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
***

[Martin-TMGRS]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

Are ANY cron jobs running successfully on your installation?

Yep they are all working bar this one

[djbaxter]

I have no idea. The only time I've seen something like this was when a server upgrade didn't complete properly and all my PHP pages were displaying as text files until I fixed it.

[BlueBulletRL]

someone please help me with my emails not sending. It just keeps saying there are no emails to be sent.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by BlueBulletRL

someone please help me with my emails not sending. It just keeps saying there are no emails to be sent.

Maybe there aren't any emails to be sent?

Version 1.09? 1.11? If the latter, uninstall and reinstall 1.09.

Setting in vBulletin options | Inactive Users Reminder emails?

[JustAskJulie]

Just wanted to say that this is one of the best mods EVER. It in addition to the Welcome Header mod, I've had a ton of people come back and start posting again.

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

I have Vbulletin 3.6.9 & I installed Email Reminder 1.1.1.

I am in the process of setting it up & had a few questions.

1. If I want to add a specific web link, do I just pop it into the message section or do I need to do something special to make it a clickable hyperlink (same as the $homeurl)?

2. Show footer link? - Does this add a link to the main part of the forum giving credit to djbaxter?

3. Add credit to emails sent? - Does this add a credit within the "we miss you" email?

4. I set (for testing) usergroup 3 (admin's), set the script active, then went to Scheduled Task / Scheduled Task Manager & manually ran it (to see). Then I went to Scheduled task log & it says:

Emails sent to:runnerout budda10r gamblingstats Amateur_plf supervideosmen zx10rgeo kuleshkovital Saxgrgns empaphnew sexyass olleloockoerrss Regespinlen buyviagramen LSMITH5791 tenacious z PERMARDIMBUPEd cheque7697 drugimpotence ChedeSach Aideptike Nadin Maison ShallbetNat KentBrooktl infiptoutsous jojonik GoldAmyFell Abarricosta Adillaida Tfyhdwrt SRASADAN Chickflick PERMARDIMBUPEj Blackjacktrinid inhisresy Abarricoss boiliorse. We tried to email the following users, but their email address was invalid:

The list is much longer & I cut a ton of names out. Why did it send out all those emails if the usergroup 3 was the only one selected?

5. I set the Days of Inactivity to 14 & the Frequency to 100 (3 emails per year). Will that only send 3 emails per year?

6. This might be unrelated but... I did get a test message from one of my non admin accounts (an inactive one of mine). The message came from: Kawasaki ZX-10R.net ["Kawasaki ZX-10R.net"@123485-app2.xxxxxxx.com] (I removed some of it). Why does it look so funky (the email return address)?

7. I got an email from my site saying: This email shows that the product is installed and working as it should be. There were no inactive users at this time.. The strange thing is I did get an email (to a non admin test account). How can I tell if it sent emails or didnt?


Thanks,
Rich

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by RichTJ99

I have Vbulletin 3.6.9 & I installed Email Reminder 1.1.1.

I recommend you uninstall this and install version 1.09. 1.11 is buggy.

1. If I want to add a specific web link, do I just pop it into the message section or do I need to do something special to make it a clickable hyperlink (same as the $homeurl)?

You can use standard HTML as well as vBulletin variables. My personalized message looks like this:

Hello, $username!

<p>You are receiving this email because you previously registered at {forum} with the following information:</p>

<p>Member name: $username<br>
User number: $userid<br>
Email address: $email</p>

<p>It's been some time since your last visit to our {forum} community.</p>

<p>You might be interested in having another look. We have added several features and enhancements to the forums, and many new topics and new members are added every day.</p>

<p>If you don't remember your password, you can request it here: <a href="http://www.yourforum.com/login.php?do=lostpw">http://www.yourforum.com/login.php?do=lostpw</a>.</p>

<p>You can now keep up to date with new topics at $bbtitle by subscribing to the {forum} Newsletter. Click on your UserCP link (<a href="http://www.yourforum.com/usercp.php">http://www.yourforum.com/usercp</a> )  in the top navigation bar of any forum page and select Edit Options ( <a href="http://www.yourforum.com/profile.php?do=editoptions">http://www.yourforum.com/profile.php?do=editoptions</a> ). Then scroll down to the Messaging & Notification section and check the box next to Subscribe to {forum} Newsletter.</p>

<p>We hope to see you back soon.</p>

<p>If you do not wish to receive further emails of this nature, please log into your UserCP at <a href="http://www.yourforum.com/profile.php?do=editoptions">http://www.yourforum.com/profile.php?do=editoptions</a> and uncheck the box next to Receive Email from Administrators.</p>

<p>Administrator<br>
<a href="http://www.yourforum.com">{forum}</a><br>
http://www.yourforum.com</p>

Substitute the name of your forum for {forum} and your actual URL for www.yourforum.com.

