SMF1.1:News and newsletters

Newsletters

If an admin needs to contact all or some of the members and they don't want a hassle, they could use this feature. They can use it to send a simple e-mail or use it to send elegant newsletters.

Membergroups

Group Selection

The first thing the admin will do when they go on the newsletter page is select which membergroups they would like to e-mail. They can just select the boxes for each membergroup they want to e-mail.

E-mail Options

When they want to use the newsletter feature on the forum, they can configure a few options to meet the needs for sending out e-mails to the members:

• Send the messages using personal messages - With this option checked, members will receive the newsletter as a personal message rather than by e-mail. Note that this is not inclusive to sending the newsletter as an e-mail, but it sends it as a personal message instead.
• Send this to members even if they have chosen not to receive announcements - Admins can choose this to send the e-mail to the members who have the option to not receive announcements by e-mail in their profile. It is not recommended to force the users to receive the announcement unless it is really important.

Underneath the membergroup listing is a link that says Advanced. Selecting this will expand several additional settings that can be used to configure the e-mail settings.

Advanced

Upon selecting the Advanced link underneath the membergroup listing, there will be a number of different options which include all of the following:

• E-mail Addresses - The admin can type any additional e-mail address they would like the newsletter to be sent to, in this box
• Members - The admin can type in the usernames of any additional members that they would like to receive the newsletter.
• Excluded Groups - Here, the admin can select groups that absolutely cannot receive the newsletter under any condition. Even if they have the same group selected under the included membergroups at the top of the page, or a member belongs to one of the included groups, as long as the member belongs to any groups checked here, they will not receive the newsletter. This includes primary and secondary membergroups.
• Excluded Members - This works similar to the above, except the admin can type in the usernames of members that they don't want to receive the newsletter no matter what membergroup(s) they belong to.
• Override Notification Settings - The admin can choose this to send the e-mail to the members who have the option to not receive announcements by e-mail in their profile. It is not recommended to force the members to receive announcements, unless it is really important.

Composing the e-mail

While composing the e-mail, the admin will be shown the e-mail addresses that the message will be sent to. They can add or remove addresses as they wish.

• Subject - The default subject will be the Site name, then Subject. It is recommended that the admin change the subject of the e-mail to something that is more descriptive.
• Message - Admins can put almost anything they want into the message box. If they would like, they can even use HTML. Most e-mail clients support HTML, but not every one does. If an admin wishes to use HTML in the message, they must select this option: Send in HTML format. (With this, they can put normal HTML in the e-mail.)
• Variables - In the message, they can also use some variables. Here are the "variables" that can be used:
  • {$board_url} - The URL to your forum.
  • {$current_time} - The current time.
  • {$member.email} - The current member's email.
  • {$member.link} - The current member's link.
  • {$member.id} - The current member's id.
  • {$member.name} - The current member's name. (for personalization.)
  • {$latest_member.link} - The most recently registered member's link.
  • {$latest_member.id} - The most recently registered member's id.
  • {$latest_member.name} - The most recently registered member's name.

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