Blacklist issues

[soundwave]

Hello,

I think I'm either misunderstanding something or just way off...

questions:

1. Can PHPlist set a users blacklist flag to 1 automatically when it bounces? (Is that linked to define ("MANUALLY_PROCESS_BOUNCES",1); in config.php? Another silly question: where is the README.commandline?)

2. Is there an option to export the blacklist itself? (I just can't seem to find a way)

3. If you import a random list of users and there happens to be a blacklisted user on there, will PHPlist still send that message to this particular user?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[H2B2]

1. Can PHPlist set a users blacklist flag to 1 automatically when it bounces? (Is that linked to define ("MANUALLY_PROCESS_BOUNCES",1); in config.php? Another silly question: where is the README.commandline?)

Currently not with standard bounce processing in the 2.10.10 release, which will only unconfirm the bounced user after reaching the bounce threshold . The 'blacklist on bounce' option will be included in the 2.11.4 development release, but if you really need this now, you could take a look at 'advanced bounce processing' , which does allow adding a rule that will blacklist on bounce. See: http://docs.phplist.com/AdvancedBounceHandlingInfo

BTW, the README.commandline file is located in the base dir of the phpList distribution archive you downloaded. See also http://docs.phplist.com/CommandLineScriptInfo

2. Is there an option to export the blacklist itself? (I just can't seem to find a way)

No, I'm afraid export options are fairly limited. However, you could take a look at this mod, as a starting point for adding the additional export functionality you need:[mod] Export Users without Blacklisted or Unconfirmed users (yes, it does the opposite of what you want, but it shouldn't be too difficult to change the query)

3. If you import a random list of users and there happens to be a blacklisted user on there, will PHPlist still send that message to this particular user?

Not sure, haven't used the import feature much and never needed to check this. However there is an interesting note in the import documentation which suggests the "overwrite existing" option will allow retaining certain field values, as long as these values are empty in the file you are importing. IOW, this note seems to suggest you can retain the blacklist status field for a particular user. Best do some thorough testing with a test list to check if and how this works. And let us know of your experiences.
ref: http://docs.phplist.com/ImportUsersInfo

[soundwave]

Thanks for all the info H2B2! I will post my findings in the next few days if I can get any further on this .

Are there any other/nicer docs/examples on how to play with rules?

I know I'm stretching PHPlist to do more than just sending newsletters to one particular nicely managed group. Do you know of any open source programs that concentrate on just the mass/bulk emailing feature?

[szucsati]

Install phpMyAdmin, with that you'll be able to do some extra stuff.

For example exporting blacklisted users is just a short sql query:

Code: Select all

SELECT `email` FROM `phplist_user_user` WHERE `blacklisted` = 1;

Blacklisting users with 3+ bounces:

Code: Select all

UPDATE `phplist_user_user` SET `blacklisted` = 1 WHERE `bouncecount` >= 3

PHPList normally sets confirmed to false on reaching bounce threshold. There's a "define('BLACKLIST_EMAIL_ON_BOUNCE', 1);" option which should go to the config.php, but it doesn't seem to work. So you might want to manually blacklist users.
If you blacklist someone, he'll stay blacklisted even if you import the address again. If you just set to unconfirmed, and import the e-mail again, it will be confirmed again. Most of the times..

[H2B2]

If you blacklist someone, he'll stay blacklisted even if you import the address again.

Thanks for checking that, and for sharing the queries!

[NYChris]

Blacklisting users with 3+ bounces:

Code: Select all

UPDATE `phplist_user_user` SET `blacklisted` = 1 WHERE `bouncecount` >= 3

PHPList normally sets confirmed to false on reaching bounce threshold. There's a "define('BLACKLIST_EMAIL_ON_BOUNCE', 1);" option which should go to the config.php, but it doesn't seem to work. So you might want to manually blacklist users.
If you blacklist someone, he'll stay blacklisted even if you import the address again. If you just set to unconfirmed, and import the e-mail again, it will be confirmed again. Most of the times..

