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Newsletter Concern

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Newsletter Concern
  
I have a concern about the NEWSLETTER part of links.. Nothing stops people from entering in someone elses email address, or 1000 email addresses..

Is there a way to mail the person a
VERIFY SUBSCRIPTION email, that they reply to, and then, and only then, they get added to the NEWSLETTER mailing list?

Dont want to get into a major spam issue with anyone because of some jerkoff...

Conan

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Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Okay...to send a confirmation email message to the subscribers, try the following:

1) Put the following codes:

Code:
&send_confirmation;

AFTER the following:

Code:
&site_html_mailing ('subscribe');

in your subscribe.cgi file.

So, it should look like this:

Code:
&site_html_mailing ('subscribe');
&send_confirmation;

2) Add the following sub-routine to your subscribe.cgi file:

Code:
sub send_confirmation {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Send confirmation to mailing list subscribers.

# Check to make sure that there is an admin email address defined.
$db_admin_email or &cgierr("Admin Email Address Not Defined in config file!");

my $to = $in{$db_cols[$email]};
my $from = $db_admin_email;
my $subject = "Addition to $in{'Title'} Mailing List\n";
my $msg = qq|
You have been added to our database. If you have received this
message in error and would like to be removed from our mailing list,
go to the following URL:


http://www.mydomain.com/cgi-bin/subscribe.cgi
|;

# Then mail it away!
require "$db_lib_path/Mailer.pm";
my $mailer = new Mailer ( { smtp => $db_smtp_server,
sendmail => $db_mail_path,
from => $from,
subject => $subject,
to => $to,
msg => $msg,
log => $db_mailer_log
} ) or return;
$mailer->send or return;
}

You will have to edit the $msg variable to reflect what you want to appear in the email message.

Hope this works and helps.

Note: I have not tested this. I have only checked the syntax of the codes to make sure there are no errors.

Good luck.

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
I was doing the same thing at the same time, and my thing didn't work, so maybe yours will Eliot
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Well, I don't know if they will work or not. I don't even use LINKS's subscribe.cgi file for my mailing list program. It takes way to long to download and also the mailings tend to time out in both Netscape and MIE. So, I use my own mailing list script, which is used more than just sending site updates to subscribers.

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


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Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Hi Conan,
I second that motion... I disabled my newsletter for that reason, it's just too unsafe. I have an "update notification newsletter" for my site, and I had it just like Links2 - anyone could register, but I got so many complaints of spamming that I switched to a CGI that requires confirmation (ASPII List Manager by Plebius Industries, http://www.plebius.org) by sending an e-mail to the person wanting to subscribe, thus eliminating bad e-mail addresses, and then the new subscriber has to go to a URL listed in that e-mail to confirm, otherwise they are not added. Until a feature like this is incorporated, I keep my Links2 newsletter disabled (i.e. I just took out the link in the menu, so nobody can subscribe at this time). I know this is not a solution, but I support your request and hope someone can come up with a mod, or that it is going to be in Links3.
Greetings
Gerrit
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Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
 
Even if they didnt have to reply to the email... If the signup for the NEWSLETTER just emailed a little message like:

Someone has just subscribed your email-address to the weekly newsletter at: "My Site.com"

If it was not you, we suggest that you head over to the folling url and remove yourself from our list..


-----------

How hard would that be??
Im not a cgi programmer, so i dont know...
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Ok, ill give it a try... This issue has never come up before?


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
 
Ok guys, it didnt work.. No script errors or anything.. Just didnt send the mail.. Said i was sucessfully subscribed, and thats that.. No email ever came...

Frown

...help
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
I don't remember anything about it, i'll give my code another look.
I don't use subscribe.cgi either.
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Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Conan,

Do you have the Mailer.pm file uploaded to your server and have it properly referenced in the links.cfg file???

The sub-routine I gave depends on using the Mailer.pm file.

Nope...you are the first person to address this issue.

If installing the Mailer.pm does not work, try changing the following codes:

Code:
my $to = $in{$db_cols[$email]};

to simply:

Code:
my $to = $in{'email'};
Code:

Again, I did not gaurantee that the codes would work.

