Subscribe to all?

[JakeC]

Is there already a hack that allows a user to subscribe to all forums from the control panel? If there is I would like to make this an option in conjunction to the hack that allows users to reply from their email. The reason for this is because I have a lot of users that prefer the mail list format for communicating. I've also gotten a request to build a board that has this feature. Thanks in advance.

Jake

[Gary King]

The biggest (and probably the most obvious) problem with this, though, would that there would be a lot of emails being sent out. That would kill your server, and your users inboxes.

Are you sure you still want to go ahead with this? I could make this for you, but doesn't sound like a good idea.

[JakeC]

I apologize I didn't get back to you on this quicker. I didn’t get a notification and I haven't been around this site for a few weeks.

Here are some particulars on my site that may give you a better idea of whether or not it's going to be a problem.

Current Status:

500 users
10-20 posts per day average
Dedicated server

Expected growth within 2 years:
3000 users
Estimate 1/3 of the users would want this feature
50-80 posts per day

My site is dedicated to homebuilt aircraft so I don't believe there will ever be a huge amount of users. With these numbers, do you think it would be a problem? Even with eventual upgrades?

Some other concerns I have are:

1. I would like for the users to be able to post photos when they reply by email.

2. I would like for the users to be able to view photos that were posted without having the photo attached to each message that is sent out.

What do you think? Can it be done?

Jake

[Erwin]

This would kill your server if you allow this, since every single reply will be sent as an email notification.

[JakeC]

At what point do you think my server would start to become overwhelmed? I have a P 1.7 with 512 M of ram. It's a managed dedicated server and I can upgrade as the traffic increases.

If a 1000 members chose this service than there were around 150 posts per day that would be 150,000. That’s an average of 160 per minute. I've seen some seriously mega boards out there with new posts happening every 24 seconds on average. Who knows how many notifications go out with each one of those. One thing is for sure, at my current level of activity, my server would not break a sweat.

I really need this type of Hack. Would it be possible to spread the emails out over a period of time?

Thanks in advance.

Jake

[ldfcao]

I'm very interested in this too. I would even like to be able to set the default for all members to "Subscribe to All Forums". I have a small site that's a networking vehicle for members and I have gotten a lot of requests for this sort of feature that requires you to opt out of getting e-mail notification rather than to opt in. I'm not worried about bandwidth - a small notice that goes out w/ every posting wouldn't swamp me.

Thanks!

[Chris M]

You don't understand - It is not the bandwidth that will be the problem, it is the server...

From what I understand; Imagine trying to run 5 intensive programs on your home computer at once...Your computer will groan (if it hasn't got alot of memory), and it will take about 30 seconds for it to settle down...

Now imagine if you opened 5 intensive programs on your home computer every second...

Now imagine if you opened 50 intensive programs on your home computer every second...

From what I understand, it can be something like this... I am probably wrong, or at least deviating from the actual thinking behind this, but your computer couldn't cope with 50 intensive programs being opened every second...

It would collapse, and you would be frustrated...

Now imagine a server, sending out hundreds of emails per second, most likely 1000 or more in 60 seconds - That is quite alot of stress on the server...

Satan

[Gary King]

Yep, it would put a lot of stress on the server. You can see an example of this in the big hack threads here when making a new reply - it will sometimes take up to 30 seconds or a minute before the post is made, and you are redirected to the thread, because the server has to send out dozens or hundreds of emails (or in cases that include entire boards, thousands of emails).

Would be better if you created a newsgroup instead.

[ldfcao]

We have 34 members and don't expect to get above a few hundred.

[Erwin]

You have to understand that for large sites, email subscriptions causes a lot of the server load stress - this is why disabling email subscriptions for large threads reduces server load substantially. Check out the thread by logician about this issue in the Dedicated server forum at vB.com.