Christopher Tubbs created WHIMSY-178:
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             Summary: Update email notification body to mention that it's 
automated
                 Key: WHIMSY-178
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/WHIMSY-178
             Project: Whimsy
          Issue Type: Improvement
          Components: Mail, Roster
            Reporter: Christopher Tubbs


Today, I updated our project's roster with a new PMC member for our PMC Chair, 
and an email notification went to our private list notifying us of the change:

[https://lists.apache.org/api/source.lua/90e0d135515ec7c90d0780b8baad6f85df72f58a8938e21db323673f@%3Cprivate.accumulo.apache.org%3E]

However, that email appeared to come from me, and gave no indication that it 
was an automated email. It can create confusion when users are unable to easily 
distinguish between automated notifications and human emails, and it makes it 
difficult for users to filter and prioritize incoming email... something 
critical to a community centered around mailing lists.

In addition, the body did not contain all the details of the action, relying on 
users inferring things from the From address and the Subject line.

I propose a few suggestions:

1. Add a tag to the beginning of the subject, like "[ROSTER] ...." or "[WHIMSY] 
...."
2. Begin the body with a notice similar to git/svn commit notices: "This is an 
automated email from the ASF project roster management tool at 
https://whimsy.apache.org";
3. Copy the subject information "<Person> added to <Project> PMC list" into the 
body of the email in addition to being in the subject line.
4. Include information in the body about who triggered this notification.
5. (optional) have the From address represent some no-reply Whimsy email 
address, instead of the user's individual address which triggered the action.


Item 3 isn't really about distinguishing automated notifications from humans... 
it's just a generally good practice to include all the information in the body 
of an email, instead of relying on the body being read immediately after 
reading the subject line (which is not always convenient, depending on the 
email client software).

Item 4 is important for the same reason Item 3 is: the body should contain all 
the necessary information.



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