2. Show footer link? - Does this add a link to the main part of the forum giving credit to djbaxter?

No, to Chris (he wrote the add-on, I just help out with support), or more specifically it adds

Inactive Reminders By Mished.co.uk

3. Add credit to emails sent? - Does this add a credit within the "we miss you" email?

It adds the link to Mished.co.uk to the bottom of the email instead of to the forum footer.

4. I set (for testing) usergroup 3 (admin's), set the script active, then went to Scheduled Task / Scheduled Task Manager & manually ran it (to see). Then I went to Scheduled task log & it says:

Emails sent to:runnerout budda10r gamblingstats Amateur_plf supervideosmen zx10rgeo kuleshkovital Saxgrgns empaphnew sexyass olleloockoerrss Regespinlen buyviagramen LSMITH5791 tenacious z PERMARDIMBUPEd cheque7697 drugimpotence ChedeSach Aideptike Nadin Maison ShallbetNat KentBrooktl infiptoutsous jojonik GoldAmyFell Abarricosta Adillaida Tfyhdwrt SRASADAN Chickflick PERMARDIMBUPEj Blackjacktrinid inhisresy Abarricoss boiliorse. We tried to email the following users, but their email address was invalid:

The list is much longer & I cut a ton of names out. Why did it send out all those emails if the usergroup 3 was the only one selected?

I'm not sure. As I said, version 1.11 is buggy.

5. I set the Days of Inactivity to 14 & the Frequency to 100 (3 emails per year). Will that only send 3 emails per year?

Your settings mean that after 2 weeks of no activity, an email will be sent out and that this will be repeated every 100 days for that member.

6. This might be unrelated but... I did get a test message from one of my non admin accounts (an inactive one of mine). The message came from: Kawasaki ZX-10R.net ["Kawasaki ZX-10R.net"@123485-app2.xxxxxxx.com] (I removed some of it). Why does it look so funky (the email return address)?

The return address is the one you've set for your forum. Anything else is a server issue.

7. I got an email from my site saying: This email shows that the product is installed and working as it should be. There were no inactive users at this time.. The strange thing is I did get an email (to a non admin test account). How can I tell if it sent emails or didnt?

You can check the cron (scheduled task) log for this add-on.

[RichTJ99]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

6. This might be unrelated but... I did get a test message from one of my non admin accounts (an inactive one of mine). The message came from: Kawasaki ZX-10R.net ["Kawasaki ZX-10R.net"@123485-app2.xxxxxxx.com] (I removed some of it). Why does it look so funky (the email return address)?
The return address is the one you've set for your forum. Anything else is a server issue..

The strange thing is that my forum sends emails from the correct address (for password resets, thread notifications, etc). This program is the only thing that sends from that 123485 address.


[QUOTE=djbaxter;1483442]7. I got an email from my site saying: This email shows that the product is installed and working as it should be. There were no inactive users at this time.. The strange thing is I did get an email (to a non admin test account). How can I tell if it sent emails or didnt?
You can check the cron (scheduled task) log for this add-onQUOTE]


The weird thing is I got a second one saying it sent out everything to the usergroup (#3) which is not my admin (like i thought) but it is actually my users awaiting confirmation (why it sent out all those things).

Thanks,
Rich

[fesih]

teşekürler gözüm

[RichTJ99]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

6. This might be unrelated but... I did get a test message from one of my non admin accounts (an inactive one of mine). The message came from: Kawasaki ZX-10R.net ["Kawasaki ZX-10R.net"@123485-app2.xxxxxxx.com] (I removed some of it). Why does it look so funky (the email return address)?
The return address is the one you've set for your forum. Anything else is a server issue..

The strange thing is that my forum sends emails from the correct address (for password resets, thread notifications, etc). This program is the only thing that sends from that 123485 address.

Thanks,
Rich[/QUOTE]

My other issues are resolved. Any ideas why this keeps sending out that funky email address? The other Vbulletin items (password reset, registration, etc) do not have that email. Only the reminder software.

Would the older version fix that? If so, how do I uninstall 1.1.1?

Thanks,
Rich