Wikipedia:Emailing users

Image of Wikipedia user page with "Email this user" link highlighted under "Tools" heading.
"Email this user" is available from the Tools menu on the right on Desktop, when the User or User talk page of any editor with email enabled is viewed. This may be hidden under three dots if the tool menu is collapsed.

This page sets out information on the Special:EmailUser feature, a MediaWiki feature that allows registered users to exchange emails with other registered users privately ("off-wiki").

Both the sender and recipient must have provided email addresses in their preferences. The sender's username and email address are disclosed but not their IP address. Note that replying "the wrong way" can disclose personal information—see Privacy issues below for how to avoid this if needed, when you reply)

Emails sent using Wikimedia's mail feature are private. Their contents cannot be read by administrators or anyone else, even to check for appropriateness. It is possible for users able to access the CheckUser tool to confirm if and when a user sent any emails, but not the content of the emails. In the event of abuse, threats, or harassment through email, users may contact any administrator for advice and assistance (by email or any other way, if they wish, in order to keep it private). In more serious cases they should email the Volunteer Response Team for help.

Users have the right to disable email on their account at any time (and can ask others to communicate on-wiki instead), although users active in roles that require email should consult appropriately first. Use of email can also be disabled by any administrator as part of blocking an account, although this is only done in case of (likely) abuse.

There are some important "best practices" – Wikipedia is designed to work based upon public dialog, so it is often better to communicate in public (on users' talk pages or elsewhere on Wikipedia's talk and project pages), where others can see. This is especially the case where improper use might later be claimed (canvassing, harassment and so on). Also, unlike messages on the website, messages via email are not subject to Wikipedia's free license and therefore are copyrighted by their sender, and should not be pasted onto the website in a way that breaches copyright law.

The Wikimedia email feature

If you've added and confirmed an email address in your user preferences, you can exchange emails with other Wikipedia accounts using the Wikipedia interface. To send an email to another editor, simply visit your correspondent's user page, and click on the "Email this user" link that is located in the Tools menu on the right. This link is only present if the correspondent has enabled the "Allow other users to email me" option in their preferences. The email address that you've set and verified in your user preferences will be provided to the recipient so that they can reply to you directly via email.

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

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 message with a courtesy notification on the recipient's user talk page that you've emailed them, for transparency and because 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 email

Email is disabled unless you specify and verify an email address. This can be done while you are setting up your account for the first time, or at any time by adding one to your user preferences. Your preferences can be accessed from the top-right corner of any page on Wikipedia. When you enable email, MediaWiki requires you to verify that the email address you provide actually belongs to you. It will do this by sending a confirmation email. The link will navigate you to Wikipedia and mark your email address as 'confirmed'. The confirmation link expires in seven days. If you don't click on the link within that time, you will need to have another one resent. See Help:Email confirmation for help and additional information.

Once you have confirmed an email address to your Wikipedia account, you may enable or disable other users' ability to send you email by visiting "my preferences", and by ticking or un-ticking the "Allow other users to email me" option. You can also prevent users without the autoconfirmed permission from emailing you by un-ticking the "Allow emails from brand-new users" option.

Prohibiting email from specified users

Screenshot of preference to prohibit emails from specified users

If you have the email preference enabled, you can specify usernames which you do not want to be able to send you emails. These users will not see the "Email this user" link on your user page and will see a standard error message when using Special:EmailUser as if your entire email preference has been disabled.

Emails triggered by watchlist and notifications are not affected by this preference.

Reposting emails publicly

No formal community consensus exists on whether posting private off-wiki correspondence on Wikipedia is allowed or restricted. However, it is often considered to be an unacceptable action for legal reasons. Unlike edits and posts to Wikipedia's web pages, emails that are sent through the email facility are not automatically "freely" licensed by the sender, and therefore, reposting the messages or correspondence to a public Wikipedia location would suggest or imply to any and all readers that the text is freely licensed for reuse and republication by its author, which is generally not the case.

Editors who are considering reposting private communication publicly are advised to take extreme caution. Depending on the situation, editors can ask for permission from the sender or ask trusted editors for advice first. Note that the copyright concern only applies to reposting on Wikipedia and its sister projects – other forms of quoting which do not involve risk of copyright breach (such as forwarding to an administrator for advice, or quoting words or brief phrases in a way that constitutes Fair Use) are generally unaffected by this concern.

Arbcom principles

This section is an excerpt from Wikipedia:Harassment § Private correspondence.[edit]
Shortcuts

The Arbitration Committee has stated a principle that "In the absence of permission from the author (including of any included prior correspondence), the contents of private correspondence, including e-mails, should not be posted on-wiki" and in a second principle that "Any uninvolved administrator may remove private correspondence that has been posted without the consent of any of the creators. Such material should instead be sent directly to the Committee."

Privacy issues and protecting personal information

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 to the recipient.

If you receive an email via this feature, it is important to know that you are not obligated in any way to reply or respond to the message. If you do wish to respond, you may do so in three ways:

Abuse handling

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:

Permitted uses

The email feature is intended to support the goal of building an encyclopedia and other WMF projects. Any widespread use of email for other reasons is considered abuse. Please note that the WMF Terms of Use prohibit transmitting chain mail, junk mail, or spam to other users.

See also