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Yes, it is uploaded to my server, but i donot see it referenced in my links.cfg file at all..

The only refrence i see to mail at all is:
# PATH of sendmail. # SMTP Server
$db_mail_path = '/usr/sbin/sendmail'; $db_smtp_server = '';


If i do need to reference Mailer.pl , please advise me of where & how..

Thanks..

Conan

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Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Make sure that the Mailer.pm (NOT .pl) is in your database library directory like where your admin.html and site_html_templates.pl files are located.

Also, try the edited codes I provided for the $to variable.

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Hmmmm...

My Mailer.pm only has the following $to references:
my $to = $self->{'to'};
my $from = $self->{'from'};
my $mode = $self->{'mode'};
my $smtp = $self->{'smtp'};
my $send = $self->{'sendmail'};
my $sub = $self->{'subject'};
my $msg = $self->{'msg'};
my $time = scalar(localtime);
my $ip = $ENV{'REMOTE_HOST'};
my $ref = $ENV{'HTTP_REFERER'};
my $app = $0;

..and my links.cfg file has no mention of the Mailer.pm file at all...


------------------
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
That doesn't matter. The following line in the codes I provided:

Code:
require "$db_lib_path/Mailer.pm";

requires the file and uses it to send out the email message.

Did you change the $to variable to $in{'email'} in the codes I provided earlier????

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
My goof.. I was misunderstanding what you were saying.. Yes, ive made the changes as you requested... Its still doing the same exact thing.. Saying on screen that the email is added, but not mailing out the confirmation... This is what i have..# Go to the success page.
&site_html_mailing ('subscribe');
&send_confirmation;
}


sub send_confirmation {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Send confirmation to mailing list subscribers.
# Check to make sure that there is an admin email address defined.
$db_admin_email or &cgierr("Admin Email Address Not Defined in config file!");
my $to = $in{'email'};
my $from = $db_admin_email;
my $subject = "Addition to $in{'Title'} Mailing List\n";
my $msg = qq| You have been added to our database. If you have received this message in error and would like to be removed from our mailing list, go to the following URL:
http://www.mydomain.com/cgi-bin/subscribe.cgi
|;
# Then mail it away!
require "$db_lib_path/Mailer.pm";
my $mailer = new Mailer ( { smtp => $db_smtp_server, sendmail => $db_mail_path,
from => $from,
subject => $subject,
to => $to,
msg => $msg,
log => $db_mailer_log
} ) or return;
$mailer->send or return;}



What now?

Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
Change the following codes:

Code:
&site_html_mailing ('subscribe');
&send_confirmation;

to the following codes:

Code:
&send_confirmation;
&site_html_mailing ('subscribe');

If this doesn't work, then I don't know what to tell you.

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
<sigh>

No go.... Same exact thing...


Conan
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Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
OK, I know this is obvious, but just incase you overlooked this Conan as it has'nt been mentioned above.
Is the following set to 1, otherwise it will not send the confirmation.
# Notify visitors automatically when their links are validated?
$db_email_add = 1;

?
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
This program has too many files Smile


Which file is that in exactly so i can double check.. I think its on, i mean all new signups get their emails when i validate their accounts.. not a problem there.


Just trying to get the NEWSLETTER signup to send out a confirmation..
come on.. Someone must know a easy way to do this...
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
I empathesize with your frustration. However, remarks like you've given are a turn-off. If I come up something that works, I will post the codes.

If someone comes up with another solution, great!

Regards,

------------------
Eliot Lee
Anthro TECH,L.L.C
www.anthrotech.com
----------------------


Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
My apologies.. Did not mean to make any kind of ofending remark.. I was saying it with a smile Smile the whole time..

I do find it a bit odd that this has never come up in the past however.. Isnt anyone using the newsletter option on links? Or is it that im just a little over-concern about the whole spamming issue?

Conan
Quote Reply
Re: Newsletter Concern In reply to
We are currently working on this mod to try and get it working. Do you have anymore suggestions Eliot? So far we are just getting the same thing the other person said he was getting, you get subscribed, but then there is just no email. Anyone else kknow of a mod made since then that will help with this?

Mike