The email server for the site stopped working somewhere around early April. The credentials on the SMTP server that we were pointing to had expired, and it was one of Jeff's accounts. I thought it would be a simple matter of switching back to the internal php mailer, but that also failed.
I asked Michael (KD8TUT) for assistance, but I couldn't get him access to the administrator control panel. My ability to edit staff (administrator/moderator) permissions was borked as well. Not wanting to make matters any worse, and because the both of us have been busy, we proceeded slowly. I pondered that it may have been caused by a configuration file that was replaced by a default version when we re-installed vBulletin during the migration. Michael made the necessary edits to this file, and we were back on track... he now had access to the control panel!
So, the site email seems to be working well again! Michael has us set up to use the gold standard of Linux mailers, "sendmail". Simple and fast, sendmail just works. So, the list of email functions that were previously affected are:
* member to member email (when the recipient allows it)
* site registration notifications to the staff
* the "Contact us" link
* The "Happy Birthday" emails sent by the board
* reported post notifications to the staff
* notifications to new members that their registration is complete
* notifications to new applicants that they were not approved (invalid email, username issues, etc)
* email confirmation messages to registered members who changed their email address listed here
Regarding member to member emails... you can initiate an email to another member through the board by clicking their user name and clicking "send email". If that member has chosen to not receive emails in this manner, you will not see this link. Be aware that your email listed with the site will be sent to the recipient.
Microsoft email accounts (hotmail, msn, etc) are probably not going to allow you to receive emails sent from the forum. This will be addressed soon. Microsoft is anal about this because they have never figured out how to control SPAM like, for example, Gmail has.
Thanks to Michael for the repair job! He will remain an Administrator to allow him access to the control panel for reasons just like this, so we also officially welcome Michael to the staff!
Please note any issues encountered with the forum's email feature here. I'll make this thread 'sticky' for a while.
Thanks!
Luke