Inactive Users Email Reminders For 3.7.x
 

Inactive reminder emails. This mod was designed to send out a reminder to inactive members to try and win them back. Earlier versions of this plugin have had great success, and has been installed on 1000's of forums.

This mod is a revised version of my 3.6 modification.
Someone pointed out that I needed to make a new thread in the right forum for this.

***1.2.7 Update***
Fixed the \ in the message.
Changed the way the mails are processed to try and stop duplicates
Made the bounce management monitor ALL outgoing emails
Added more stats
Added bounced email messaage viewing with management options.
***1.2.7 Update***
This update includes built in support for bouncing emails. The script will automatically detect the bounced mail, mark it as bounced so the user is not to be contacted again so as to avoid spam, and then move that user into a seperate usergroup. This plugin is still in it's testing stages, but I have addressed the bugs mentioned previously regarding the emailing side of things.

This is important so keep reading
To install this plugin and take advantage of the bounced email features you are going to need to follow these instructions very carefully. I can not gaurentee that they will work to the letter as this will be based on each persons individual hosting settings.

Step 1: Pre Install
Before you touch this product you need to do the following

• Create an "inactive" usergroup
• Set up a "bounce to" email address
  Pick an email address that you want to use as your bounced email address. Im using "bounce@icora.co.uk". feel free to use whatever you wish.
• Add a email message filter
  This is the hard part. You need to set up a filter that will 'pipe' an email sent to the above email address.
  I am using Cpanel 11 and this is how i have mine set up:
  Rules: 'To' 'Equals' 'bounce@icora.co.uk'
  Actions: 'Pipe to program' with the setting: |/usr/local/bin/php /home/icora/public_html/forum/bounce.php
  This will depend entirely on your settings and structure so you may have to do a little research. It would be very helfull if people who have to use diferent configurations would post them on here.
• Go into vBulletin options, and find the options for 'Emails'. there is a setting asking you if you want to use '-f'. set this to yes.
• While still inn the email options set the 'Bounce Email Address' to your above address.

Step 2: Install
Remove all previous trace of this modification, and upload all the files in the "upload" folder to your base directory of the server.
Go into your product management section and add a new product. upload the XML file with overwrite selected.
Refresh your admin CP to load the new menu items. Just under the "users" group you will find an "Inactive Reminders" group. open that up and click on settings.
Play with these settings and options to suit for the most part. when you come down to the bounce settings you MUST use the same email address as the one you created above.
Set to active and save.

I must re-iterate that this version has not been widely tested, but the simulations i have ran have worked. I look forward to your feedback!


Features:

• Select the period of time before a user is considered inactive.
• Select how many emails to send to each inactive user per inactivity period
• Choose weather inactivity is based on members "Last Post" or their "Last Visit"
• Specify how often followup emails are sent
• Specify alternative emails to send to reduce repetition
• Keep a log of all inactive users contacted

Planned Updates:

• More detail in reports
• ...such as
• Which useres returned
• Effectivness stats
• Email validity

**1.2.1 Update***
Added more detail to the reports section. You can now see the email address, and quickly indicate which emails were invalid. You can link directly to that user to edit as you wish.
I have fixed some errors which have been crashing people's database. Please post any problems if you can.

**1.2.3 Update***
Fixed several problems with escaping strings
Stopped database errors locking up site
***

**1.2.4 Update***
Added a "From Email" so you can specify your own email address to send the reminders from.
Fixed potential bug for people who do not use the mail queue.

Anyone having problems with sending emails out too fast, and multiple emails being sent need to consider changing their email settings in vbulletin options.
People with emails going out too fast - edit Number of Emails to Send Per Batch to a lower amount
People with multiple emails sending - edit Use Mailqueue System to "Yes, with locking"
***

**1.2.5 Update***
Added more stats in the reports page, also added a "Send test email" option so users can test the functionality of the mod
***

**1.2.6 Update***
Identical to 1.2.5, however EzBounce support added.
***

**Opps Update***
Sorry i somehow managed to not include the file in the zip. My bad.
***

oo thank arkadasım

Have the initial bugs that've been reported in the 3.6 thread been fixed?

thank u very much
installed

Yes they have.

This mod is crashing my database. I had to uninstall.

Nice - Thanks for mod, it works fine

Same here.

'Disable hooks' was my only way to gain access.


Uninstalled.

Just some suggestions: How about having this product email you a daily reminder report in the same fashion as the other product that performs this function?

Also, when you get a message that a member's email address is no longer valid, how about an option to automatically disable that person's membership? It beats manual, particularly when you've got several dozen or more to go through?

Peace,
Gene

I have the 3.6 version installed, should I uninstall that one and install this one?

There is a syntax error in your code. It brought my system down completely... Database Error. I can't even access the AdminCP. Others BEWARE before installing this upgrade.

Maybe, but I haven't had any trouble at all.

I'm about to upload an update that does just that.. watch this space..
Sorry this has messed up for you guys - is there any chance you still have a copy of the email with the error? problem is, it works fine on mine so its hard to test...

no.

C Braithwaite, Apparently the error is coming from the content of the outgoing message, which I changed in the CP from your default message. Looking below, I see a '\' symbol in the word 'haven\'t', but it does not display that way in the MySQL database table.

Can you tell me how to remove the plugin when I don't have AdminCP access? I have FTP and PHPMyAdmin, so maybe you can tell me what file to remove to make it stop sending data to the mailqueue. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry to turn your thread into a support center. I have a ticket open with vBulletin support.

