[PHP] Re: PHP / Bulk E-Mail

2002-09-03 Thread Justin French 

Eric,

Please don't email me off-list, unless you're looking to pay me for my
services.

1. I generally dedicate a certain amount of my time per day to the list
2. If we discuss things off-list, then no one else benefits from the
discussion.


on 04/09/02 5:26 AM, Eric J Schwinder ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:

 I noticed that you had started a thread regarding bulk e-mail using
 PHP.  I am currently trying to setup a system to extract e-mail
 addresses from a mySQL membership database and send messages to the
 whole list, and was wondering how you're coming along with your
 setup...

 I saw a lot of good ideas out there... what method did you end up
 going with, and how is it working?

I am certain I've said this on the list a few times, but here goes again.
There is always going to be an inherit problem with trying to send multiple
emails via a web interface IF you want to personalise each one.  The reason
for this is that each email has to be generated and qued individually on the
mail server, which eats up server performance dramatically.  Depending on
your server, you will hit a snag somewhere (at 10 people, or 100 people or
500 people, or 1 people), because either the server or browser will
timeout, or the sysadmin of your host will shut you down for eating up
server processing time.

The solution is to NOT send personalised emails.  Send ONE email with
everyone in the Bcc: field, and it should take maybe 3 seconds to que the
email to 50,000+ people.

Another solution is to move your mailing list to a dedicated ml service
provider (like sparklist), who will send a minimum of 50,000 emails anywhere
you like, personalised, in HTML and plain text, blah blah blah for the
minimum of US$50/month.

Currently I have one client who demands personalised emails.  Luckily, it's
a small list (200 people), and I break the send-out down to batches of 20
emails, split apart by 2 minutes (this could be done manually, or with META
refresh tags, or even javascript).


Regards,

Justin


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Re: [PHP] Re: PHP / Bulk E-Mail

2002-09-03 Thread Tomasz Orzechowski 

Justin French wrote on Wed, Sep 04, 2002 at 11:58:10AM +1000:
 Currently I have one client who demands personalised emails.  Luckily, it's
 a small list (200 people), and I break the send-out down to batches of 20
 emails, split apart by 2 minutes (this could be done manually, or with META
 refresh tags, or even javascript).

And why does the whole process even have to be web based?  Fill out the
form with the data, and submit sort-of a batch job, recieve a report in
your inbox when it exits, c'est la vie.

Also, if using sendmail, you will benefit if you only queue up the mail,
not attempt to deliver it upon submission, and let sendmail deliver it
in a normal queue run.  This way many/all messages destined to the same
mail server will be delivered in one large transaction, not many small
ones.  A small gain, but it adds up.
-- 
Tomasz Orzechowski   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
APK.net systems administration teamTO630


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