There is only logging when a site administrator is (un)subscribing an e-mail to/from a newsletter. Logging would be informative when site visitors subscribe or unsubscribe to a newsletter. This will only takes a few lines of code.

I'm prepared to make a patch if needed.

Thanks
Stol

Comments

sutharsan’s picture

sutharsan commented
Status: Active » Postponed (maintainer needs more info)

Please describe the use case to convince me and rule out other alternatives.

Stol’s picture

Stol commented

OK. I will first try to write an extra module via hook_forms(). If that doesn't work I will try to convince you.

Thanks
Stol

sutharsan’s picture

sutharsan commented

If you explain your use case here, others can benefit from it too.

Stol’s picture

Stol commented

I think it is informative if you know when people un(subscribing), especially in the case of unsubscribing. Actually, I need this feature because a client asked for this. He has a few thousand subscriptions and over the years he have no idea about the composition of this group of subscribers. Is there a lot of change in that group? When people unsubscribe in masses then maybe there is something wrong with the newsletter (too many issues sended out, low quality, ...). I've been already unsubscribing from newsletters where they asked me for the reason why I did that. So I think it's not an obscure feature. I know there is maybe some privacy issue. But hey, it's not that I want to kill the unsubscribers ;-).

Hope that's enough!

Regards
Stol

sutharsan’s picture

sutharsan commented
Title: Create log entry via watchdog when user or visitor subscribe or unsubscribe to a newsletter » Log visitors subscribe or unsubscribe to a newsletter
Status: Postponed (maintainer needs more info) » Active

That makes it more clear. Thanks.
Adding watchdog log for (un)subscription would help, but is only a solution for short term tracking (Watchdog log lives max 1 month). For simplenews 6.x I am considering a module for extended subscription functionality. (un)subscriptions statistics could be a part of this.

If anyone want to add their use case to this issue PLEASE DO.

GreenStage’s picture

GreenStage commented

Other reasons for logging unsubscribes. I run a couple of sites that have newsletters. It is VERY helpful to keep track of the subscribe status of each email address. Many times I am adding email addresses from an outside database. I don't want to accidentally re-add an address of someone who has unsubscribed in the past. This logging and status checking is a standard feature in PHP-List. But I prefer Simplenews since it works seamlessly with, and can be managed from within, Drupal.

It would be AWESOME if either Simplenews incorporated some of the advanced features of PHPlist (bounce processing, message status, unsubscribe/subscribe logging, etc), or if PHPlist would create a better interface with Drupal. At this point, neither are ideal solutions.

No offense.

hound’s picture

hound commented

I second Greenstage's use case. If somebody opts out, it definitely should be available as a report - because we import new lists all the time, and don't want to annoy people who may have previously opted out but still appear on the new imported list! This is actually very important, and if we don't do it correctly, it can put us in violation of various antispam laws! As it is now, there is no way to tell when somebody has clicked the 'unsubscribe' link on a sent mail, except by diffing the before and after versions of the list, and that is no good because people could unsubscribe even after we diff the lists!

sutharsan’s picture

sutharsan commented

Don't expect this functionality in simplenews 5.x. Not that I am not against it, on the contrary, but new developments will take place in Simplenews 6.x. Perhaps a sponsored the development is an option for you.

callison’s picture

callison commented

Please also see http://drupal.org/node/345579 for similar functionality.

svc’s picture

svc commented

Not sure if this is the right place to post this or not... Will any of the patches described in http://drupal.org/node/345579 work in Drupal 5.x by any remote chance? I understand the rationale behind focusing all development on D6 but for a variety of reasons I can't upgrade at this time. Any new/alternative workarounds would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

sutharsan’s picture

sutharsan commented

No, not even remotely. The patches you refer to are based on triggers and actions and the actions integration of simplenews 6.x. Somewhere in the issue queue is a patch for simplenews 5.x integration with workflow_ng. But I can't remember if this triggers on with (un)subscription.

eloiguell’s picture

eloiguell commented

It will be better unsubscribing emails like blocking emails/users. Then mass subscriptions could subscribe only new emails and compare unsubscribed emails like blocked users.

I will trie to add this to the code http://drupal.org/node/345579

sutharsan’s picture

sutharsan commented

eloiguell, I don't understand your English.

eloiguell’s picture

eloiguell commented

I have customized simplenews.module to blocking forever unsubscribed emails for legal reasons. http://drupal.org/node/695734

miro_dietiker’s picture

miro_dietiker
Location Switzerland
commented
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

Closing all feature requests of 5.x.