Is there a way to use the app to send a message to a user who’s not a forum member? Am I missing something obvious?!
Reason - a new editor submitted a few PURs, a couple of which I had to reject, and I thought it would be nice to explain why they’d been rejected as an aid for the future. User doesn’t appear to be a forum member, so the ‘send message’ link from their user page doesn’t work.
Short answer - no.
We’ve asked for communication with PUR submitters for a long time. I’m not sure if it’s even in the mythical “Waze HQ soon” timetable yet.
It is possible to request creation of a forum account for a user who doesn’t have one: it’s done via a Google Form accessible to Global Champs and Coordinators. But, AFAIK, that doesn’t tell the user the account is there. It’s only used if we have to block an editor. In that case, we create the forum account and send them a PM so that, when they come to the forum to find out why they can’t edit, they will find the PM.
Pity. It’s a new editor who only started submitting edits and PURs today. Several I approved, as they were useful. A couple had to be rejected as they didn’t meet guidelines, and it would’ve been lovely to be able to explain why, and to link to the relevant pages in the Wazeopedia. Just having PURs rejected with no explanation could easily discourage new editors.