Mini Mods - 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.
***

[Skyrider]

Awesome, trying this!

PS, why is "(COPPA) Users Awaiting Moderation" being automatic tagged when I selected not to use it under "Which usergroups do you want to monitor for inactivity?".

And when I attempt to send a test email, I get the following database error:

Database error in vBulletin 3.7.3:

Invalid SQL:
INSERT INTO mailqueue (dateline,toemail,fromemail,subject,message,header ) VALUES ('1226396466','Skyrider@esforces.com','Skyrider@es forces.com','We Miss You!!','<p>Dear Test User</p>

<p>We miss you. Our website is not the same without you. Come back and join in the fun?</p>

<p>Kindest Regards<br/>
The Team
<a href=\"xxxxxxxxx\">Earth\'s Special Forces :: Forums</a></p>','MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
To: Test User <Skyrider@esforces.com>
From: Earth's Special Forces :: Forums Reminder Service <Skyrider@esforces.com>
Return-Path: Skyrider@esforces.com
X-Remindermail-BounceId: 0
X-Remindermail-BounceSalt: TST
');

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 's Special Forces :: Forums Reminder Service <Skyrider@esforces.com>
Return-Path' at line 1
Error Number : 1064
Request Date : Tuesday, November 11th 2008 @ 03:41:06 AM
Error Date : Tuesday, November 11th 2008 @ 03:41:06 AM
Script : xxxxx/forum/admincp/remindermail.php?do=test
Referrer : xxxxxxx/forum/admincp/remindermail.php?do=sendtest
IP Address : xxxx
Username : FF|Skyrider
Classname : vxxx
MySQL Version : 5.0.51a-community

Another small problem. While it sends out the email correctly to inactive users, the name where the email comes from shows rather odd (Skyrider @ esforces.com <- how it shows), check the attachment. How do I solve this and or change the name?

[Skyrider]

Also, will this work if I use cpanel 11, but google domain mail for all my emails?

[Skyrider]

Any updates on this?

EDIT, I see the problem... The "Email From" in the settings is incorrect. It uses both email names and email as my attachment above.. if I change it to "ESF Forum" for example, the name and email will be the same. Which should be incorrect! Please fix this issue, as I love this plugin.

[RedTrinity]

Originally Posted by Fungsten

I can't seem save the usergroups I want to send reminders out to. So, after I select which usergroups to send and click "save", it says "saved", then all the usergroups come up blank.

VB 3.7.4. It also didn't work with 3.7.3. TIA.

It still works, even though it appears to have not saved. I reported the same thing a while back and the developer assured me the groups were still saving, sure enough he was right

[Skyrider]

I'm sorry, but I waited for days so I'm not sure if the author of this plugin is busy or doesn't support it anymore. Even my private message has not been responded to yet. While this is a great plugin, it has a lot of issues. I can't even get the bounce to work, plus it has name issues as well.

[Sweeks]

I had some php warning to do with VBSeo in the admin cp after installing the product. It disappeared after disabling, then enabling it again. :S
________
Vaporizer Pipe

[Skyrider]

Found the issue. The name of the board was "Earth's Special Forces", the ' in it was breaking it giving mysql errors. Can you solve this issue if possible?

[joh]

can this work on 3.8

[Angel-Wings]

Originally Posted by FF|Skyrider

Can you solve this issue if possible?

Problem is that the MySQL commands aren't parsed correct so ' that "signs" the end of a value let MySQL think the entire Query ends here. Everything behind will produce an error.
Maybe - with weird some Email- / Board- or Username some injection can be possible.

About the sent mails - maybe a good idea to add an X-Mailer value as well that Antispam systems won't "jump" on the mail with a false-positive.

In "remindermail.php" something like:

$headers .= "Return-Path: " . $vbulletin->options['reminder_fromemail'] . "\r\n";
$headers .= "X-Mailer: Vbulletin Mailer\r\n";
$headers .= "X-Remindermail-BounceId: $userid\r\n";
$headers .= "X-Remindermail-BounceSalt: $salt\r\n";

Should do it.

[Skyrider]

Originally Posted by Angel-Wings

Problem is that the MySQL commands aren't parsed correct so ' that "signs" the end of a value let MySQL think the entire Query ends here. Everything behind will produce an error.
Maybe - with weird some Email- / Board- or Username some injection can be possible.

About the sent mails - maybe a good idea to add an X-Mailer value as well that Antispam systems won't "jump" on the mail with a false-positive.

In "remindermail.php" something like:



Should do it.

Thanks, I'll try that .