Bulk Email

[david63]

Could a developer confim that in bulk email there is a hard coded limit of 50 recipients for one message and if there are more than 50 then the message is broken down into chunks.

I have just discovered that my host, and I suspect the vast majority of hosts, have a maximum recipient limit (to guard against spam). In my hosts case that limit is 20. So my question is what will happen? Will the mail only go to the first 20? Will the mail be rejected?

As this is becomming more of an issue is there any work around of the problem?

[karlsemple]

in line 95 of acp_email.php you have

Code: Select all

	// Send with BCC, no more than 50 recipients for one mail (to not exceed the limit)
				$max_chunk_size = 50;

so i am guessing so

[david63]

Yes I am aware of that line as that is where I got the 50 from. I suppose it is something for the wish list - a config option!

[david63]

Just noticed in the ACP > General >Email settings that there is a field called "Email package size" with a value of 50.

Would I be right in thinking that this will control the number of recipients of an email and if so the should the value of 50 in acp_email.php be using this value as well?

Is this a bug?

[Acyd Burn]

No, this is the package size (number of emails sent in one go) and has nothing to do with a recipient limit. You need to change the code if you want to adjust the recipient limit.

[T50]

Miek, Could you elaborate on that?

[Swader]

No, this is the package size (number of emails sent in one go) and has nothing to do with a recipient limit. You need to change the code if you want to adjust the recipient limit.

If they both are not same.. then can you give an explanation as to what each thing does.. and whats the difference? Please..

[blackwatch_uk]

Yahoo Small Business only let me send 200 emails in 24 hrs. So is there a way when sending a mass email to send a chunk of 50 emails in a 24hr period?

[tim_welch]

Yahoo Small Business only let me send 200 emails in 24 hrs. So is there a way when sending a mass email to send a chunk of 50 emails in a 24hr period?

I use Googlemail and I think it has a 200 email limit in 24 hours too. I'm curious to know if and how to address this too.

(I used to be able to send a mass email to all my users but now my registered member count has exceeded 500, it causes me some errors and don't send emails all in one go to all my users and I wonder if it's due to this limit, rather than anything else).

[caliphra]

Yahoo Small Business only let me send 200 emails in 24 hrs. So is there a way when sending a mass email to send a chunk of 50 emails in a 24hr period?

I use Googlemail and I think it has a 200 email limit in 24 hours too. I'm curious to know if and how to address this too.

(I used to be able to send a mass email to all my users but now my registered member count has exceeded 500, it causes me some errors and don't send emails all in one go to all my users and I wonder if it's due to this limit, rather than anything else).

googlemail's send limit is 500 mails on a single day.. it's also same on google apps standard edition! for google apps premier edition and education edition, the limit is 1500 mails higher; it totally makes 2000, and imo it's sufficient for a board that has 500 members..

[Hittman]

There is also a problem with a lot of hosts, who have set limits out of fear of spam. The one thing I don't like about my host is they choke off mass e-mails when they see them, usually at around 20 or 30. They only allow mass e-mail on lists that have been strictly opt in from the begining, and phpBB doesn't meet their standards.

So I extracted the e-mail addresses from the users table and did it manually, in chunks of about 50. Half went through gMail, the other through the smtp server (which is on roadrunner, not my host).

It was obnoxious, but doable. (There were about 500 recipients.) I'd like to find a cheap mail service where I can give them the list and let them do the work, but I only do a half dozen mailings a year.

In short, no matter what your settings are in phpBB, it's very likely that doing a mass e-mail will violate your TOS.

Yet another reason to despise spammers. If it weren't for them, this wouldn't be an issue.

[tim_welch]

So I extracted the e-mail addresses from the users table and did it manually, in chunks of about 50. Half went through gMail, the other through the smtp server (which is on roadrunner, not my host).

I do this too now... I have several forums, the largest with around 1,500 members and whilst this process works, it's not the most effective use of my time.

[Hittman]

Mine either. It's tedious and should be unnecessary, but I understand why ISPs are so nervous about spam. They only need a few com paints to get in a black hole list.

Does anyone know of a service that would do this for us, cheaply, without a lot of hassle? I only do it a half dozen times a year, but it would be worth a few bucks to have someone do it for me in one pop instead of spreading the job out over a weekend.

[stevemaury]

You can do this SQL:

Code: Select all

SELECT `user_email` FROM phpbb_users;

And then export the query results as CSV and then import it into a email client like Outlook Express and send mass emails through your ISP's SMTP server.

[tim_welch]

You can do this SQL:

Code: Select all

SELECT `user_email` FROM phpbb_users;

And then export the query results as CSV and then import it into a email client like Outlook Express and send mass emails through your ISP's SMTP server.

Code: Select all

SELECT user_email FROM `phpbb_users` WHERE user_allow_massemail = 1

You might want to use this actually, as it would not export email addresses for members that have said they don't want board notifications (set via UCP).