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Pugdog - Poscard Features

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Pugdog - Poscard Features
I know you are workig on the image upload and image directory at the moment but do you think you could list at some point the features of the actual postcards section of the script. I am going to use this more as a side point but it will still definitely be useful and i have a few features i would like you to consider.

One thing i would like is to be able to do something like this:

On my forum where someone posts to have a little image "send a postcard", you click on it, it remembers the details of the person and then goes to the postcard section where you find a poscard. All that is easy (probably just remember the id number of send a postcard in a cookie). Then when you are about to send a postcard instead of asking for name of person and email or name of sender (registered user as well) and email it just asks for message, press go.. connects to other database (vbulletin) and sends away.

Also, it mass mailing of postcards possible based on a mysql database with customized name and email on each postcard that is sent, ie it creates a postcard for each one.

Also, is their logging of postcards and when and if they are picked up or not. Also, repeat mailing of postcard notifications if they are not picked up after a certain date.

i can think of more but sure you have most of it covered :)

http://www.ASciFi.com/ - The Science Fiction Portal
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Re: Pugdog - Poscard Features In reply to
>> On my forum where someone posts to have a little image "send a postcard", you
>> click on it, it remembers the details of the person and then goes to the
>> postcard section where you find a poscard. All that is easy (probably just
>> remember the id number of send a postcard in a cookie). Then when you are about
>> to send a postcard instead of asking for name of person and email or name of
>> sender (registered user as well) and email it just asks for message, press go..
>> connects to other database (vbulletin) and sends away.

I'm not sure what you are asking. How would the script know who the card was to? Or do you mean instead of "reply" or use "private mail" to use a postcard?
If so, how do you tell the postcards script which image to use? Or do you mean, once the user clicks "send postcard" the two user names and subject are stored in a cookie/form variable, and the sender goes on to pick an image?


>> Also, it mass mailing of postcards possible based on a mysql database with
>> customized name and email on each postcard that is sent, ie it creates a
>> postcard for each one.

Ok, this is somewhat problematic. How do you take care of "spam"? Registered users can help limit that, but some people will just register to abuse the system then run.

I do intend to have address books, and maling lists (most of the engine code is already in links), but planned to limit them to 25 (default) or a sysop specified number to keep it 'personal.' Also, to allow "custom templates" where a user can design a template that is used by the system to send the postcards. There are subtleties here, you'll have to see it in operation to fully understand how it's different from just HTML mail. But it allows a user to select one or two images from the site, and design a custom postcard that can be sent personalized to a number of people. Remember, all the HTML and images reside on our servers, so the recipient only sees a "pick me up" link.

The reason for that is people still dial in, check via web mail, or otherwise where a big image download is not what they are looking for. The small text message with a "pick up" link works best -- they can chose when to pick it up, but they see the notice in their regular mail run.

>> Also, is their logging of postcards and when and if they are picked up or
>> not. Also, repeat mailing of postcard notifications if they are not picked
>> up after a certain date.

Currently I track every anonymous feature I can track <G> When the card is sent, when it's first picked up, when it's last picked up, how many times it's picked up, etc. I also keep Time of Day, so you can get accurate stats (better than server logs ) of when the peak sending and picking up times are.



PUGDOGŪ
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://pugdog.com/FAQ


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Re: Pugdog - Poscard Features In reply to
>>I'm not sure what you are asking. How would the script >>know who the card was to? Or do you mean instead >>of "reply" or use "private mail" to use a postcard?
>>If so, how do you tell the postcards script which image >>to use? Or do you mean, once the user clicks "send >>postcard" the two user names and subject are stored in a >>cookie/form variable, and the sender goes on to pick an >>image?

yes the last bit, remembers sender and user and then goes to pick up a card. Would be nice but of course not essential.

>> Also, it mass mailing of postcards possible based on a mysql database with
>> customized name and email on each postcard that is sent, ie it creates a
>> postcard for each one.

I was thiniking of this for admin. Mainly on holidays, just a way to send every sinly person a christmas card (something i wanted to do this year but found no easy option to send a couple of thousand of them).

