Updated Community Bulletin Generator

SPECIAL NOTE for those upgrading to vBulletin v2.0.0: You will need to make changes to the default RC3 files, as you did with the previous version files. The files are member.php and admin/index.php. After you upgrade to RC3, the link in your Admin CP will no longer be there. In order to find instructions for upgrading, go to http://yoursite/forum/admin/commbull.php and click the link for Instructions. Make these changes to your files, and reupload the two modified files. The link will then be back in your Admin CP.
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With Kier's permission, I am rereleasing this hack. It has been updated, but most of the credit still goes to Kier. I just added a couple things. Namely, I took Kier's starting point for birthdays and reworked it a bit so they can now be included. I also added 3 new sets of Latest Threads input, and added a sorting option to get topics with no replies (aka "Virgin" topics).
I also added a box to change the section separation character (Kier had it as a "-", now you can change it) and the list item character (Kier had it as an "o"). There are also instructions on how to integrate it into your Admin CP.

To install, just upload it to your Admin directory and go to it in a browser.

If you had previously installed Kier's original version, simply overwrite the commbull.php file on your server, and make this change to your admin/index.php file:
Find

<a href="email.php?s=<?php echo $session[sessionhash]; ?>"> Email users </a><br>

and right below it, add

<a href="commbull.php?s=<?php echo $session[sessionhash]; ?>"> Send Community Bulletin </a><br>

Upload your admin/index.php file and go to your Admin CP. You should see the new option under "Users" on the left-hand side.

Hack version: 0.98

Changes since v0.97: Fixed a stupid bug that screwed up the script when you posted a copy to a forum and that forum didn't count posts toward post totals.

Changes since v0.96: Fixed a minor bug that was causing large problems when the number of emails to send was more than it was set to per page.

Changes since v0.95: Minor cosmetic changes; fixed "copy post to board" function so it actually works; added option to exclude threads from being used more than once (if doing multiple blocks); fixed sorting by most replies/most views so they don't return threads with 0 replies or 1 view, respectively;

Changes since v0.93: Option to post a copy of the email to your board, to a forum you specify using a username your specify (If you do this, there is a function to exclude certain parts (for example, the user info section that details username/password etc) and it parses URLs so the message on your board has hyperlinks to the threads/polls/etc); various cosmetic upgrades; minor little things here and there; fixed/changed "Only include threads that have been started or replied to since this date?" so it doesn't defeat the purpose of specifying a date.

For version: v2.0.0

Info for Clean Install -------
Files needed: commbull.php

Files to edit: admin/index.php, member.php

Templates to edit: none

Instructions are in the script itself. When you first run it, it will tell you what you need to do. If upgrading from Kier's original version, see instructions above.
End Info for Clean Install -------

Info for Upgrading from v0.90, v0.91, v0.93, v0.94, v0.95, v0.96, v0.97 ------
Files needed: commbull.php

Files to edit: none

Instructions: Upload the commbull.php file from the commbull98.zip file.
End Info for Upgrading -------

Please do not bug Kier about this hack!
Please also DO NOT contact me via AIM, ICQ, PM, or email about this hack. Post your question/problem here and I will try to help you.

[TechTalk]

Well id really like to use this feature but it seems as though I have the version of MySQL that doesnt support it

Database error in vBulletin Control Panel: Invalid SQL: SELECT * FROM user WHERE SUBSTRING(birthday,6)>='05-15' AND SUBSTRING(birthday,6)<='05-29' ORDER BY SUBSTRING(birthday,6) LIMIT 0,10
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'SUBSTRING(birthday,6) LIMIT 0,10' at line 1
mysql error number: 1064
Date: Tuesday 15th of May 2001 03:28:44 PM
Script: /vbforums/admin/commbull.php
Referer: http://www.iguanaland.com/vbforums/admin/commbull.php

I installed this hack and it looks real nice.

I really just wanted to have a way to email all those who are "awaiting email confirmation"

I notice it will not mail unless I select a forum. Is this the way it should work? I would think a lot of webmasters just want to email without having to select recent posts to include. I see there is a work around. Just delete that info from the message before you send it. I just don't know why it makes you select anything.

In any event...

I am at this point:

I have edited the message to be sent as follows and selected the group "awaiting email confirmation" to send it to. However, I do not see how this will help the people I am sending to since all it does is send their user name and password. Unless I am missing something, don't they still need to have the "confirmation link" to be registered? Will this hack generate that for them?

I may be missing something. If this works though, it will be awesome. I have about 800+ folks that never confirmed their registration.

Thanks!

Glen

Message as I have ready to send:

Yes-Its-Free! Community Bulletin

A while back

o Your username is: "$username"
o Your password is: "$password"
o You have $posts posts
o You registered on $joindate
o You were last active on the boards at $lastactivity

Best regards, The Yes-Its-Free!

[tubedogg]

The link to activate is generated randomly, so you couldn't send it through this script (without significant modification). However, you could tell them to visit http://yourdomain.com/register.php?action=requestemail to get another activation email.

This hack is specifically meant as an update email, so yes it is supposed to error if you haven't selected any forums. If you don't want that info, you could use the standard email function in vBulletin. (You can put their username and password in an email via that.)

[TechTalk]

No word on the error i receive?

[tubedogg]

Sorry...I missed that post. Anyway it seems that some versions of MySQL don't want to sort by SUBSTRING. I'm currently trying to figure out a way around it. For right now the workaround is to set birthdays to 0.

[amykhar]

Kevin,
I hate to be a pest, but can you please put the necessary changes to member.php here?

I had to move servers, and accidentally deleted my modified members.php. commbull.php think's it's already installed because the database is configured. I just need to modify the php files.

Thank you,
Amy

[tubedogg]

Actually this is really simple. Just go to
http://www.epinionaddicts.com/forum/admin/commbull.php
in a browser, log in, and click "instructions" at the bottom of the first page. You will be given all the modification instructions.

[amykhar]

Thank you. All fixed now. One suggestion though. The link to turn it on or off for users should also show up in the control panel when we search for a user. I get the occasional computer-phobe that asks me to turn things off for them.

Amy

[maverick1236]

I REALLY like this one!!
Thanks for your work and time!!

[RobAC]

This morning when I went to run the community bulletin generator, it stalled when I went to run the second batch of 500 users. I never received one, but I had reports from several users that they received anywhere from 2-4 bulletins. Has anyone else had this problem??