Administrative and Maintenance Tools - EZ Bounced Email Management for Admins

DESCRIPTION:
This mod will insert a special EZbounce link into the header of all emails sent from your forums. In the event any email bounces back to you, you simply click the EZbounce link and the Ezbounce script launches, which will modify the bouncing members settings to prevent further bouncing emails. It will also send that member a PM asking them to update their email address.

This modification is known to work with versions as high as 3.8.x


FEATURES:

• Will not modify settings for Admins, Supermods, or Moderators if their email bounces
• (if turned on) Bouncing member is moved to whatever usergroup you set in AdminCP EZbounce Settings
• Updates bouncing member's "Receive Email from Administrators" setting to NO
• Updates bouncing member's "Receive Email Notification of New Private Messages" setting to NO
• Updates bouncing member's "Receive Email from Other Members" setting to NO
• Remove email notification for all of bouncing member's subscribed THREADS
• Remove email notification for all of bouncing member's subscribed FORUMS
• Turns on Popup Notification of new Private Messages for bouncing member
• PM is sent to Member notifying them of bounced email & asking them to update email address
• (if turned on) When member updates & confirms their new email, they are returned to original usergroup.

Now, the next time you send a newsletter from your AdminCP, (so long as you only send emails to members whom have "Receive Email From Administrators" set to "Yes") you will no longer receive a bounced email from this member (because they are no longer being sent).

And also, if you created a new usergroup such as "Bounced Members" and set this usergroupid in this hack's settings, now the members that have bounced can be pruned, sent reminder emails, whateveryou want to do with them!


WHAT IF A MEMBER DECIDED TO CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE EMAIL HEADER?
Most email clients don't show the email's headers by default, however in the event a member is slick enough to view their header and they click on this mysterious link, they will simply receive a no permission message since they're unallowed to log in to the AdminCP.


ZIP FILE CONTENTS:
1 Product (2 plugins, a couple phrases & installcode which adds 1 colum to user table)
1 File


HOW TO VIEW FULL EMAIL HEADERS:
You might need to configure your email client to view full email headers in order to see the EzBounce link. There's detailed instructions on how to do this for the most popular email clients here.


CHANGELOG:
#> 1.11 - released on 7/6/2008:
Fixed bug reported in post #583

#> 1.10 - released on 12/18/2007:
Added when bouncing member is managed for bouncing, their "Pop Up a Notification Box When New PM Is Received" setting is turned on before the notification PM is sent, to better ensure they are notified to update their email address.
Bought the new CD entitled Sleaze Freak by Scum Of The Earth on Amazon.com

#> 1.9 - released on 9/22/2007:
Added when bouncing member is managed for bouncing, their "Pop Up a Notification Box When New PM Is Received" setting is turned on before the notification PM is sent, to better ensure they are notified to update their email address.
Modified the way old usergroupid is restored so methos is more compatible with other installed mods.
Optimized some queries in ezbounce.php and plugin codes.

#> 1.8 - released on 6/1/2007:
Bug fix - fixed array_merge error for those running php 5.

#> 1.7 - released on 5/8/2007:
Bug fix - fixed bug where old usergroup was incorrectly being restored.

#> 1.6 - released on 4/26/2007:
Added protective measure for Admins, Supermods, or Mods who's email may have bounced. this makes sure their usergroup and settings are not modified

even if their email bounces.
When bouncing member is managed for bouncing, their "Receive Email Notification of New Private Messages" is now set to NO.
When bouncing member is managed for bouncing, their "Receive Email from Other Members" is now set to NO.
When bouncing member is managed for bouncing, email notification is turned OFF for all of bouncing user's subscribed threads.
When bouncing member is managed for bouncing, email notification is turned OFF for all of bouncing user's subscribed forums.

#> 1.5 - released on 2/17/2007:
Added option in Settings which allows admin to insert the EZbounce link into outgoing email's message body (for email clients which make it difficult to show

email headers or don't properly parse html links when displaying email headers.
Fixed bug where original usergroupid was being erased in the event admin processed bounced more than once for same member

#> 1.4 - released on 2/17/2007:
Fixed bug - PM is now sent regardless of whether or not bouncing member had "Enable Private Messaging" turned off in UserCP.
Fixed bug - Usergroup is now properly reset to what it was before member was managed for bouncing

#> 1.3 - released on 2/15/2007:
New setting in AdminCP which gives option to move bouncing members into any usergroup of Admin's choice
If member had previously bounced, and they update their email, they are moved back to their original usergroup

#> 1.2 - released on 2/10/2007:
Bouncing members are now handled by setting their preference to receive admin emails to "no"
Sends PM to member notifying them email bounced
If / when member updates his/her email their preference to receive admin emails is reset to "yes"

#> 1.0 - released on 2/8/2007
Original release


If you like this hack, please click Nominate for MOTM

[Mrdby]

Originally Posted by goddess_dix

i'm using the current version with 3.7 and am having no difficulties.

