Unreliable email, strange

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flea77
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Unreliable email, strange

Post by flea77 »

I have been fighting this for a while....

Click test email button in ACP, works. Set users to require manual admin approval. Set admin UCP to get emails for all posts that need approval.

Create test003 user, within minutes I get the email, log in as admin, approve user. Log out as admin. Log in as test003 and make post (which requires manual approval), admin does not get the email. Wait 12 hours, still no email.

Create test004 user, admin does not get the email.

Log in as admin, have two notifications, one for the post approval for test003, one for the activation of test004. Within a minute, I get BOTH emails. Both emails have the same time on them, that is the time I logged into the board as admin.

Best I can tell, once a certain time goes by or something the board/cronjob/timer/whatever goes to sleep and if I do not log back into the board I will never get another email notification.

This is a problem because I am running an incredibly small board (fewer member than you probably have admins) and I would like to get it built up but it will be a very small trickle (which is fine) but I don't want people to get peeved because I don't approve things because I never knew they happened.

Ideas? Suggestions?
flea77
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by flea77 »

Another idea, probably stupid:

Is it possible that the email job/cron/whatever does not run until SOMEONE logs into the board? I mean, if absolutely no one uses the system, does it still process things or is it kinda sleeping?
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janus_zonstraal
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by janus_zonstraal »

You can try this in ACP => server settings:
Run periodic tasks from system cron:
When off, phpBB will arrange for periodic tasks to be run automatically. When on, phpBB will not schedule any periodic tasks by itself; a system administrator must arrange for bin/phpbbcli.php cron:run to be run by the system cron facility at regular intervals (e.g. every 5 minutes).
Sorry! My English is bat ;) !!!
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peteetongman
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by peteetongman »

check your spam folder
flea77
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by flea77 »

janus_zonstraal wrote: Thu May 17, 2018 9:36 pm You can try this in ACP => server settings:
Run periodic tasks from system cron:
When off, phpBB will arrange for periodic tasks to be run automatically. When on, phpBB will not schedule any periodic tasks by itself; a system administrator must arrange for bin/phpbbcli.php cron:run to be run by the system cron facility at regular intervals (e.g. every 5 minutes).
I will assume I need to contact my web host and get them to add a cron job that runs that php file every five minutes, correct?
peteetongman wrote: Thu May 17, 2018 9:45 pm check your spam folder
First, I did that, they weren't there. Second, even if they were there, how would they move out of my spam folder and get delivered into my inbox as soon as I log into phpbb? Am I missing something?
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

why would you have a board that you are trying to get going and not visit it at least once a day?

however, seems that if you set this to off, it should do what you want.
Run periodic tasks from system cron:
When off, phpBB will arrange for periodic tasks to be run automatically.
I have never needed it so I am not sure if it does what you want or not.

also, why are you setting it to admin only? that will just slow down the whole process of getting more members/posts etc.

set to by email and make sure you have a good Q&A captcha setup and you will not get any spammers etc.


robert
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flea77
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by flea77 »

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 12:47 am why would you have a board that you are trying to get going and not visit it at least once a day?
Because I am trying to get it going as a very small piece of a larger picture, very few people, very few posts, and therefor no need for me to be constantly on it. Besides, then I can activate people and posts within minutes instead of the method you propose which would leave someone waiting a day.
Lumpy Burgertushie wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 12:47 am however, seems that if you set this to off, it should do what you want.
Run periodic tasks from system cron:
When off, phpBB will arrange for periodic tasks to be run automatically.
That setting being off (I am assuming you mean set to "no" since the only choices are "yes" and "no") is the default method and is not working, hence my post here.

I have never needed it so I am not sure if it does what you want or not.
Lumpy Burgertushie wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 12:47 am also, why are you setting it to admin only? that will just slow down the whole process of getting more members/posts etc.

set to by email and make sure you have a good Q&A captcha setup and you will not get any spammers etc.


robert
Been there, did that, got spammed out the wazoo. Besides, this is two pieces, activation and post approvals. Neither work as they should. At some point I may let things relax a little but that does not change the fact that something that phpbb is supposed to be able to do is not working, and I would just really like it do to what it is suppose to do. Is that OK with you?
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Lumpy Burgertushie
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by Lumpy Burgertushie »

no need to be snarky. I am just trying to help. bottom line is that phpbb does work as it is intended.
if you get the right Q&A setup then no spam bots will get through to begin with.
if you also setup the first post to need approval, that will stop the few human spammers. it works for thousands of others so if done properly it will work for you as well.
log in to your board, click on the notifications at the top right. click on the settings link.
make sure that both notifications and email are checked and you should get the emails when someone is trying to register.


robert
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flea77
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by flea77 »

Lumpy Burgertushie wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 1:20 am no need to be snarky. I am just trying to help. bottom line is that phpbb does work as it is intended.
if you get the right Q&A setup then no spam bots will get through to begin with.
if you also setup the first post to need approval, that will stop the few human spammers. it works for thousands of others so if done properly it will work for you as well.
log in to your board, click on the notifications at the top right. click on the settings link.
make sure that both notifications and email are checked and you should get the emails when someone is trying to register.


robert
Well I can not get phpbb to work as intended, which is why I am posting this.

I checked the notifications, they are on.
ucp01.jpg
As I stated before.....

"Click test email button in ACP, works. Set users to require manual admin approval. Set admin UCP to get emails for all posts that need approval.

Create test003 user, within minutes I get the email, log in as admin, approve user. Log out as admin. Log in as test003 and make post (which requires manual approval), admin does not get the email. Wait 12 hours, still no email.

Create test004 user, admin does not get the email.

Log in as admin, have two notifications, one for the post approval for test003, one for the activation of test004. Within a minute, I get BOTH emails. Both emails have the same time on them, that is the time I logged into the board as admin."

So, why do I not get the second and third emails? One is an activation email (no setting in the UCP necessary) and the second one is indeed checked in the UCP (double, triple, quadruple checked). Then, why if I log in as administrator do I almost instantly get the emails that have not been coming in for 12+ hours?

I really don't mean to be snarky, it just seems I can not get people to actually answer my question for asking me why I want it to do what it is supposed to do.

Allan
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janus_zonstraal
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by janus_zonstraal »

flea77 wrote: Thu May 17, 2018 9:33 pm Another idea, probably stupid:

Is it possible that the email job/cron/whatever does not run until SOMEONE logs into the board? I mean, if absolutely no one uses the system, does it still process things or is it kinda sleeping?
Yes this is how it works, no visitors no mails.

Therefore you can use the cron as mentioned above.
Sorry! My English is bat ;) !!!
flea77
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Re: Unreliable email, strange

Post by flea77 »

janus_zonstraal wrote: Fri May 18, 2018 6:30 am
flea77 wrote: Thu May 17, 2018 9:33 pm Another idea, probably stupid:

Is it possible that the email job/cron/whatever does not run until SOMEONE logs into the board? I mean, if absolutely no one uses the system, does it still process things or is it kinda sleeping?
Yes this is how it works, no visitors no mails.

Therefore you can use the cron as mentioned above.
Awesome! Although it took some work with my isp, I have a cron job on the server running every five minutes and have not been able to make it fail since. THANK YOU!
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