SMF2.0:News and newsletters

Please see SMF1.1:News and newsletters or SMF2.0:News and newsletters depending on the version of SMF you are using.

News

This is a way to display short news items on every page of the forum. You can use BBcode (including the HTML tag) to format the message. When SMF is first installed, there will be one news item SMF - Just Installed. Type your own message in this box and use the Save button. Use Click here to add another item to add more news, and use the check box next to an item and the "Remove selected" button to remove news items. For information on how to show the news in a "news fader" in one or more themes, see theme settings.

Newsletters

If an administrator needs to contact some, or all, members of the forum this feature can be used to send a simple e-mail or newsletters.

Membergroups

Group Selection

The first thing the administrator will do when visiting the newsletter page is to select which membergroups they would like to e-mail. They may just select the boxes for each membergroup they want to e-mail. If an administrator wishes to send a newsletter to users by post count group, they need to enable permissions for post count groups in admin > permissions > settings > enable permissions for post count based groups".

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 - In this box, the administrators can add any additional e-mail addresses they would like the newsletter to be sent to.
• Members - The administrators can add the usernames of any additional members that they would like to receive the newsletter.
• Excluded Groups - Here, the administrator 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 similarly to the above option, except the administrators can add the usernames of members that they do not want to receive the newsletter no matter which membergroup(s) they belong to.
• Override Notification Settings - The administrators can select this to send the e-mail to the members who have selected the option to not receive announcements by e-mail in their profile. It is not recommended to force members to receive announcements, unless it is really important.

Composing e-mail

• Subject - The default subject will be the Site name: Subject.
• Message - Members can put almost anything they want into the message box, including HTML if they wish. Most e-mail clients support HTML, but not all of them do. If a member wishes to use HTML in the message, they must select this option: Send in HTML format. (This allows them to put normal HTML in the e-mail.)
• Variables - In the message, members can also use some variables. Below 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.
  • {$latest_member.link} - The most recently registered member's link.
  • {$latest_member.id} - The most recently registered member's id.
  • {$latest_member.name} - The most recently registered member's name.

Settings

The Settings page of the News and newsletters section of the Administration Center allows an administrator to configure a few settings pertaining to forum news items.

• Groups allowed to edit news items: Select the groups that you wish to allow the ability to add and edit news items.
• Groups allowed to send out forum newsletters: Select the groups that you wish to allow the ability to send newsletters.
• Enable XML/RSS news: Allows people to link to the RSS feeds of recent posts made on your forum and other similar data. For details see the XML feeds page.
• Maximum post length: Here you can specify the maximum amount of characters to show for each RSS feed item. It is also recommended that you limit the size of recent posts and news because in some clients the amount of RSS data that is displayed is expected to be truncated.
• Maximum message length: See maximum post length.

---

As an administrator

Main

• Administration Center
• Support and Credits
• News and newsletters
• Package manager

Configuration

• Core Features
• Features and Options
• Security and Moderation
• Languages
• Server settings
• Current Theme
• Themes and Layout
• Modification Settings

Forum

• Boards
• Posts and Topics
• Calendar
• Search
• Smileys and Message Icons
• Attachments and Avatars

Members

• Members
• Membergroups
• Permissions
• Registration
• Ban List
• Paid subscriptions
• Search engines

Maintenance

• Forum Maintenance
• Scheduled Tasks
• Mail
• Reports
• Logs

Miscellaneous

• Security Tips
• Building Your Community
• Performance enhancements
• Modifications - A mod broke my forum what should I do