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.

[AyeCapn]

I think that this has been a long-ignored feature that was overlooked with good intentions by Jelsoft. Implementing something like this on somethingawful.com or any big board would easily crash their email servers.

For smaller communities that don't aspire to that size, it isn't an issue.

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by AyeCapn

I think that this has been a long-ignored feature that was overlooked with good intentions by Jelsoft. Implementing something like this on somethingawful.com or any big board would easily crash their email servers.

For smaller communities that don't aspire to that size, it isn't an issue.

Agreed. Small membership communities could *especially* use this, because forum activity is sometimes slow, so users don't visit... which perpetuates the cycle.

It's been overlooked too long. It's one area where other forum implementations are actually better than vBulletin, and that should be corrected.

For now I am paying for the commercial version of CommBull and plan to send out a bulletin/newsletter with the latest threads. But it sure would be a lot nicer if we could set default subscriptions...

[Viking Monkey]

Originally Posted by Tralala

For now I am paying for the commercial version of CommBull and plan to send out a bulletin/newsletter with the latest threads.

I hadn't come across CommBull, so thanks for this.

Before I commit to purchasing this though, can you tell me if it supports some sort of automation or do you need to manually specify that you want to create a newsletter etc and define the thread date ranges every time?

I am really looking for a 'set it and forget it solution' where a summary will be sent to everyone at a set interval.

Thanks.

[Tralala]

Originally Posted by Viking Monkey

I hadn't come across CommBull, so thanks for this.

Before I commit to purchasing this though, can you tell me if it supports some sort of automation or do you need to manually specify that you want to create a newsletter etc and define the thread date ranges every time?

I am really looking for a 'set it and forget it solution' where a summary will be sent to everyone at a set interval.

Thanks.

The latest commercial version has a cron job you can set for whatever interval you want. I haven't tested it long enough, but the feature list promises it's a "set it and forget it" type of thing.

[AyeCapn]

bumpity bump. Any news?

[Cyricx]

I'm down to:

Bug with usergroup posting permissions
Conflicts with thread subscription and forum subscription
Better interface to add/remove/modify forum subscriptions

Then it'll be ready for beta

[rjmjr69]

Originally Posted by Cyricx

I'm down to:

Bug with usergroup posting permissions
Conflicts with thread subscription and forum subscription
Better interface to add/remove/modify forum subscriptions

Then it'll be ready for beta

Thats very good news. Can not wait to see this once its done.. Thanks keep up the good work

[bobb06810]

Our forum also would greatly benefit if the Admin could simply take a list of current users and

1. switch their current forum subscriptions to Instant Email. (we've installed the mod, and it works well.)

2. easily subcribe current users to all (or some, as dictated by the Admin) forums to receive Instant Email Notification

3 And if there was a way for new users to automatically be defaulted to Instant Email Notification for all (or some, as dictated by the Admin) forums.

Has anyone fully, or partly, solved these yet?

Thanks.

Bob B

[snoopy5]

I too would love to have a hack to use vbulleting exaxtly like a mailing list!

A user subscribes to a forum and gets all the content of each new posting & get delivered instantly, no more clicking on a link to be able to get another email...

So please keep up the work!

The reply by e-mail features is available discus 4 pro at discusware.com. So there must be also a working solution possible for vB...

[bobb06810]

Does the instant email mod work with VBULLETIN 3.6.7 PL1 ?

Thanks.

Bob B