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Changes between Version 6 and Version 7 of VolunteerRecruit

Timestamp:: Apr 30, 2007, 9:05:41 PM (18 years ago)
Author:: Nicolas
Comment:: Changed some formatting, fixed a few typos. And edited the sample HTML (like it or not).

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: Added
: Removed
: Modified

VolunteerRecruit

-                      v6
+                      v7
     * ''Friend-to-friend''. These are sent by participants to their friends and family, to tell them about your project and urge them to join. The sender can add an optional message.
 Effective use of all types of email is critical to maintaining and growing your participant base. In the absence of any email, participation typically decreases by a few percent every month. BOINC supplies the framework, but you must write the actual emails, or modify BOINC's samples as needed for your project. .
+Effective use of all types of email is critical to maintaining and growing your participant base. In the absence of any email, participation typically decreases by a few percent every month. BOINC supplies the framework, but you must write the actual emails, or modify BOINC's samples as needed for your project.
 The newsletter and reminder scripts provide the following features:
 …
     * They let you send different emails to different 'classes' of participants. For example, you can send a different newsletter to participants who haven't computed for your project in a while.
     * They let you personalize emails, e.g. by inserting the participant's name or their total credit.
     * They provide a mechanism for inserting a secure 'opt-out' link. Note: You should ALWAYS include an 'opt-out' link at the bottom of emails (both HTML and text). In may be illegal for you to do a mass email without one. Make sure you test this link.
 The scripts requires that you use [http://phpmailer.sourceforge.net/ PHPMailer], a PHP function for sending mail that's more full-featured than the one built into PHP. Download it, put it in html/inc, and set the USE_PHPMAILER, PHPMAILER_HOST, and PHPMAILER_MAILER variables in [WebConfig your project.inc file].
+    * They provide a mechanism for inserting a secure 'opt-out' link. Note: You should ALWAYS include an 'opt-out' link at the bottom of emails (both HTML and text). It may be illegal for you to do a mass email without one. Make sure you test this link.
+The scripts requires that you use [http://phpmailer.sourceforge.net/ PHPMailer], a PHP function for sending mail that is more full-featured than the one built into PHP. Download it, put it in `html/inc`, and set the `USE_PHPMAILER`, `PHPMAILER_HOST`, and `PHPMAILER_MAILER` variables in [WebConfig your project.inc file].
 All of the tools let you send multipart HTML/text messages. We recommend that you use this feature - and HTML message can include your logo and/or institutional insignia, can include hyperlinks, and can look more attractive.
 …
 The general procedure for using each scripts is:
     * Create a directory (mass_email, reminder_email, or ffmail) in your html/ops/ directory. In that directory, create separate files for the text body template, HTML body template, and subject line to be sent to each class of participants. NOTE: the HTML files are optional; if you leave them out, text-only emails will be sent.
+    * Create a directory (mass_email, reminder_email, or ffmail) in your `html/ops/` directory. In that directory, create separate files for the text body template, HTML body template, and subject line to be sent to each class of participants. NOTE: the HTML files are optional; if you leave them out, text-only emails will be sent.
     * Run the script in testing mode (see below) to ensure that the emails are as you intend.
     * Once testing is complete, run the script in production mode. Typically, the newsletter script is run from the command line. The reminder script is typically run as a [ProjectTasks periodic task], every 24 hours or so.
+    * Once testing is complete, run the script in production mode. Typically, the newsletter script is run from the command line. The reminder script is typically run as a [ProjectTasks periodic task], every 24 hours or so.
 The newsletter and reminder scripts use the recent-average credit (expavg_credit) field in the user table. To make sure this value is accurate, run [ProjectTasks update_stats] manually if you're not running it as a periodic task.
 …
 The newsletter and reminder scripts replace the following macros in your email bodies (both HTML and text):
  <name/>::      User name
  <create_time/>::       When account was created (D M Y)
  <total_credit/>::      User's total credit
  <opt_out_url/>::       URL for opting out (this URL includes a salted version of the participant's account key, and so is different for every participant).
  <lapsed_interval/>::   The number of days since user's client contacted server (defined only for lapsed users, see below).
  <user_id/>::   The user ID (use this to form URLs)
+ `<name/>`::            User name
+ `<create_time/>`::     When account was created (D M Y)
+ `<total_credit/>`::    User's total credit
+ `<opt_out_url/>`::     URL for opting out (this URL includes a salted version of the participant's account key, and so is different for every participant).
+ `<lapsed_interval/>`:: The number of days since user's client contacted server (defined only for lapsed users, see below).
+ `<user_id/>`::         The user ID (use this to form URLs)
 === Avoiding spam filtering ===
 …
     * Your HTML and text versions have the same text.
     * Your HTML version either contains no images, or has at least 400 words.
+    * Your HTML version either contains no images, or has at least 400 words.
 == Newsletters ==
 The script html/ops/mass_email_script.php is for sending email newsletters.
+The script [source:trunk/boinc/html/ops/mass_email_script.php html/ops/mass_email_script.php] is for sending email newsletters.
 Run it from the command line.
 The optional arguments are:
 …
     * ''Failed'': zero total credit. These people failed to download and install the client software, or failed to get it working (e.g. because of proxy problems) or uninstalled it before finishing any work.  Email to them should include a link to the BOINC help page (http://boinc.berkeley.edu/help.php) or other help resources.
     * ''Lapsed'': nonzero credit, but their computers have not contacted your server in > 60 days.
     * ''Current'': These are your active participants.
