Newsletter Confirmation

[njtweb]

Is there a log or file that would show a confirmation the newsletter successfully sends to everybody? I know it's going to admin because both of my admin accounts are getting it. But I don't see any of the slackers checking in who normally don't login on regular basis. I last sent a newsletter 4 months ago and had instant activity from a number of members who don't normally log in. Today, nothing not even the regulars.

[Arantor]

No, mostly because such a thing is very difficult to actually do anyway.

I'd be checking the mail queue to verify they're going out though.

[njtweb]

No, mostly because such a thing is very difficult to actually do anyway.

I'd be checking the mail queue to verify they're going out though.

Mail queue through my host? I have shared hosting.

[Illori]

if you have the mail queue enabled in SMF, check it in the admin panel.

[njtweb]

mail queue is not enabled and says mail queue is currently empty.

[vbgamer45]

I have a mod newsletter pro that tracks opens/clicks and keeps a log of emails sent.

Other than that. You would need to check the mail log files if you are on another hosting to see what is sent. It could also be a delivery issue where emails are going to spam/junk.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

When mail queue is enabled, emails are placed in the queue until they're sent.  If not sent, they remain in the queue and you can see them.

[njtweb]

Ok, I enabled mail queue, saw mail queue add every user email address for distribution. I ran the send operation, watched it run it's process and send. The queue emptied after the send operation completed. While I still cannot say with a level of certainty, I can say I don't think my newsletter feature is working for anybody but administrator. The regulars would've been curious to check out the new addition news I sent. They've already checked in before the email was sent. Even they didn't log on to check after it was sent. It's been over an hour since it was sent.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If the mail is in the queue, then disappears when it's sent, and you received the newsletter at your mail address, then it was sent to all members.  Have you set up a couple of test members with different email addresses to see if they receive the mail?

[njtweb]

I asked a couple of local hockey coaches who are members shortly after I posted. Neither have gotten the last two newsletters.

Regarding a regular user account, no, and yes that would make sense. However I did confirm with these two guys who only use the site during hockey season and have been off the site for the past 3 months. They didn't get the emails. Like I said, I still am getting them to my admin email accounts though.

Since I'm shared hosting, I have no access to server logs and Godaddy says they won't help, (big surprise there).

[Illori]

did they check their spam folder?

is your webmaster email address in the admin panel at the same domain as your website/forum? if not change it to one that is and make sure it is created in your hosting control panel, then send the newsletter again.

[Arantor]

And if they're Hotmail/Outlook/Live.com users, give up now.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

GoDaddy.

Your forum is sending some emails, so you have a valid mail setup.  Assuming the forum is not logging errors, I doubt there are any relevant server errors, don't think server would see anything different from one email address to another.  Try it with a test member.  Only other possibility is admins may be at top of queue, and send is failing somewhere after that, but never heard of that happening.  You can tinker with queue settings (send per minute), but you had this problem with queue disabled, so don't know if that would help.

[shawnb61]

Are you using SMTP thru GoDaddy for email? 

If so, I'd logon to your GoDaddy email administrator's account and see what's up.   I would attempt to send & receive email from there. 

Your SMTP configs just relay info thru a GoDaddy email box.   So, open up that email box & see what's happening. 
https://www.godaddy.com/help/log-in-to-my-administrator-account-and-manage-email-accounts-24565

This is where you'll see emails that got kicked back, etc. 

[njtweb]

did they check their spam folder?

is your webmaster email address in the admin panel at the same domain as your website/forum? if not change it to one that is and make sure it is created in your hosting control panel, then send the newsletter again.

No, both of my admin email addresses are gmail. One for my site and the other is my personal gmail. Yes, I asked them to check their SPAM or Junk folders. The newsletter feature worked before, like 6 months ago for everybody. And instantaneously I would see logins from over 50 members who don't typically visit often within a couple hours.

@Arantor - one is gmail the other is .edu (his school allocated teacher address)

[njtweb]

Are you using SMTP thru GoDaddy for email? 

If so, I'd logon to your GoDaddy email administrator's account and see what's up.   I would attempt to send & receive email from there. 

Your SMTP configs just relay info thru a GoDaddy email box.   So, open up that email box & see what's happening. 
https://www.godaddy.com/help/log-in-to-my-administrator-account-and-manage-email-accounts-24565

This is where you'll see emails that got kicked back, etc.

It's not, newsletter worked fine a few months ago to all members. Now it's only sending to admin.

[shawnb61]

Is your email thru SMTP?  Or PHP?

Look under Admin | Maintenance | Mail | Settings. 

[njtweb]

Is your email thru SMTP?  Or PHP?

Look under Admin | Maintenance | Mail | Settings.

It's PHP default.

Thank you

[shawnb61]

Some more thoughts...

I am guessing that php's sendmail may log issues in the apache log.  The FIRST thing I would do is hunt down the apache error log & see if there is any helpful info there. 

The fact that some get mail and others don't leads me to believe that it is possible your server has been blacklisted.  (This happened to me regularly on a prior host...)  This will vary by recipient/email provider, which matches your symptoms. 

So the next thing I would check is whether your godaddy server has been blacklisted.  It would be up to godaddy to coordinate with the blacklister to get this fixed.

Note that PHP sendmail faces much tighter security restrictions and is rejected far more often than SMTP.  Some notes on the types of restrictions may be found in this article.  Note this article includes a tool to help determine if your server has been blacklisted:
https://www.jvfconsulting.com/blog/php-mail-function-vs-smtp-guaranteed-delivery/

If you want to debug the PHP mail deeper, some helpful notes may be found here, including how to log mail requests, so you have a log to work from:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24644436/php-mail-function-doesnt-complete-sending-of-e-mail

As noted above, you might simply be running into tighter & tighter PHP mail limitations.  If so, it may be worthwhile to configure your email as SMTP. 

In all likelihood - it is probably a good idea to just jump straight to SMTP...