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.
***

[Charlie98902]

Which files do I use? Screen below. It seems there is identical files now?

[mikelbeck]

I downloaded the latest version today (8/23) but it doesn't seem to include the EZBounce line in the header?

[Gene Steinberg]

OK, if this helps, here's a screen shot of a bounced email reminder.

You can see, here, exactly what the formatting problem looks like -- and it was sent by "nobody," despite correct configurations all around.

Peace,
Gene

[i156]

Installed easy and is working great for me.

[grahamsmythe]

Originally Posted by C Braithwaite

1. remindermail.php goes in your admincp folder

How comes there's two 'remindermail.php' files in the package download?

[C Braithwaite]

Originally Posted by genesteinberg

OK, if this helps, here's a screen shot of a bounced email reminder.

You can see, here, exactly what the formatting problem looks like -- and it was sent by "nobody," despite correct configurations all around.

Peace,
Gene

That is a mess. could you post the headers?

Originally Posted by grahamsmythe

How comes there's two 'remindermail.php' files in the package download?

i added two files by mistake. im updating the product soon.

[Gene Steinberg]

Originally Posted by C Braithwaite

That is a mess. could you post the headers?



i added two files by mistake. im updating the product soon.

As you wish. This is a typical set of headers from these bounced messages, showing the formatting problem and the incorrect sender address (minus the recipient's email):

------ This is a copy of the message, including all the headers. ------

Return-path: <nobody@server.paracast.net>
Received: from nobody by server.paracast.net with local (Exim 4.69)
(envelope-from <nobody@server.paracast.net>)
id 1KWvAy-00007Z-FR
for <name deleted>; Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:37:16 -0700
To:
Subject: We miss you!
X-PHP-Script: forum.theparacast.com/showthread.php for 68.204.201.64
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
To: A <name deleted>
From: The Paracast Discussion Forums Reminder Service <news@theparacast.com>
X-EZbouncer: <a href="http://forum.theparacast.com/admincp/ezbounce.php?u=155" target="_blank">http://forum.theparacast.com/admincp/ezbounce.php?u=155</a>
Message-Id: <E1KWvAy-00007Z-FR@server.paracast.net>
Sender: Nobody <nobody@server.paracast.net>
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:37:16 -0700

Hello, A!\r\n\r\nWe\'ve noticed that you\'ve not been active on The Paracast Discussion Forums for quite some time now, and we miss you!\r\n \r\nCould we not tempt you back?\r\n\r\nIf you don\'t remember your password, you can request it here: http://forum.theparacast.com/login.p...stpw\r\n\r\nWe hope to see you soon.\r\n\r\nKindest Regards\r\nGene and David\r\nThe Paracast Discussion Forums\r\nhttp://forum.theparacast.com

I look forward to the update.

Peace,
Gene

[mikelbeck]

Originally Posted by C Braithwaite

i added two files by mistake. im updating the product soon.

Will it fix the missing EZBounce line in the header as well?

[C Braithwaite]

Originally Posted by genesteinberg

As you wish. This is a typical set of headers from these bounced messages, showing the formatting problem and the incorrect sender address (minus the recipient's email):



I look forward to the update.

Peace,
Gene

From what I have read while doing my research this "nobody" problem is actually the settings on your forum. This issue should be fixed if and when you upgrade to the latest version.

Originally Posted by mikelbeck

Will it fix the missing EZBounce line in the header as well?

Not as such - i've added my own automated real-time bounce management.

[Megatr0n]

Before I update is there suppose to be too reminder.php files? If not which, one do we delete?