• OzzModz is no longer taking registrations. All registrations are being redirected to Snog's Site
    All addons and support is available there now.

Newsletter Mod For vB4

Do you need a newsletter mod, and are willing to pay.


  • Total voters
    14

Ozzy47

Administrator
OK I have seen alot of interest in in this type of thing, and trying to follow all the different threads on vB.org is a PITA. So I want to continue the discussion here.

I own the rights to this mod, Newsletter (Forum Activity) - vBulletin.org Forum as well as a similar mod, that has a couple of different features. So I do plan on updating it, but I need to know some things first.

1) What was wrong with Christos' mod ( Newsletter (Forum Activity) - vBulletin.org Forum ) if you were using it.
2) Have you tried, ( Community Newsletter Light 1.0.1 - vBulletin.org Forum ) and if so what is wrong with that.
3) What about, ( [DBTech] vBMail v2 (vB4) - vBulletin.org Forum ) what is the issue with that mod, besides the branding?
4) Does anyone get any newsletters from a site, that they want their newsletter to look like?

This is a pretty difficult mod to pull off correctly, so it may take some time to get it correct, but I need the info as to what is wrong with the mods listed above, so I can figure out where to start.
 
Hey! :)

Ok I voted yes without pay and the reason is I have not discussed it with my client that needs the mod so I do not know if he would be able to kick any money in or not. He most likely will he's usually pretty good about that. To answer your questions...

1. Never used it so I cannot answer the first question however I will say that it looks like it has all the things that my client wanted in a mod. He wanted it to have the ability to show the latest X number of threads, posts, articles, etc. And he wanted an area where he could edit it in the AdminCP and send from the AdminCp. He wanted it to grab a template from the site (header, footer basic overall design from the default skin).

2. Yes! Never could get it to work. My client bought it some time ago from ProVB and the coder was never able to fix the problem let alone did he seem interested in fixing it after someone paid for the mod. Same client BTW, he has been chasing a newsletter mod for about 2 years now. :( From what i remember there was a serious issue with sending out emails with this mod, but we have long ago uninstalled it and wrote it off since there was no support for it and then the dude changed his name & domain name and resurfaced. :rolleyes:

3. We did recently try this one (The Lite Version). We tested the Lite version before buying the PRO to see if it would fit my client's needs. It did not for the following reasons...
  1. There is no template at all where the mod pulls from the default skin. My client wanted a basic template of the header, footer and CSS styles from the default skin to show when he sends out a newsletter.
  2. It does have the ugly footer stuff and my client has several of the other DBTech mods installed as well as the clean up the footer one that does not work...ever. I'm not against footer links at all and neither is my client but having a gazillion of them is a bit much.
  3. Trying to use it was a nightmare. I had to reconfigure it several times before my client could even see the admin area and links to make a newsletter let alone use it.
  4. Once my client got into the admin area links and was able to create a newsletter he had problems in trying to figure out what was going on. The mod was too complicated for him to easily just type in what he wanted and send out the newsletter. It IMO is far more complicated for the "normal" user to use. Great if you are a coder and look at HTML/CSS/PHP all day like me and others but not so great for someone who does not want to hunt around for stuff and sit for an hour or two and try to figure out how to send a newsletter to the members.

4. No we don't but we have tried various options as mentioned. We did look at using SendBlaster and it looked pretty complicated as well as its pretty costly to buy it and have a template function, why they did not build on into it is beyond me.
 
I have played around with #1 and it seems to work for the most part. But I find it a bit difficult to get everything set up right, so that would have to be addressed. Also it did not send out the mail at the scheduled time, but I have not tested it in awhile.

Also it does not automatically grab info, and I think it is a bad idea to do so, as unwanted links to unwanted threads/posts could go out., not to mention, trying to make sure the reciever has perms to see the threads/posts.
 
Hello all,

microNEWSLETTER which I gave to Ozzy47 for any use that he'll decide (Free or Commercial) works fine. The only difference for those who are using the very early version is that the files that I gave to Ozzy47 (don't remember if I've post them to vb.org or not) have split in 2 mods:

1.- microNEWSLETTER which is a community activity mod (latest threads, latest members etc etc)
2.- Marketer which is a normal Newsletter mod. What I mean. With this mod and with the help of the included HTML editor you can write beautiful newsletters and send them to your subscribers. In this case subscribers are not your members (unless if they've subscribe to your newsletter) but anyone who visited your site and subscribed to your newsletter.

PS to OZZY47: I've tried more than 5 times to send your the latest files for Marketer, as I've did some corrections and also I wrote documentation for it, but AOL seems that has blocked my email and I'm always getting Non delivery errors. Please see my email in file and whitelist it.

Happy New Year to All
Christos
PS to all. At vb.org I'm using NickTheGreek as nickname. Not as a way to tease anybody (that's why I never write my name at the end of my posts), but I don't like to use any of my old nicknames even if it was easy to unban them after 1 1/2 years. I prefer to go there as a simple member, a webmaster like all of you.
 
Writting so many things before, I forgot the most important. For me, the best newsletter should be simple. Just like TAZ and Admin-??? (forgot it now). A list of thread titles.
 
Hey Chris, you could send the files in a zip in a pm on this site, I don't know why aol is being a pain.
 
I have played around with #1 and it seems to work for the most part. But I find it a bit difficult to get everything set up right, so that would have to be addressed. Also it did not send out the mail at the scheduled time, but I have not tested it in awhile.