+    * ''Current'': These are your active participants.
 To use the script, create the following files in html/ops/mass_email:
  failed_html::  HTML message sent to failed users. Example:
+ `failed_html`:: HTML message sent to failed users. Example:
 {{{
 <html>
 <body bgcolor=ffffcc>
+<body bgcolor="ffffcc">
 Dear <name/>:
 <p>
 …
 in the field of Submandibular Morphology.
 In recent months we have discovered over 17 new varieties of Frombats.
+</p>
 <p>
 Our records show that you created a Test Project account
 on <create_time/> but that your computer hasn't completed any work.
 If you had problems installing or using the software,
 you can get help from <a href=http://boinc.berkeley.edu/help.php>online volunteers</a>.
+you can get help from <a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/help.php">online volunteers</a>.
 Please try again!
+</p>
 <p>
 <font size=-2>
+<small>
 To not receive future emails from Test Project,
 <a href=<opt_out_url/>>click here</a>.
 </font>
 </td></tr></table>
+<a href="<opt_out_url/>">click here</a>.
+</small>
+</p>
 </body>
 </html>
 }}}
  failed_text::  Text message sent to failed users. Example:
+ `failed_text`:: Text message sent to failed users. Example:
 {{{
 Dear <name/>:
 …
 <opt_out_url/>
 }}}
  email_failed_subject::         Subject line sent to failed users. Example: 'Test Project News'.
  lapsed_html::  HTML message sent to lapsed users
  lapsed_text::  Text message sent to lapsed users
  lapsed_subject::       Subject line sent to lapsed users
  current_html::         HTML message sent to current users
  current_text::         Text message sent to current users
  current_subject::      Subject line sent to current users
+ `email_failed_subject`::       Subject line sent to failed users. Example: 'Test Project News'.
+ `lapsed_html`::        HTML message sent to lapsed users
+ `lapsed_text`::        Text message sent to lapsed users
+ `lapsed_subject`::     Subject line sent to lapsed users
+ `current_html`::       HTML message sent to current users
+ `current_text`::       Text message sent to current users
+ `current_subject`::    Subject line sent to current users
 === Testing ===
 …
 === Checkpoint/restart ===
 mass_email_script.php manages checkpoint/restart when dealing with large numbers of participants. Mails are sent in order of increasing user ID. The file email_log has a list of IDs that have been processed. On startup, the script reads this file, finds the last entry, and starts from there.
+`mass_email_script.php` manages checkpoint/restart when dealing with large numbers of participants. Mails are sent in order of increasing user ID. The file `email_log` has a list of IDs that have been processed. On startup, the script reads this file, finds the last entry, and starts from there.
 If you are starting a mass email from the beginning, empty the file mass_email/log; i.e.
 …
 == Reminder emails ==
 The script html/ops/remind.php is for sending reminder emails.
+The script `html/ops/remind.php` is for sending reminder emails.
 Run it on the command line.  Options are:
  --lapsed:: send emails to lapsed users
  --failed:: send emails to failed users
  --userid N:: send both lapsed and failed emails to the user with the given ID
  --send:: actually send the email (this is an option to reduce the chance of accidents).
  --show_email:: show what would be sent rather than sending it
  --explain:: print a line describing each email
+ `--lapsed`:: send emails to lapsed users
+ `--failed`:: send emails to failed users
+ `--userid N`:: send both lapsed and failed emails to the user with the given ID
+ `--send`:: actually send the email (this is an option to reduce the chance of accidents).
+ `--show_email`:: show what would be sent rather than sending it
+ `--explain`:: print a line describing each email
 The script categorizes users as follows.
 …
 The numbers 14, 30, and 60 are all parameters in the script; edit it to change them.
 To use the script, create the following files in html/ops/reminder_email/:
  failed_html::  HTML message sent to failed users
  failed_text::  Text message sent to failed users
  failed_subject::       Subject line sent to failed users
  lapsed_html::  HTML message sent to lapsed users
  lapsed_text::  Text message sent to lapsed users
  lapsed_subject::       Subject line sent to lapsed users
 remind.php can be run as often as you like. We recommend running it every 24 hours, specifying it as a task in config.xml. When it sends email to a user, it stores the time in their database record, and won't send them another email for at least 30 days. For this reason, it has no checkpoint/restart mechanism.
+To use the script, create the following files in `html/ops/reminder_email/`:
+ `failed_html`::        HTML message sent to failed users
+ `failed_text`::        Text message sent to failed users
+ `failed_subject`::     Subject line sent to failed users
+ `lapsed_html`::        HTML message sent to lapsed users
+ `lapsed_text`::        Text message sent to lapsed users
+ `lapsed_subject`::     Subject line sent to lapsed users
+`remind.php` can be run as often as you like. We recommend running it every 24 hours, specifying it as a task in [ProjectTasks config.xml]. When it sends email to a user, it stores the time in their database record, and won't send them another email for at least 30 days. For this reason, it has no checkpoint/restart mechanism.
 The procedure for testing your reminder email is similar to that for email newsletters (see above).
 …
 == Friend-to-friend emails ==
 The web page ffemail_form.php lets users send emails to their friends. To use this feature, you must create the following files in html/ops/ffmail/:
  subject::      The subject line used for friend-to-friend emails
  html::         HTML template for friend-to-friend emails
  text::         Text template for friend-to-friend emails
+The web page `ffemail_form.php` lets users send emails to their friends. To use this feature, you must create the following files in `html/ops/ffmail/`:
+ `subject`::    The subject line used for friend-to-friend emails
+ `html`::       HTML template for friend-to-friend emails
+ `text`::       Text template for friend-to-friend emails
 Samples are supplied for each of these. The following macros are substituted in the message bodies:
  <fromname/>::  The name of the sender
  <toname/>::    The name of the recipient
  <comment/>::   The comment supplied by the sender
+ `<fromname/>`:: The name of the sender
+ `<toname/>`::  The name of the recipient
+ `<comment/>`:: The comment supplied by the sender