And yes i wanted pickup link as fine (don't want to send html postcards as email) just a different one for each person based upon their fields in the database.

Stats. brilliant. Also if we allow non-registered users to send postcards an easy way to build that into joining. In the process of sending a postcard they are giving their email and name, half way to filling out the registration form. Be a useful "member generator" perhaps.

Any word on repeat mailing. I know i have deleted postcard mailings by mistake or just left it as a "to do later" and then forgot. A repeat every week with a link to stop repeat messages might be useful.

also send on a set date as opposed to instantly would be nice.

just things to think about, not pushing you here :)



http://www.ASciFi.com/ - The Science Fiction Portal
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Re: Pugdog - Poscard Features In reply to
>> I was thiniking of this for admin. Mainly on holidays, just a way to send
>> every sinly person a christmas card (something i wanted to do this year but
>> found no easy option to send a couple of thousand of them).

As an admin thing, it's fairly easy. You would just need to edit the MySQL datbase record for the pickup code. I did that for my parents this year, so they could send out greetings to their reunions. It worked pretty well. To personalize it -- would require a valid cookie, or a logon. Otherwise, you'd have to generate a postcard for each person, which is somewhat wasteful. The problem this has that a BBS or forum system, is that a user _does_not_ have to be logged in or registered to PICKUP a postcard. Are you following?


>> Any word on repeat mailing. I know i have deleted postcard mailings by
>> mistake or just left it as a "to do later" and then forgot. A repeat every
>> week with a link to stop repeat messages might be useful.

I've thought about that. It's not hard at all. It's just a select statement and a loop, and a link that sets the "notify" field off if they request it. This is on my to-do list. (cron job ... or as I have it now, a random trigger by the users).

>> also send on a set date as opposed to instantly would be nice

That's already there. But, "time" is not. It sends when the server clicks over. To be really functional, you'd need to set your offset in GMT, and then the system could send within a few hours of the requested time. This update is on my to-do list already.


PUGDOGŪ
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://pugdog.com/FAQ


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Re: Pugdog - Poscard Features In reply to
cool.. i thought you would have most of it.

I know it is wasterful but having a unique postcard for each user would be the best solution for me as i wouldn't want them to have to log in to collect it. It is only a line in mysql when it comes to it and a perge 30 days later would get rid of any un-collected ones anyway. I think that is really the only solution i can see for it.

http://www.ASciFi.com/ - The Science Fiction Portal
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Re: Pugdog - Poscard Features In reply to
is there a demo of this?
I'm thinking of buying image portfolio but if this is better I would be interested in it.

As long as it is able to have images, audio, and video clips.

thanks

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Re: Pugdog - Poscard Features In reply to
Right now I can only say it works with images. I haven't used video or audio, because they crash so many browsers, and we've tried to maintain as wide an access as possible.

We're even having problems with advert-pro's iFram and javascript causing problems for netscape browsers -- just like the code for some of the larger banner services did.

While I can understand wanting audio and video, I can't say that support will be in the first release. I'm sure it will be there eventually, but I can't certify it now.

BTW... if you mean Image Folio, coming from a Links SQL background, I'm not sure you'll be comfortable -- much less satisfied -- with the program.

I looked at that program -- as I said, since it seemed based on Links -- and I have a licensed copy of it, that I haven't been able to get working. Bottom line, is it seemed more worthwhile to spend my effort making the mod to Links SQL as I've intended all along, rather than find a short cut (which didn't pan out).

You are free to choose whatever you wish, and I know there is very little out there, which is why I'm writing this.

I have a new interface page up at http://postcards.com/...est/test_upload.html which allows you to pick some options to set on the thumbnail.

On one of my machines the form is "sticky" and I have to "reload" the results to see what it did. On the other machine (running -- it claims -- ) the same versions of windows and MSIE it works fine, first time, every time.

For those who might be interested, I got a bit of help from Alex on the plug-in stuff, and I might even be able to make the first version a plug-in, or at least partially self-installable. The first version of all this seems to be working out into an image upload, thumbnail creator with display options and the postcards program (which can stand alone with a generic Links SQL).





PUGDOGŪ
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://pugdog.com/FAQ