Don
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<!--
Database error in vBulletin 3.7.2:

Invalid SQL:
INSERT INTO mailqueue (dateline,toemail,fromemail,subject,message,header ) VALUES ('1219000005','lclowry@execulink.com','rvpicsmail@ sbcglobal.net','We Miss You!!','&lt;p&gt;Dear Travelin'on&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We haven\'t seen you check in with RVPics for a while. Your participation is very important to us. Please stop by when you have a chance.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Regards&lt;br/&gt;
The Team
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.rvpics.com/forums/index2.php&quot;&gt;RV Pics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;','MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
To: Travelin'on &lt;lclowry@execulink.com&gt;
From: RV Pics Reminder Service &lt;rvpicsmail@sbcglobal.net&gt;
');

MySQL Error : You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'on&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We haven\'t seen you check in with RVPics for a while. Your partic' at line 1
Error Number : 1064
Request Date : Sunday, August 17th 2008 @ 01:06:45 PM
Error Date : Sunday, August 17th 2008 @ 01:06:45 PM
Script : http://www.rvpics.com/forums/index.php
Referrer :
IP Address : 75.6.163.23
Username :
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version :
-->

any feedback is great - sorry abut this... go into phpmyadmin and find "datastore" delete the entry "pluginlist" ad then you can disable the product from there.

the \ are supposed to stop the errors.. i will double check but i think i've fixed it in this version..

OK, I got as far as deleting 'pluginlist'. How do I disable the product? I still can't open the AdminCP... I get: Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #1 is not an array in [path]/includes/init.php on line 271 on the html page.

The easiest way is to go to your config.php and just after the

add this

This disables all plugins on the site.

Then login to your ADMINCP and uninstall the product. Then just delete that line from config file and reupload it.

I can't find such an entry in datastore. Where is it supposed to be. The forum is locked up tight after installing your new version. This was a bad move.

:(

Back up and working (minus this plugin, unfortunately). Thanks to all for the help.

Don

Back up here too.

But the 1.2.2 version is toxic and I will not use this product until I know it works.

One more thing: Just listing the names of people whose emails are incorrect isn't sufficient for my purposes. There ought to be a way to move those members into a new category until that's resolved.

But first fix the database problem.

Peace,
Gene

this hack defect :(
admincp and forumhome I not entry. Uninstalled.

Use the EZ Bounce Manager add-on. It works well in combination with this one.

I would find that -- where?

All I can find in 3.7 mod is something called Auto Bounce Messages Management, which doesn't work very well.

Peace,
Gene

OOOooops ,,, while trying to browse who is online ....

This product is giving an error! 3.7.2 Harmonious.

3.7.2 and this product messed up my site.

Had to do the config.php addition...go into admincp and uninstall the product.

BEWARE!

**Update 1.2.3**

I have updated this modification, fixing many of the mentioned bugs.
i have also fixed the plugin so it SHOULD NOT lock up your website!

Sorry for any problems people have had.

Edit - will someone confirm if the WOL page is fixed now?

Have you tested this on your own site to ensure those same problems don't occur?

yeah i've tested using a 3.6.8 & 3.7.2 versions. i dont have the errors, but i have much much fewer users than some, and on my 3.7.2 site it's a fresh install which was done specifically for testing this mod, and i dont get ANY errors.

I take it that as there are no reports of problems that i have fixed a lot of them?

I just updated to the latest copy to trial on a couple of test accounts of my own, and appears to be working well... however it is sending 4 copies of the reminder email to each one. There are 2 entries for each emailed member being listed in the log, so I am assuming its sending 2 copies for each?

Either way it should be just one log entry appearing, and one copy of the email being sent out to each member.

There is no recipient name being listed with the reminder email, its blank. Also basic HTML is not working (tried to use anchor links) which would be great if it worked otherwise :)

Hope this constructive feedback helps to iron out the bugs.

Cheers.

This is fantastic feedback! It looks like im getting closer to the goal! I will look into this and try and resolve the issue straight away.

I did get a few complaints of people getting multiple copies, and I see some duplicate listings in the logs, so perhaps there's something to test.

I've tried external bounce management products, one for 3.7, and the EZ one, which is supposed to work in 3.7, but is listed in the 3.6 folder.

Neither works, really. The latter is mostly non-functional, and the coder isn't responding to my post on the subject. The former is being distributed mostly unsupported.

Can you possibly build that feature into your product? I think it's the missing link, and the other options are failures. :(

Peace,
Gene

it send e-mail but not support unicode utf-8

can you both give me more details of requirements?

I'd like to see something that would, if a reminder message bounced, automatically send that user a PM to update his or her email address. If it happens a second time, the member is, in addition to getting another PM, automatically moved into another usergroup (Users Awaiting Email Confirmation or whatever group you create or select).

I'm assuming here that some users would return even without the inactive message and thus see they have to update their email addresses.

This may entail a bit of work, but in terms of running a forum efficiently and keeping members up to date, it would work beautifully. It may, in further consideration, be done as a separate product, to help with a general housecleaning of a forum, in which case any bounced email to a member would trigger it.

As I said, no existing product gets the job done efficiently -- or at all.

Peace,
Gene

I will seriously consider doing this. As a separate project or addition to this one i expect... i expect. For the time being i will work on removing all of the bugs in this mod.

Thanks. Meantime, I'll bumble along. That's what I do best. :)

Peace,
Gene

Does this update fix all the bugs reported in GamerGirl27's post?

I just downloaded this update, and although the documentation shows it's version 1.2.4, version 1.2.2 is actually posted.

As far as I can make out, version 1.2.2 doesn't give you the option to change the email address of who the reminder came from

Nice product though!

I noticed the same thing.

Something missing here?

Peace,
Gene