useful at times to leave a brief courtesy note on a recipient's talk page that you've sent them an email, as some users may not check their inbox regularly.

A link to the email feature can be created in text or a signature by typing [[Special:EmailUser/Username]].

Enabling and disabling user email

Email is disabled unless you specify a verified email address. This can be done either while setting up your account, or in "preferences", at any time.

Once you have specified an email address, you may enable or disable email yourself, by visiting "my preferences", and checking or un-checking "Enable email from other users". This is linked from the top-right of any page when you are logged in. If you are enabling your email, MediaWiki requires verification that the email address belongs to you. It will send a confirmation email with a link inside. When you click the link, it will confirm your email address. The confirmation link expires after about a week. See Help:Email confirmation.

Privacy

Main pages: Wikipedia:Security and Wikipedia:Personal security practices

Sending an email via the Special:EmailUser system will disclose your email address for the purposes of a reply, but no other information will be provided by the system to the recipient. (Note that emails sent this way are private – they are sent as written, as a private communication between willing parties who have agreed to send and receive emails.)

If you receive an email via this feature, you do not have to reply, or you may reply on the user's talk page if you wish. Replying may be done in three ways:

• By using your usual email reply method (however you usually reply to emails)
  This will disclose whatever information your emails usually contain, including your email address. It may contain your IP address, or a signature line, or time zone, or the like.
• By visiting the user page of the sender, and using "Email this user" yourself
  This will disclose nothing except your email address. You can do this by visiting the sender's user page (their name will appear in the header or footer of the email), then selecting "Email this user" from the "toolbox" on the left of the page.
• By leaving them an on-wiki reply
  In some cases you may wish to leave a note on their Wikipedia talk page for example to say the email was received, or a brief reply. Since emails are usually sent as a private communication, it is often courteous to keep an on-wiki reply as brief and non-privacy breaching as possible, since the sender will usually expect a private reply.

Abuse handling

Main page: Wikipedia:Harassment

If you receive an objectionable email through this system, you should contact an administrator, possibly by email, to ask advice. In serious cases you may wish to escalate the matter, especially if there is a pattern of harassment involved. Please note the following:

• Do not post the email on-wiki without permission
  You should not post the email itself on the wiki without permission (although you can describe briefly in summary what it contains or shows). This is partly due to copyright concerns, given that Wikipedia pages can be re-used by anyone. For information on posting emails on Wikipedia in general, see WP:POSTEMAIL.
• Email can be disabled, at any time
  See Enabling and disabling user email for instructions.
• Retain objectionable emails in case they are needed
  You may need to refer to them again. At a minimum, consider saving the email header and text for future reference.
• Do not disclose any personal information disallowed on Wikipedia
  Posting real names or email addresses not previously and voluntarily disclosed on Wikipedia can be considered outing. Such information may be communicated privately to the Arbitration Committee.

See also

• General email information
  • Email
  • Email privacy
• Wikipedia pages related to email functionality
  • Template:Email user
  • MediaWiki:Emailuserfooter - the footer that is added to all emails from this site
  • {{MediaWiki messages}} - lists some key MediaWiki system messages relating to email
• WP:POSTEMAIL, policy discussing the issue of posting emails and other private correspondence on Wikipedia, particularly:
  • A 2007 ArbCom decision on private correspondence
  • Wikipedia:Private correspondence, a proposal rejected by the community in 2008
  • Wikipedia:Correspondence off-wiki, another proposal rejected in 2008