Miscellaneous Hacks - Instant New Thread Notification

= New Thread Notification =

Description

Very simple, it adds instant email notification for forums. If you are subscribed to a forum using instant email notification, whenever a new thread is posted you will be sent an email containing the details and the thread text.


Options: (AdminCP > vBulletin Options > New Thread Notification)

Enable new thread notifications?
Choose Yes to enable instant email notification for new threads.

Allow new thread notification for Usergroups:
Enter the IDs of the usergroups you want to allow to subscribe to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3)

If you only want to exclude usergroups instead of including them, leave this blank to allow everyone to subscribe to instant new thread notifications except those listed below.

Do NOT allow new thread notification for Usergroups:
Enter the IDs of the usergroups you want to exclude from subscribing to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3) Leave blank to not exclude usergroups.

Allow new thread notification for Forums:
Enter the IDs of the forums you want to allow subscribing to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3)

If you only want to exclude forums instead of including them, leave this blank to allow instant new thread notifications in every forum except those listed below.

Do NOT allow new thread notification for Forums:
Enter the IDs of the forums you want to exclude from subscribing to instant new thread email notifications, separated by commas. (i.e. 1,2,3) Leave blank to not exclude forums.

Use mailqueue?
Choose Yes for new thread notifications to use mailqueueing as per your settings (Recommended for all except very low traffic forums). Choosing No will bypass mailqueueing and send all emails instantly.


Installation Instructions:
1. Go to AdminCP > Plugins & Products > Manage Products > Add/Import Product.
2. Upload the new_thread_subscription_xxx.xml file.
Done!

To subscribe to new thread notifications just subscribe to a forum as normal. The new option has been added to the list.


Donations

If you have a pressing wish to donate money to me (and of course, you do) to say thank you and to possibly encourage more future work then you can do via the link below. Also, you will go to heaven.

http://redtyger.co.uk/donations.php

Don't panic! The donations link is only hosted on my website so it can be encrypted and not open my email address to spammers.


Changelog
v1.00 Initial release
v1.01 Fixed bug where Instant Email Subscription would appear twice.
v1.02 Fixed bug where a database error would occur when nobody is subscribed to the forum the thread is being posted in.

[upnorth]

have a couple of questions with regards to this mod

#1-how does this mod work for forums that are moderated. Does the new thread notification get sent after a new thread has been approved?

#2-its my assumption that only one email for a new thread gets generated? one for one? or is it like a daily digest (default built in vB)?

#3-do notifications get sent out for additional posts to a threads where a thread notification has already been sent?

[RedTyger]

#1 - Now that you mention it, no it doesn't. I'll look into dealing with that.

#2 - It's not a digest, no.

#3 - They do not, thread subscription is separate since this is actually an add-on to forum subscription.

[upnorth]

Originally Posted by RedTyger

#1 - Now that you mention it, no it doesn't. I'll look into dealing with that.

Sweet thanks! Any idea when you might have something available?

Originally Posted by RedTyger

#2 - It's not a digest, no.

Good to Hear!

Originally Posted by RedTyger

#3 - They do not, thread subscription is separate since this is actually an add-on to forum subscription.

Any idea how to easily do this. Before you answer I should explain what I'm attempting to do.
First off I run this forum for our company as an intranet app. Its small and doesn't have a huge load when it comes to volume of posts. Since our company has mail lists (where we mail one email address and its forwarded to a list of individuals) what I have done is setup a new user, which I'm kind of using like a system user as all the user has access to is this one forum. I have set the users email address to the mail list I want to send notifications to and then want to subscribe them to a forum where they will get instant notification of all new threads and post. Since this is not a real users I need to somehow how have them auto subscribe to each thread so that they get notified of any updated posts?

Hope this makes sense....sorry to run on and on. Any idea how I can do this? Your mod will work for the new thread but not sure how to tackle the new post?

[RedTyger]

Ok so what you want is essentially for every member to receive email subscriptions for everything, new threads and new posts?

[upnorth]

in the traditional sense of vB members no. The system user I have set up has an email address associated with it that will email everyone at my plant...regardless of whether they are a member or not. So just need this for this one member which acts as a system user account(this member is only setup so that I can email all users at my plant)....clear as mud

[RedTyger]

Ok, so you want to set a mailing list which which receive notifications of new threads regardless of who is a member or subscribed or whatever?

[upnorth]

ultimately that would be better then using this system account that I described...so yes that is correct. Want to send instant notification to a mail list for new threads and post's in a forum that is being moderated regardless of member or subscribe. My system account was the only way I could figure out how to kind of do what I wanted without a plugin or hack.

[RedTyger]

Ok, well that's actually very easy to do and I have to solve the moderation problem for something else I'm working on at the moment so...watch this space.

No guarantee on a timeframe though.

[upnorth]

Thanks RedTyger!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by RedTyger

Ok, so you want to set a mailing list which which receive notifications of new threads regardless of who is a member or subscribed or whatever?

For what it's worth, in AdminCP, you can already do this. It's built in.

Under Forums and Moderators -> Forum Manager. Select a forum. There are fields for this:

Email Addresses to Notify When there is a New Post
(Separate each address with a SPACE)

Email Addresses to Notify When there is a New Thread
(Separate each address with a SPACE)


Manually enter the "recipient's" email address, and notification of any new posts or threads will be sent out via email.




I would like a way for users to "subscribe via email to an entire forum" though, so they get emails of all activity, immediately if they like. All threads, all posts, all replies, etc. That way folks who don't like online forums but are more accustomed to email (ie: migrating from a Yahoo Group, for example) can still get all the same content to their in box.