This week we have added a new feature which has been on our list of “critical additions” for quite some time now: the ability to send emails through our platform. With emails available, the big “beta” notice on the invites page has been removed — if you invite a friend by email, they will receive a message in their inbox.
Now, email might seem like a small feature and it certainly is from a user perspective. However, due to the prevalence of spam it is actually more difficult on the technical side than it might at first appear. Especially if you want the email to actually arrive at its destination! The reason for that is that the big email providers — Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc — get very suspicious when a small server they never heard of suddenly start sending out emails. After all, that’s exactly what spammers tend to do!
To get around some of those difficulties, we are working with an established email provider which will help avoid some of that suspicion. When you receive an email, you’ll find that there is a rather lengthy “unsubscribe” link listed, to allow you to “opt out” of receiving any emails from us — this helps reassure other providers that we’re not there to spam anyone. Even so we’ll still need to build our “domain reputation”, which is essentially making sure that everyone knows our emails are legitimate and can be delivered safely - until we do, you might still occasionally find a mail from us in your junk box.
One other neat — and very necessary — feature we were able to add due to having email is password resets. If you forgot your password, you can have a link emailed to you by which you can reset it. One crucial detail there though: you’ll need to have an email address listed in your profile. Email addresses aren’t mandatory to list, but without it, you cannot reset your password since we have no way of knowing if its you or not.
You can add an email address by going to your home page (click your name in the top right corner when logged in) and then going to Account Settings. If you are already logged in, you can also follow this direct link. Since we’re trying to build a reputation as not being spammers, you can be sure you’ll only receive crucial emails from us - like if you try to reset your password.
Speaking on a personal level, the lack of a password reset feature was a major thorn in my eye, so I am quite glad to have it added now. On towards the next step in getting RPGpad out of beta!
To discuss this feature, or see a full changelog, please join us on the forum