Hi there,

Having a "Tell a Friend" module is something that I will need all of the time. Looking through the contrib modules, it looks like there are a lot of options that would fit the bill. My question is what one is the best? The overlap is annoying, so it would be nice to know the strengths/weaknesses of each. Here's the list of what I have found:

tellafriend: http://drupal.org/node/16499
Send: http://drupal.org/node/37480
Forward: http://drupal.org/node/31638
Email This Page: http://drupal.org/project/emailpage

Related
Invite: http://drupal.org/project/invite

Any ideas? It would be great to have a comparison of each, if anyone has used most/all of these options.

Rick

Comments

rickvug’s picture

Tell a Friend was the first that I have tried. It is very basic but is just enough to get the job done. If you are running 4.7 be sure to use this patched version in the issue section or else you will be greated by errors

4.7 version: http://drupal.org/node/45901

If anyone else has used the other modules listed I would still love to hear from you.

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david@thrale.com’s picture

The forward module is the best I have found/ tried.

Oblivious-1’s picture

I had to use the Forward module on a project and we wound up modifying it to limit how many addresses it would send to at one time and removing the personalized message option due to spam concerns.

Marc Bijl’s picture

I've used the send module in a 4.6.6 website and I was very pleased with it.

It creates a link at the bottom of a node. Once clicked it will lead the visitor to a page where some fields need to be filled and the node can be sent.

Strenghts:
- THE COMPLETE NODE is sent within the e-mail, including styles, images, links, etc (very nice!)
- ALL SEND INFORMATION is stored in the database so it can be accessed easily afterwards (cool!)

Weaknesses:
- It's NOT possible to send a node to multiple friends at once (this should be standard)...
- Can NOT get it working in 4.7 (combination with i18n?); wondering if it's still maintained...

Interesting topic BTW, as I had the same question not too long ago (:
So, looking forward to some interesting comments!

Cheers,
Marc

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rickvug’s picture

Thanks for the review of the Send Module! Here's my breakdown of the tellafriend module.

What it does:

It creates a single page on a website where users can recommend your site to a friend. It allows the user (anonymous or not) to enter their contact information, a list of emails and a personal message. This message is then sent along with your site's own message explaining itself.

Strengths:
- Simple and to the point. Easy to use and does the job if this is the functionality you are looking for.
- Logical implementation and options. Very usable.

Weaknesses:
- Simple and to the point. If you want extra features, options and message logging you are not going to find it here.
- HTML is not allowed at all in the outgoing message. This is annoying when trying to send a link to your site!
- Some of the html output could be cleaner. I think there could be one or two divs shaved off and one section is not wrapped in paragraph tags. Nothing earth shattering however.
- Not actively maintained. I had to go into the issue section to download a version for 4.7

Overall, it got the job done and I'm happy. With a few patches tellafriend would be an ideal for the task it's executing.

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irakli’s picture

Send did not work for me at all on 4.7 URLs that it sends are simply broken. It also requires mimemail to be installed which is extra annoyance

I tried Forward next and it does the job well.

tassoman’s picture

Wich best for 5.x version? Not all modules are upgraded yet.

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jsimonis’s picture

Yea, I'd like to know which one is best for being able to send it to multiple friends at once.

I've been trying out a few modules, but so far haven't hit one that allows sending to multiple people. I really like "send," but it's biggest downfall is not being able to send to multiple people.

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tille’s picture

..also running on 5.2 now and interested in a 'what's your favourite' type of poll..

Sa far I've been trying tellafriend and send - now a bilangual site is coming up and I'm wondering if I can use either of them.. - ..I'll probably try both (or even more) and then keep you and me updated on this very topic..:]

greetz, till..

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wwwoliondorcom’s picture

Hello,

Forward module is good but I don't know what is the maximum emails you can send at a time ?

And I wonder if spammers can use it to send their links through my website ?

Any idea ?

Thanks.

andrabr’s picture

I was struggling with the choice, so I wrote things down for myself here: http://n0tablog.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/viral-actions-in-drupal-forward...

Remember, you needs are different! I am NOT a professional reviewer.

A>

incidentist’s picture

Thanks for writing this! I wish there was more comparisons like these around!

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DanielJohnston’s picture

Tells me exactly which module I need, which is one of my main hassles with Drupal normally. Also, didn't you come to our house party in London last year? See you at the wedding in June...

cameron32’s picture

I have "Send" installed and I like it. Be sure to read install.txt

. - dot’s picture

what would be ideal is to simply know when a friend has made a post and get their post.

is there a module for this?

better still is there one for module 6

thanks

justinchev’s picture

Check out the Syndication module area, there are a several modules that may fit your requirements - Comment RSS sounds like it might do what you want.

Also it seems that currently there aren't any 'Tell a Friend' type modules for Drupal 6 - but a 6.x version of Forward is in the pipeline.

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IbnKuldun’s picture

Any idea if any such module exists for Drupal 6? I just checked these and none of them have a D6 release.

pritish’s picture

Try addthis, service links, or tellafriend

KingMoore’s picture

print module also offers this (along with a printer friendly version link) and is available for D6. The addthis and sharethis modules also have email functionality.

macrodesign’s picture

Hi,

I use the following on our site, simple and very comprehensive, i created a block with their script and done

service provider http://www.freetellafriend.com

to see it in action, visit our site www.pakideas.com

Best wishes
Danish

VBelousov’s picture

wwwoliondorcom’s picture

Tell a friend / forward this page with ONLY the email form

Hi,

I'm looking for a tell a friend / forward this page with ONLY the email form, something super easy, just a block in which people type their friend email with NOTHING else asked, is it possible ?

Thanks.

peterx’s picture

If the send block is too simple, the email looks like spam. Good to have a personal message from the sender. The two options I use are mentioned in http://drupal.org/node/1046382#comment-6305354. LinkedIn and some other sites have a nice message prebuilt and offered to the sender in an edit form. Encouraging that little addition of personal text makes the email many times more effctive.