I’d go for that but it would absolutely need to pull data from Solapace’s Favorites module for it to work for me, not just the weblog module. Since I know nothing about programming and there certainly seems to be a consensus here about the need for such a module is anyone willing/able to come forward and offer to work on this? I’m willing to chip in if others are!
Um - I would also love this. I’ve wanted to do an auto-newsletter for some time that would just pull content from a field and mail it out.
Me too. I tried using feedburner’s email subscription service for this, but they resend when you fix typos : /
So something of EE’s quality is much desired.
This is great. Your ability to come up with things like this constantly amazes me. This file is good for pulling entry content into an email but I’m looking to bring user-specific content (specifically info from Solspace’s Favorites module) into an individual email for each member who subscribes. I imagine this would be just a tad harder, or not?
Is anyone else interested in bringing user-specific content into emails?
So Varen, you’re wanting to have people receive emails based on what they’ve chosen as part of their favorites? Would this mean they receive an email with weblog entries that are related to one of their favorite blog entries? And receive this on some regular basis? It seems like you would want people to ‘subscribe’ to a blog or a category or an author or a status or something and receive emails from your site with weblog entries pertinent to their subscription on a regular basis. Que no?
In the pipeline to be released is a Subscribe module from Solspace. It is designed to allow users to customize what content they see on various parts of your site pages and sections. It does not currently allow you to send emails to subscribers based on their favorite categories and what not. This is a gnarly permutation problem, but I can see some serious value here.
Imagine that a user subscribes to the ‘chocolate’ category of your blog about desserts. On some interval that you set, like weekly, they are sent a digest email of all the blog postings that have the category of ‘chocolate’ assigned. Is this what you’re thinking?
Imagine that a user subscribes to the ‘chocolate’ category of your blog about desserts. On some interval that you set, like weekly, they are sent a digest email of all the blog postings that have the category of ‘chocolate’ assigned. Is this what you’re thinking?
mk
I’m quoting a school site where this functionality would also be handy - but it would have to pull from multiple blogs. The thought is to give each teacher a blog and then let parents subscribe to just the teachers their kids have. I know RSS would be one answer—but the awareness and usage just isn’t there yet for non-tech audiences.
I agree Michael, RSS works perfect, but penetration of the technology is very low. Email would be a great solution!
I like Solspace’s idea of automated email digests based on some set interval. This would be a defacto feature we’d use in pretty much all projects. I like the idea of RSS or Email. If you’re not aware of RSS here’s some education on the subject, or just subscribe via email. Until RSS gains deeper usage, email is a very powerful “alternate” solution.
Solspace, Paul, everyone…in your opinion, what are the major hurdles in developing a module like this?
So Varen, you’re wanting to have people receive emails based on what they’ve chosen as part of their favorites? Would this mean they receive an email with weblog entries that are related to one of their favorite blog entries? And receive this on some regular basis? It seems like you would want people to ‘subscribe’ to a blog or a category or an author or a status or something and receive emails from your site with weblog entries pertinent to their subscription on a regular basis. Que no?
MK,
That’s sort of correct. I have a very specialized type of content organized in one blog as thousands of entries. Titles of this content can be assembled by the user using the Favorites Module so they have a list of their chosen content to study (sort of like study cards for school). What I want to be able to do is email a user their list of titles on a regular schedule to help them remember their chosen topics. They would manage their content on the web site but get the content delivered in an email.
So this is quite different from subscribing to a category or blog (also very useful to me) because I’m allowing a user to pick and choose the content they want to see in the email and then deliver it to them.
I know RSS would be one answer—but the awareness and usage just isn’t there yet for non-tech audiences.
Simply because people do not have the knowledge yet does not mean you could not give it to them. RSS is far superior for pushing content to people easily. They have far more power, it is automated, and there are no mass emails sent out, which webhosts often frown upon. Teach them, for goodness’ sake. With the number of free desktop and web-based aggregators available for free, a page explaining what to do should get them on the right path. At least try to educate the populace instead of sticking with a bad solution.
For Image202’s question above, the Favorites module is being documented right now. It should be available in a few days.
For Paul, even with the RSS model, these folks need a way to customize the content they are receiving in a feed. Of course this can be done with a well conceived url / template sructure. But something people are looking for, I think, is to take advantage of everything you can do when you know something about a logged-in member. RSS doesn’t let us customize for a site member. That’s what’s critical here.
