A request I think many people will like - emailing new members

[dxyy]

Firstly, thank you for even reading this.

Here's is something I think would be very useful. After a new user registers the forum sends out an email saying: "Welcome to *** forum... etc etc"

I would like a mod that could also send out emails 3 days, 10 days and 1 month after a new member has joined the forum.

Therefore, if I registered on the 1st December, I would receive the initial welcome email, then on the 4th I would receive another custom email saying whatever the admin would like to say. Again on the 11th I would receive another custom email, and finally on the 1st January I'll receive one last custom email. It would also be nice if you could modify when the emails should be sent, so maybe after 5 then 10 then 15 days or something like that.

I believe this would make the percentage of active users increase drastically. Too many members register, but then never return. If they received some reminders a few days after registering I think this would really encourage them to return and be active.

Please let me know what you think, and if you would also like to see such a mod post in this thread to support me!

PS: If I didn't explain something clearly let me know so that I can write some more.

[dxyy]

Is this mod something that is difficult to achieve?

I saw this post in another thread:

Its been asked before.

I think the reason it hasnt been made currently is the difficulty in automising the process without the need for CRON.

As well as the problem of exceeding/overloading hosts mails per-hour/per-day.

I really want this feature and its on my mods I want to create list, but I'm waiting for smf 2.0 public which will have scheduling of tasks which will make it much easier to make.

Edit: Actually I may have ago at making a *SIMPLE text only version tomorrow. I have an idea.

I'm just looking for a little feedback. What I'm looking at right now, is just paying someone to code this for me and then also releasing it to the general community here.

[capabmx]

So let me just make sure I have this right.
The user registers, and get's an email 3 days after, saying whatever the admin wants.
Then 10 days after another email, that the admin edits.
And one more finally a month later.

Has karlbenson made the text only version? He's one of the best coders around, IMHO. I can maybe check around, and see what all files would need to be made, I could maybe make one, but I don't know about the automization too much. I'm not great with using Cron, but I'm sure googling or searching around here might get me on the right track. I will report back here tomorrow after I look through all of the files, and search around a bit. Karl might still be working on it, and if so he'll probably be the one to get this done , but I'll see what I can do.

[dxyy]

So let me just make sure I have this right.
The user registers, and get's an email 3 days after, saying whatever the admin wants.
Then 10 days after another email, that the admin edits.
And one more finally a month later.

Yes, that is correct. Also hopefully, in addition to the emails being editable, the days are also editable. So maybe you could have emails going out on the 5th 15th and 30th day after a user registers. I really believe this will result in more activity on forums, or at least on my forum it certainly would.

Has karlbenson made the text only version? He's one of the best coders around, IMHO. I can maybe check around, and see what all files would need to be made, I could maybe make one, but I don't know about the automization too much. I'm not great with using Cron, but I'm sure googling or searching around here might get me on the right track. I will report back here tomorrow after I look through all of the files, and search around a bit. Karl might still be working on it, and if so he'll probably be the one to get this done , but I'll see what I can do.

I'm not sure if he made this mod, but I saw him post something in another thread, just don't know where he's at with it right now.

Ok, so hopefully Karl will see this and let us know what he thinks can and cannot be done.

[Jade Elizabeth]

i like the sound of this

[capabmx]

Yeah, I think we should wait for karlbenson to make this , my code will probably be sloppy, and I can already forsee some errors if I try to make this quick lol. Eh, I'm going to keep looking at this though, as I would like to see where this goes. It would be a great addition to the forums overall activity, as people would see that the administrator is still interested in them, and not just that they are another member on the forum.

[dxyy]

Yeah, I think we should wait for karlbenson to make this , my code will probably be sloppy, and I can already forsee some errors if I try to make this quick lol. Eh, I'm going to keep looking at this though, as I would like to see where this goes. It would be a great addition to the forums overall activity, as people would see that the administrator is still interested in them, and not just that they are another member on the forum.

Haha, well I have no problem waiting for this one as it's not a big priority. I guess for now I could even just manually send out some emails to select members.

Hope Karlbenson has seen this post already though. *cough*hint*cough*

PS: Mr. Karlbenson, you have some of the best mods around here.

[Jade Elizabeth]

quick, someone PM him

[dxyy]

quick, someone PM him

Done!

[karlbenson]

Hey guys.
Sending emails is quite easy.
The tricky bit is automating the process, sending in chunks and not exceeding mail server limits

With SMF 1.1.x it is ALMOST impossible to schedule anything.
Over the last few days I have been working on a "Simple" Automatically Email Inactive Users mod for my own 1.1.x forum.
And to see whether I could surmount the technical challenge.
I've just submitted it in the last hour or so. (Unapproved) http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1025

Although it sounds relatively easy to call a function all the time there are several technical challenges.
1. Automating - I did this by setting limits and a timestamp to work out how often to run
2. Prevent duplication - I'm not sure I've cracked it with my mod, but I've set a key/lock to a variable to try to prevent duplicating.  If 2 or more users run a function at the same time, the chances are, you will be duplicating emails.
3. Sending in chunks/try to prevent overloading of email servers
4. The effect on performance.

If the mod I've created is suitable for you I'm delighted. However as indicated in the readme for the Email Inactive users mod.  It is meant to send simple text-only emails and I won't be adding additional functionality it.

As I keep repeating in various topics on a regular basis. With smf 2.0, SMF will have a mail queue as well as a scheduler which will make it alot easier to run any scheduled/automated tasks.
I definately do not want to try to attempt another automated task for 1.1.x.  But if people do, I'm sure that my mod could be used as a base.  Again I am unable to provide support/help in customizing it as I have neither the time nor the desire.

best of luck with it.

[dxyy]

Hmm, well I hope someone else is capable of doing this.

I don't think it should cause too many problems with exceeding mail limits. If you think about it, how many new members join a forum every day? Let's for the sake of convenience say 10 new members per day. Then the maximum number of emails that should be going out on any given day would be 40. This comes from the 10 emails to welcome the new members of that day, the 10 emails for the members who joined 3 days ago, the emails for those who joined 10 days ago, and finally the emails for those who joined 30 days ago.

Haha, I admit that I am by no means an expert, but I don't think 40 emails should be a problem.

Ok, well is there anyone else who thinks they could help us with this?

[capabmx]

This might be another mod I willbe taking great interest in . I've downloaded and I'm looking at the files, so I can see exactly how you made it, Thank you so much karlbenson!