There are cases where the system (OpenACS or .LRN) needs to send out email, for example, when a new user joins, requests a password reset, or is added to a subsite or .LRN community.
Right now there isn't any system-wide way to mange this email. In some cases, the administrator is notified an email will be sent and is given the option to edit the email before it is sent, but there is no one way this is done.
The dotlrn package allows for a custom email to get written by the community admin for each commnity, but the admin is not allowed to choose if the email is sent when an individual member is added. It is either on or off, always sent, or never sent.
dotlrn-ecommerce extends this by adding several more events for application submission, approval, rejection, etc. And admin can edit these emails on a sitewide or per commmunity basis. In most cases the email is automatically sent, in one o r two cases the admin can edit the email, but not supress it.
This leads to unwanted email. Often an admin must manuallly add or remove someone from a subsite or community or otherwise handle a problem. This can lead to welcome emails being sent at the wrong time, confusing the users.
I have written a proposal to start fixing this and replacing it with a consistent system wide user interface that can be resued in OpenACS and .LRN by any package that needs to send system emails (besides notifications.)
It is available in the wiki https://openacs.org/xowiki/en/email-event-handling