Anyway, can’t stop the steamroller. Solspace will be releasing Favorites 2.0 very soon. After that we’ll be releasing the current version of the subscribe module which does not have this special harvesting feature, but we’ll rev it soon. Also on deck is the Rating module 2.0.
To add to your point…we as site owners are trying to give our audience what they want, and do it with preferences. If we can provide our audience with some level of control it will make them feel as though they are in the “driver’s seat”. They will feel like they are calling the shots, and therefore directing the relationship rather than being directed.
By allowing our audience to dictate their own content and mix of messages ensures that they anticipate our emails, and will increase the likelihood that they will engage and respond.
RSS is a great solution, but email is not out of the game yet. We as site owners and developers have to do our due diligence and educate our audience, but that doesn’t mean that we should turn a blind eye to a very viable delivery stream. Why not let the two co-exist and compliment each-other?
The only hurdle I see with this is getting into styling the emails. The entire subject is deep, with various potential deliverability roadblocks.
Simply because people do not have the knowledge yet does not mean you could not give it to them. RSS is far superior for pushing content to people easily. They have far more power, it is automated, and there are no mass emails sent out, which webhosts often frown upon. Teach them, for goodness’ sake. With the number of free desktop and web-based aggregators available for free, a page explaining what to do should get them on the right path. At least try to educate the populace instead of sticking with a bad solution.
Please don’t tell us that the reason pMachine has thus far deprecated users’ requests for a full-featured communication channel to site members is you think mass e-mails are stupid. You’d be stunned to discover how limited the reach of e-mail can be in the business community, and how dumb users are with technologies as simple as e-mail and mailing lists. I subscribe to a number of lawyers’ lists and each and every day there is some numbskull whose vacation autoresponder makes a loop, or who annoy everyone with their insistent and shrill demands to “UNSUBSCRIBE ME FROM YOUR LIST RIGHT NOW, DANG IT!”—even with an unsubscribe link at the footer of every message. Once a week some goon will “Reply All” and expose the full mailing list on some mass e-mail dispatched from someone’s Outlook mail reader rather than a mass mailer. To expect everyone to be up to speed with an RSS reader is ridiculous.
Simply because people do not have the knowledge yet does not mean you could not give it to them. RSS is far superior for pushing content to people easily. They have far more power, it is automated, and there are no mass emails sent out, which webhosts often frown upon. Teach them, for goodness’ sake. With the number of free desktop and web-based aggregators available for free, a page explaining what to do should get them on the right path. At least try to educate the populace instead of sticking with a bad solution.
Please don’t tell us that the reason pMachine has thus far deprecated users’ requests for a full-featured communication channel to site members is you think mass e-mails are stupid. You’d be stunned to discover how limited the reach of e-mail can be in the business community, and how dumb users are with technologies as simple as e-mail and mailing lists. I subscribe to a number of lawyers’ lists and each and every day there is some numbskull whose vacation autoresponder makes a loop, or who annoy everyone with their insistent and shrill demands to “UNSUBSCRIBE ME FROM YOUR LIST RIGHT NOW, DANG IT!”—even with an unsubscribe link at the footer of every message. Once a week some goon will “Reply All” and expose the full mailing list on some mass e-mail dispatched from someone’s Outlook mail reader rather than a mass mailer. To expect everyone to be up to speed with an RSS reader is ridiculous.
I did not say that and for someone subscribing to lists for lawyers I am kind of surprised at the leap in logic. I am fairly sure you have heard the other reasons for this, and if anything your problems show how much better feed syndication would be over mass email sending.
I know RSS would be one answer—but the awareness and usage just isn’t there yet for non-tech audiences.
Simply because people do not have the knowledge yet does not mean you could not give it to them. RSS is far superior for pushing content to people easily. They have far more power, it is automated, and there are no mass emails sent out, which webhosts often frown upon. Teach them, for goodness’ sake. With the number of free desktop and web-based aggregators available for free, a page explaining what to do should get them on the right path. At least try to educate the populace instead of sticking with a bad solution.
Oh - I’d still offer RSS. No reason not to. I’ve been sounding the RSS gong for well over two years now. But IMHO RSS as a primary solution for a general audience isn’t going to happen until after Windows Vista brings RSS functionality natively into the Windows environment. People are, for better or worse, firmly entrenched in email as their main channel for communication.
