Digest emails not being sent

AndyS

I posted in this discussion earlier but I noticed it is tagged as solved so thought I should start a new discussion in case nobody looks at the old one:

AndyS I have the same problem. Two users set up to receive daily email digests at 16:00. The Cron job is set up to run every 30 minutes.

On runs before 16:00 it produces the following status message: No scheduled commands are ready to run.

The 16:00 run produces this output: Running scheduled command: '/opt/alt/php82/usr/bin/php' 'flarum' digest:send > '/dev/null' 2>&1

So it seems like the scheduled digest send is executed but neither user receives a digest (and it's not in their Spam folders). Is there a way to remove the piping of the output to null to get some more detail on the send attempt? Or any other diagnostic steps I can try?

Flarum information

Flarum 1.8.5
PHP 8.2.21
MySQL 10.6.18-MariaDB-cll-lve
Digest extension at current version from repository

luceos

AndyS you can try to send the digest without nulling the output:

'/opt/alt/php82/usr/bin/php' 'flarum' digest:send

Did your users have verified email addresses?

I really need to test this feature to be sure it works as intended, sadly I'm swamped right now.

AndyS

khh
I just ran the command you suggested and got the following result:

/opt/alt/php82/usr/bin/php flarum digest:send
Dispatching jobs for 0 users to send a digest...
Done.

luceos Did your users have verified email addresses?

I didn't require email confirmations because I'm still in test/evaluation mode and so I'm using email addresses owned by me so no need to verify. Is it a pre-requisite for Digest to have email addresses verified ?

Oh and by the way - I discovered it is mandatory for the cron job to run every minute so I corrected that but the problem still exists.

AndyS

I just took a look in the database and found a table DIGEST_QUEUED_BLUEPRINTS which has rows that look like they contain the details of notifications to be sent to individual users. In the table there is a column 'BATCH' which is NULL for all records.

There is also a table DIGEST_BATCHES but it has no rows.

Does this give any insight into why the digests are not being sent?

AndyS

Just to see if I could trick the Flarum digest scheduler into sending a digest I inserted a record in DIGEST_BATCHES (job_id = 1, batch_id = 1, queued_at automatically set to current timestamp on update) and then updated the records in DIGEST_QUEUED_BLUEPRINTS for one of the users that has daily digests configured.

When the Cron job executed at the hour set by the user I saw the cron job out put was /opt/alt/php82/usr/bin/php' 'flarum' digest:send > '/dev/null' 2>&1 indicating the command at least got invoked, but still no digest was received.

I ran the command /opt/alt/php82/usr/bin/php' 'flarum' digest:send manually and as before I got the Dispatching jobs for 0 users to send a digest... message

Now I know I was taking a punt on valid values for the records I inserted in DIGEST_BATCHES so that could be why the digest:send didn't work. I also have no knowledge of how the timestamps in those two tables are used to decide when and what to send so it's quite probable it wasn't a valid experiment anyway but in the absence of any other ideas it was worth a try.

A digest feature is a top requirement for my target user group so it looks like I'm going to have to drop Flarum as the platform, which is really disappointing because in all other respects it's my preferred choice, particularly the UI. And the scarcity of postings about the digest extension and the relatively muted response to this discussion indicates to me that there is not any focus on it at the moment - I'm not complaining about that, I know priorities have to be set and if the digest isn't one of them then c'est la vie. If I had any kind of coding ability I would be happy to work on this some more but I don't, and also because I'm doing this for a volunteering organisation with no money I don't have the option of paying for help either.

So I guess I'm done with Flarum for now. I'll be keeping what I've set up so far and will keep checking in on this forum to see if the situation changes but sadly it looks like I'm going to have to go back to phpBB which does have a working digest extension.

luceos

AndyS I am sorry you feel this way. Currently I am the only active developer of the Blomstra/Flarum BV team, its the last week of summer holidays for my kids which also coincides with one of their birthdays. I used to pay for a freelancer to assist me with certain things, but due to health reasons this is no longer possible. I have been looking for a replacement since.

As someone who also does voluntary work, I hope you understand I wish things were different and that I would love to do nothing else than dive into these issues, but that's currently not possible.

Good luck with phpBB.

