RE: FN-FORUM: Advice for bulk emailing

date posted 12th January 2006 10:11

[EMAIL REMOVED] wrote:
> if your server times out for one of a 1,000,000 reasons how
> do you know where the script was at for sending? where would you
> start the routine from?
>

You are failing to distinguish between well written and poorly written code.
The fact that is "web-based" is irrelevant. In the case of code I have
written previously it flags each recipient as sent only after successfully
sending it. While that clearly doesn't guarantee delivery, nor do any SMTP
email methods I am aware of. It does ensure that every recipient is tried
once and only once and that in the event of failure you can resume form the
same point (in fact the sender is scheduled by cron so sends in batches
regardless).

Sure if you have a "casual" script that loops through addresses blithely
assuming nothing will interrupt it then when it fails you have no way of
knowing if none, some or all of the emails were sent, but that is just bad
code.

I am no expert on all the mailer packages out there, but unless you have a
direct line to all recipients pop boxes you are still just as dependent on
the mail transport as any other system?

Dai
--
TechnologyAngel
http://www.technologyangel.co.uk/