This query is incomplete and will eventually make a mess of things.
You need to make changes to 3 tables and not just this one.
Here's a php file that I made just for very quickly taking care of this.
Simply save it, Change MY DB LOGIN, MY DB PASS, MY DB NAME to your info, upload it to your server, then call it from a browser and it's done in a few seconds for all users that fit your criteria.
(remove it from your server after you run it)

Code: Select all

<?php

// ----- SETS ALL UNCONFIRMED AS BLACKLISTED BY DATE --------
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","MY DB LOGIN","MY DB PASS");
if (!$con)
  {
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
  }

mysql_select_db("MY DB NAME", $con);

   $result = mysql_query("SELECT id, email FROM phplist_user_user WHERE bouncecount > '2' AND blacklisted = '0';");
   $cnt = 0;

   while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
      mysql_query("update phplist_user_user set blacklisted='1' where id='$row[id]';");
      mysql_query("insert into phplist_user_blacklist(email,added) values ( '$row[email]','2010-04-29 11:59:58') ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE added = '2010-04-29 11:59:59';");
      mysql_query("insert into phplist_user_blacklist_data(email,name,data) values ( '$row[email]','reason','BounceCount') ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE data = 'Bounce Count';");
      $cnt = $cnt + 1;
   }

mysql_close($con);

echo "$cnt Done";

?>


[soundwave]

Thank you very much NYChris!!! You are a great help!!!

[NYChris]

NP soundwave.
Since you show appreciation, contact me via private message if you are interested in a few other must have files that I wrote to wrangle large lists.

[danitaz]

If you blacklist someone, he'll stay blacklisted even if you import the address again. If you just set to unconfirmed, and import the e-mail again, it will be confirmed again. Most of the times..

I was testing this just this morning, and came here to see if anyone else could confirm this. My tests showed that the blacklists "override" the subscriptions so that is good. I imported my master "mailing list" into phplist last week, and sent my first mailing this weekend, but I still have other smaller mailing lists to import, and I was afraid I would have to go manually through the blacklisted users and remove them from all of the lists. But it seems that even if I import an address into a new list, if the user is blacklisted, phplist will not send email to that user and this is good!

Thanks.

Danita

[NYChris]

I was testing this just this morning, and came here to see if anyone else could confirm this. My tests showed that the blacklists "override" the subscriptions so that is good. I imported my master "mailing list" into phplist last week, and sent my first mailing this weekend, but I still have other smaller mailing lists to import, and I was afraid I would have to go manually through the blacklisted users and remove them from all of the lists. But it seems that even if I import an address into a new list, if the user is blacklisted, phplist will not send email to that user and this is good!

Thanks.

Danita

It is good... but not quite good enough. When phplist is sending email, it goes through all the people on the selected list weather they are blacklisted or not. If it comes across a blacklisted addy, it does not send to it AND it notes it in the event log. This can/does slow down the send process significantly for large lists.
I've written another program that handles this problem flawlessly.
Let me know if you are interested an I'll post it.

[myelectricaljobs]

Yes I see this is logged in the event log and I delete the event log after ever list to clean this up. It was clogging up the server and i had 1000's of eventlog entries.

The problem I have at the moment - my list was getting really long so i exported it and split it into 4 thein imported into 4 different lists. I am now getting people saying they are recieving mail even though they have unsubscribed. I have checked and it shows they are blacklisted so i cant understand what is going wrong.

I assume it is one black list for all lists so if someone appears on more than one list and they have unsubscribed it will unsubscribe them from all lists? is this correct or an i sending the same message to the same person 2 3 times. on different lists.

[NYChris]

There is no "black list".
Your database has just 1 single list (table) of users.
Those users each have an attribute called "blacklisted". The attribute can either be "true" or "false".
Another part of your database has a list (table) of your mailing lists that each user is subscribed to.

When you send a message to one of your mailing lists, the system grabs all of the email addresses associated with the mailing list you're sending to.
Then it starts sending to them.
During the sending process it checks the attribute "blacklisted" for each user and either:
1: Sends the email and moves on to the next.
OR
2: Does not send (because "blacklisted" was true), updates the event log, and move on to the next.

This behavior causes PHPList to slow down by 66% (or more) for each blacklisted user encountered (invalid email addresses do the same).

I hope this helps you better understand your problem.
If I had to guess... I would guess your users have unsubscribed from a single list while remaining on other lists.

[myelectricaljobs]

Hi, Thanks for that it is really hepful.

Yes thats the problem. I want them to unsubscribe from all lists when they unsubscribe. Somtimes I end up with the same person a different lists but they get the same message twice. If they unsubscribe i want them never to revieve anymore... if that makes sense.

I chack there address and it says blacklisted but they are still recieving email?? Have I got a setting wrong

[NYChris]

Something is very wrong. If an address is blacklisted, they should not receive anything ever.
Unfortunately I have no clue why your's is behaving like this.

[welch]

I am apparently having this same issue, of mail being sent to a user who is blacklisted. I checked his status, 1 in blacklist. Any ideas?