User31

AndyS

Hey what exactly does the Digest extension do?

I'm under the impression it possibly does something similar to those annoying update summary emails from XF sites, basically an email crammed with full or partial posts(?)
If this is what they Digest extension enables, then I'm a little curious as to why/or what sort of individuals would actually want these clogging up their emails(¿?)

AndyS

luceos

I fully understand the problem and have no complaint at all. After all, you've done a wonderful job getting Flarum to this point and as it is costing me nothing I would have no right to complain anyway.I just wish I had coding skills that would enable me to make a contribution to the effort.

If I ever come across somebody who knows PHP coding I will certainly urge them to think about lending a hand. After all, that would be in my interest too.

Good luck with the project. As I said I will be keeping an eye on developments in the hope that it will be possible to rejoin the party one day.

AndyS

User31

I'm not familiar with what XF does so I can't compare directly. But what I have seen of the Flarum Digest is that it allows users to pick and choose exactly what they want to be notified of in a digest format. So one might even say this results in far less spam because one email replaces multiple emails about individual discussions, posts, mentions etc. and no spam about things which you are not subscribed to.

So why email at all? Well, I know my community. They are mostly techno-skeptics but have at least got used to email. Given their pre-disposition to be wary of new technology (especially anything which they consider to be in the realms of social media) I judge it will be far easier to achieve a vibrant forum if I can get their engagement via a medium they already use and are comfortable with. If access to the forum requires them to make the effort to log into a web site and learn how to navigate it, there is high likelihood that participation will be low. Even though in my opinion Flarum has a really nice, clean and simple UI I'm always mindful that, with my background in IT projects, what I find easy and second nature in tech is not necessarily the case for the people I am aiming this at. Eventually I hope that many of them can be gently encouraged to explore the forum more directly.

And the last point on this - I personally would use a digest as a way to have things I am interested in brought to my attention and just go to the forum from time to time to browse around topics of secondary interest to me.

User31

AndyS

Fair enough.

Just seems a little counterproductive to encourage less participation with a community while encouraging voyeurism from afar.

Since the email voyeurism requires being fed content, yet the voyeurs being enabled to completely bypass contributing or even swinging by to lurk, wouldn't this amount to a net loss overall?

Another thing I'm curious about.
This communal techno-skeptisism pre-disposition. Are we talking something like old order Amish or Neo-Luddite levels of technophobia or that of some off-gridders & preppers?

Maybe you've noticed how comically hopeless I am with a lot of the techo talk 'round here(?) There's a reason why that is. And it's the same reason why I absolutely refuse to own a computer, generate my own electricity, grow my own food & medicine, as well as actively inhibiting the utility companies meter ghosts every time they trespass attempting installation of any EMF weapons platforms which people believe are merely for metering purposes.
I ain't just wary of tech, I'm proactively hostile towards it, when it's not beneficial.

AndyS

User31 This communal techno-skeptisism pre-disposition. Are we talking something like old order Amish or Neo-Luddite levels of technophobia or that of some off-gridders & preppers?

No - just normal people of a certain age who don't find tech easy and need to be led gently towards tech. I worked for 35+ years in IT so I'm not so scared of it, but I am now of an age where even with that background I am increasingly mystified and turned off by much of the tech that is now emerging e.g. AI frightens the hell out of me even though I am fully aware of its potential for good. So I find it easy to put myself in the place of others who have no background in tech and who also find it mystifying and scary.

User31 Since the email voyeurism requires being fed content, yet the voyeurs being enabled to completely bypass contributing or even swinging by to lurk, wouldn't this amount to a net loss overall?

Well forcing them to a) log into somewhere and use tech they may find scary and b) post rather than just listen in isn't going to work. So, no, I don't think it's a net loss overall - it's probably pretty much the same level of participation we would get anyway. Indeed I suspect that the vibrancy of the majority of forums depends on a fairly small percentage of active members and the majority just lurk. If they ain't going to post they ain't going to post and it makes no difference if they lurk by logging in to the forum or by email. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. In the case of the community I'm doing this for the important thing is to give them a place and a channel through which they can voice their thoughts if they choose to (they don't have one at the moment) and if others want to just listen in then that's OK too - one day they may just hear something that moves them to fully engage and post something themselves.