[Kolab-devel] [issue3170] Invitation via server side distribution list leads to confusing mails

[T. Ribbrock]

New submission from T. Ribbrock <itsef-admin at brightsight.com>:

Situation:

- An organizer O invites a server side distribution list SDL with two members A
and B.
- A accepts and selects his correct identity.
- O gets a mail confirming A's acceptance. Upon entering this into his calendar,
het gets another dialog box stating that an attendee (A) has requested to
particiate in the event despite not being invited. Technically, this is true, as
SDL was invited and not A or B.
- O accepts the "extra" attendee
- As a result, both A and B (in fact, the whole SDL) receive mails stating that
the event has been updated. This mail is extremely confusing as:

1) To start with, the mail does state "This meeting has been updated", however,
the mail *looks* like an ordinary invitation, i.e. with all the controls like
"Accept", "Accept cond." etc. There is also a control "Enter this into my
calendar" (which is not part of a standard invitation), but a casual observer
will most likely not notice the difference. For example A will wonder why he is
getting another invitation - he just accepted one for the same meeting, after all...

2) It does not state what has been updated, so neither A nor B have the
slightest idea why they are getting this mail (time/place/etc. have not changed,
after all)

3) Even if the mail would contain a statement like "User A has been added to the
event", it would still be confusing, as A was already part of SDL in the first
place.

Especially (1) frequently spooks users at our company, despite having explained
this effect - I've been asked several times "Why am I getting X invitations for
the same event???"

I can imagine that (3) is difficult to fix, but I thing as the minimum, the
mails generated by this chain of events should a) very clearly state what has
been updated and b) not have the same controls as an ordinary invitation (i.e.
only "Enter this into my calendar").

To add to the confusion, if A accepts the "second invitation", O gets a second
confirmation mail...

This was observed with Kolab 2.1 and several enterprise35 Kontact clients,
hence, I'm not entirely certain about the correct "Topic" in this case.

----------
messages: 17245
nosy: itsef_admin
priority: bug
status: unread
title: Invitation via server side distribution list leads to confusing mails
topic: enterprise35, kde client, kolab-2.1
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