Also it does not automatically grab info, and I think it is a bad idea to do so, as unwanted links to unwanted threads/posts could go out., not to mention, trying to make sure the reciever has perms to see the threads/posts.

Maybe the grabbing threads/posts could be an option that can be turned off? There are no areas on my client's site that certain members are not allowed in. Of course, if its not feasible then I think my client probably will not lose any sleep over it.
 
What happens if a spammer comes in and posts 5 spam threads while everyone is asleep, and then the newsletter goes out with those threads/post in them?

Think of it this way. Most admins will probably want to review the newsletter before it is sent out. Now by doing so, they will have to check each thread/post anyway to see what it is. IMO, it would be much quicker to just add the thread/post links in as you type the newsletter.
 
Yes I agree, I realize that if there are spam posts that would happen. That is why i said an option to maybe turn it off where no threads or posts are put in it. I'll check with my client on Monday, I'm pretty sure he can do without the threads/posts thing if he has a good working newsletter that looks like it actually came from his web site. :)
 
As I mentioned over at vb.org, the ProvB version autoloaded a list of links to most recent threads/posts. That is a very nice feature, because a recipient spotting a thread of interest is one of the few things that will get them to visit the site. And you don't want to have to manually load those every time. The 'spam' thing is a non-issue in my mind (first of all, because as a site owner it's my job to keep my site clean from that crap in the first place, but secondly you overcome that simply by making the auto-listing of recent threads optional). The ProvB vbulletin 3 version worked great. It allowed you to write your own newsletter (such as announcing a new feature, or giving a general update of what's been going on on the site) using html (so you could put your banner image in there if you liked - although having the ability to load a default image to appear at the top of every newsletter would seem to be an obvious plus). But that mod also pulled latest threads, posts, new member list with or without avatars. When it worked it was a beautiful thing. But the vbulletin 4 version (even the pay version) never worked.

I don't have any experience with the other mods you referenced. The things I would like are:
1. Auto-insert of header/banner image of our choosing.
2. Area for customized html text at the top of the newsletter
3. Latest Threads Listing with links (customizable with how many to show)
4. Latest Posts listing (same as threads)
5. Latest Blog Entries
6. Latest Article Entries
*** Threads/Posts/Blogs/Articles should all be options to be included or not included***
7. Recent New Members (# to pull customizable) with avatar, username, and join date
8. Option to forward newsletter along with site registration page to a friend
9. Unsubscribe link

I am willing to pay for development of this. I would not gauge interest by the response here as I can tell you, there is a LOT of interest in a newsletter mod. Every time it comes up, it's obvious folks need and want a good one. I think it would be your top seller if done well.
 
I don't have any experience with the other mods you referenced..

The first one has all the features that you asked for plus many more. What's coming first in my mind:
1.- Adding Ads in many places in the newsletter
2.- Ability to exclude usergroups from getting newsletter with Ads
3.- Member block. Not only shows avatar etc but even shows the amount of the unread messages. I don't mean only the recent members block but a block with user details to whom the newsletter is goind.

The only doubt that I've is if it includes Latest Blogs/Articles. If not it's easy to add. This mod has written before vB5 when Forum Suite (with Blogs and Articles) was seperate package from "Just Forums". And according to what I read at vb.com 92% of sales was "Just Forum". That's why in vB5 they have only one vesion (but unfortunatelly with the price of Suite).
 
Hello all,

microNEWSLETTER which I gave to Ozzy47 for any use that he'll decide (Free or Commercial) works fine. The only difference for those who are using the very early version is that the files that I gave to Ozzy47 (don't remember if I've post them to vb.org or not) have split in 2 mods:

1.- microNEWSLETTER which is a community activity mod (latest threads, latest members etc etc)
2.- Marketer which is a normal Newsletter mod. What I mean. With this mod and with the help of the included HTML editor you can write beautiful newsletters and send them to your subscribers. In this case subscribers are not your members (unless if they've subscribe to your newsletter) but anyone who visited your site and subscribed to your newsletter.

PS to OZZY47: I've tried more than 5 times to send your the latest files for Marketer, as I've did some corrections and also I wrote documentation for it, but AOL seems that has blocked my email and I'm always getting Non delivery errors. Please see my email in file and whitelist it.

Happy New Year to All
Christos
PS to all. At vb.org I'm using NickTheGreek as nickname. Not as a way to tease anybody (that's why I never write my name at the end of my posts), but I don't like to use any of my old nicknames even if it was easy to unban them after 1 1/2 years. I prefer to go there as a simple member, a webmaster like all of you.

Hello Chris. Good to see you about again. You done some work for me in the past on auctions and reviews mod.
 
I haven't tried to install the mod you are referencing, but a) it's unsupported and in the mod graveyard, b) it apparently does not include a link allowing members to unsubscribe (that is a deal breaker for most site owners including me). I may install it just to play and see if it could be the basis for an improved version.

***NEVERMIND*** - obviously being in the graveyard the install files are no longer available.
 
Last edited:
Yeah if I decide to work on it, it would have a unsubscribe link, different from unsubscribing from admin emails.
 
In my opinion, even if it's a bit more work for admin, I believe that admin must selects some thread/posts to include in the newsletter. Is not only about spam. But you know that some threads are totally without any interest. Everybody wants his newletter to include the hottest information.
 
if i were to buy or install a news mod for me cause of lack of time it needs to be auto and a easy interface to input info ect

at this time i dont have such a mod installed at any of my sites because for me this would be a once a month kinda thing or when ever you get to it kind of mod lol

anyways this is just my opinion
 
Back
Top