Mini Mods - Email reminder for inactive users

Inactive reminder emails. This mod was designed to send out a reminder to inactive members to try and win them back.

***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
***

[djbaxter]

Because of the way vBulletin handles cron jobs, the extact times that any cron job runs will vary (since it requires a page load to trigger the cron job).

Check how it's scheduled currently in "Scheduled Tasks". I have mine set to run as follows:

Day of the Month *
Hour *
Minute 37

i.e., every hour, every day of the month, at HH:37. I also have the number of emails sent out at a time set low (3), although for an initial run through the database I had it set a bit higher (I think 10).

That seems to work well for me.

[Andy Dean]

Ahhh, i think i'm with you, it's currently not scheduled in Scheduled Task Manager, all the fields are asterisks (*), that's how it was after i installed it. Does this mean the cron job is running everytime a page is loaded? It'd would be wise to set it up like you have yourself then?

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by Andy Dean

Ahhh, i think i'm with you, it's currently not scheduled in Scheduled Task Manager, all the fields are asterisks (*), that's how it was after i installed it. Does this mean the cron job is running everytime a page is loaded? It'd would be wise to set it up like you have yourself then?

Yes. As it is now, your task runs every minute of every hour of every day - that's way too frequently.

[Andy Dean]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

Yes. As it is now, your task runs every minute of every hour of every day - that's way too frequently.

Ahha! Thank you very much for the help! I wondered why it was running so randomly. I've set it to run once a day, that should be fine for a small forum like mine.

Thanks again

[Jdm Ej1 Coupe]

Ok I installed this Mod a while ago and have updated it as it comes out! It is working and the only problem I am having is that the emails are being sent from unknownsender@unknowndomain. because of this I do believe it is going into peoples spam folders and or getting deleted and I am not having the effect of the users coming back to the site like everyone else.

is there anyway for me to change from what email it gets sent from?

Thanks for a great product!

[djbaxter]

It uses whatever address it finds in Admin CP | vBulletin Options | vBulletin Options | Site Name / URL / Contact Details.

Scroll down to:

Webmaster's Email
Email address of the webmaster.

and check that you have a valid email address in there.

[frostyIntrepid]

I do have the same problem and checked the settings.

All the fields are filled up properly.

[Jdm Ej1 Coupe]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

It uses whatever address it finds in Admin CP | vBulletin Options | vBulletin Options | Site Name / URL / Contact Details.

Scroll down to:



and check that you have a valid email address in there.

I checked it and my address is valid there. still having the same issue.

Thanks

[djbaxter]

It is working and the only problem I am having is that the emails are being sent from unknownsender@unknowndomain

Where and when do you see that email address? Is this only seen on returned/bounced emails?

[Jdm Ej1 Coupe]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

Where and when do you see that email address? Is this only seen on returned/bounced emails?

I created a username for this mod and it goes to one of my emails

Thanks