THANKS!

[snoopy5]

Originally Posted by Devices

I found a way, well sort of. I just modified the script slightly to accept the users email in the url instead of the users id. Then I use a macro to cut and paste each email from my bounced list to the url.

A little long winded but works great for automating the process of handling large amounts of bounces and I can simply manually copy and paste the odd bounced email address I get in between mass mailings.

Hi

could you share this hack and the makro with us?

[Devices]

I am no PHP expert, my PHP knowledge is very basic but this is what I did.

In ezbounce.php on line 46 look for

$vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'u', TYPE_UINT);

Change it to

$vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'u', TYPE_STR);

Then on line 51 look for

WHERE userid = " . $vbulletin->GPC['u'] . "

Change it to

WHERE email = " . $vbulletin->GPC['u'] . "

Now the URL will except your users email instead of their userid.

You just need to use

http://yourdomain.com/forum/admincp/ezbounce.php?u=(USERS@EMAIL)

To process the user, replacing (USER@EMAIL) with your actual users email address.

Regarding the Macro, I use Macro Express and it is quite basic but very specific to me so sharing it would not really help you. Here are the steps I carried out though.

I sent a mass mailing to members, and the bounces start to arrive.
I then use eMail Bounce Handler to grab and handle the bounces.
After about 24 hours I have the majority of the bounces so I export all the hard bounces to a txt file.
Then I use Macro Express to process the list.

The macro basically doe this

Brings the txt file full of emails one per line to the front.
Positions the curser at the front of the first line then cuts the first line
Presses delete to remove the blank line left after the cut.
Brings my browser to the front and selects all in the URL box.
Types in the ezbounce URL stopping after the "="
Pastes the email address and hits enter
A 5 second delay then it repeats itself.

Very primitive I know but it does the job. If I had more time I would learn how to read in a txt file and process the emails all within the script but it was quicker for me to just use a macro at this time.

Now the end result I just have some soft bounces left that I can check more closely before adding them to a list.

Over the next few days there will be some odd bounces etc so I can wait and process them later.

I hope this helps and if you do use Macro Express and want my macro file as a starting point I am happy to share. You will need to tweak it specific for you but I can help with that if you need it.

[Mrdby]

well antivirus?

[Antivirus]

Originally Posted by Devices

I hope this helps and if you do use Macro Express and want my macro file as a starting point I am happy to share. You will need to tweak it specific for you but I can help with that if you need it.

Interesting adaptation Devices. Gotta love those macro apps!

[Pamela]

This is awesome! Just what I needed...thanks!

*clicks install*

[m_k]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

Yes and it's very easy.

1. Open remindermail.php
2. find:

Thanks for this - it makes life a lot easier being able to one-click the reminder email bounces :-)

and if I haven't already thanked the author of the hack, I do now... this is a real handy tool for sure.

[dknelson]

I installed this and it seemed to work fine. Created a new usergroup with permissions so that they can view but not post until they correct the email.

Now the members in that group cannot login at all. They get the screen that they do not have permission to access and there is this error at the top.

Warning: array_merge() [function.array-merge]: Argument #1 is not an array in /home/my domain/public_html/includes/functions.php on line 723

Running 3.7.

[Robert Waanders]

Installed and nominated, great mod!! I Have 11.000+ members, and currently It is a hell of a job to maintain al of those mail adresses.

Robert

[Alfa1]

I highly recommend setting up a text about handling email problems in your FAQ. I am compiling one explaining each email provider's problems and solutions. Though it will take quite a lot of time/ Q & A, to complete. This is what I have until now:

Your email account

You must keep an active / valid email account to be active on this board. You can edit and change your email address in your user Control Panel(userCP).

When we receive a bounced email that has come back to us, this means your email account is not active or valid and your forum account will be restricted until the email problem is corrected by you.

To correct this go to your usepCP and change your email address to a valid one. Then request an activation email. This will be sent to your email address. It will contain both a link and an activation code to activate your account.

Please note that many free email accounts require you to log in at least every X amount of days. So to avoid problems please log into your email once in awhile if you do not normally do so.

Many email providers have overzealous spam filters. If you do not receive your confirmation email make sure you check your spam folder or your spam/filter settings as it may be caught in there.

Please add xx@x.com to your contacts.
Marking email from XX as 'not spam' will avoid problems.

Gmail email problems

If you have problems with receiving the activation codes or if your account has been deactivated awaiting email activation, then it is most likely that email from XX has landed in your spam box. Please check your spam folder. If you find a message from XX there, then please mark it as 'not spam' with the 'not spam' button there. This will prevent further emails bouncing back from your Gmail account to the XX server.

Hotmail email problems


Yahoo email problems


AOL email problems

I hope this serves others well.
I want to add a link to the FAQ in the PM text, but forgot where to alter it. Could you please remind me?