Error message when trying to send newsletter via cron job

Hello again @brainvoyager

Below is my cron job for the command line field only not the common setting for the time section e.g. ( 0 * * * * * ) remember the minimum it should be triggered is once per hour.

I have x-ed out my guid as it will be individual to your db and alike to the replacement of the website URL. the guid you must replace with what is in the plugin listing to copy and paste in.

One thing to mention, I did notice that you had an extra double dot extension in your web URL not sure if this would be worth researching to eliminate as a possible cause for cron to spit at?

Final note.. take note of the “quotes” in the string below too, base machine quotes..

curl –silent “https://www.example.com/?es=cron&guid=xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx” > /dev/null 2>&1

Give it a try, create a test post with a test mail group of one or two emails to yourself and leave it to run over night you will notice when the post triggers a notification the word queued will be in the report section of email subscribers. Then leave this to run over 24hrs if it does not start sending out your set number of mails per hour in your setup, then you can remove it and investigate the long double dot URL you have as a possible issue or further avenue to chase.

Again seeds for thought, let me know how you get on.

Andrew

@brainvoyager

To add and please take note – as I have pasted in the quotes they have inherited the default font style like so.. //xxxxxx// make sure they are vertical like this ||xxxxxx||

Andrew

Hello @andrewmperryman,

Thank you very much for all your efforts!!

No matter how hard I try and no matter what I use as my cPanel cron string, cPanel only accepts the url like this:

https://brainvoyagermusic.com/?es=cron&guid=gvhcxt-ndhxeg-jtchue-oeqswc-cpinby

Or without the s:

https://brainvoyagermusic.com/?es=cron&guid=gvhcxt-ndhxeg-jtchue-oeqswc-cpinby

It doestn′t accept the quotes, the extra commands (the prefixes and the suffixes) given by you, @complicword and @prathameshp. They all result in the error message: URL invalid when trying to save the cron job.

I do not know if I can upload a screenshot of my cPanel here?

I’m more than ever totally lost. And, like I said, my hosting provider TransIP tells me that they don’t give support on this subject and they keep referring to the plugin developer.

I’m not sure what you mean by the extra double dot extension in my web URL? As far as I can see I only see “https://…”? Or do you mean something else?

Thank in advance for your help!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

What the heck!! I just discovered that the cron job was triggered succesfully, right after posting my last contribution! I received my test mail that I wrote this afternoon (4 hours ago) 4 minutes ago.

I’m still lost since do not know how this all can happen after more than two weeks. I hope everything will keep working fine as from now. I still do not trust it. So, I will continue testing for a while and let you know the results.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

@brainvoyager

Sorry about the misleading double dot I was mixed up with another post where it had https://www.xxxx.xxxxx.nl as its URL that I had seen so ignore that part.

As we can’t see what your TransIP UI on cPanel looks like it could be that they are pre wrapping your string with quotes already for you via the UI interface..

However great news that you finally have success.. ??

Remember cron execution for good measure not less than an hour apart.

Andrew

@andrewmperryman,

Thanks again for all your help! Unfortunately, It looks like the successful triggering of the cron job was a one time event… ??

The test emails I tried thereafter all resulted in the same email notification I got used to during the past 2.5 weeks:

cURL error: (47) Maximum (5) redirects followed

I tried to send this test email to 7 recipients (all email addresses of mine), only once a day.

@prathameshp, @icegram,

Can you help me? So far, in the past 2 weeks and 5 days I have not received any substantive response from you about the error message itself. What does cURL error: (47) Maximum (5) redirects followed mean and why am I getting these messages? What is the problem here?

The fact that I succeeded just once (of the 40-50 times of trying the last 2.5 weeks) to send a test email, must somehow mean that the command I have put in the command line in cPanel is correct? I mean, a wrong command can never lead to a successful execution of a command? Here is my command (again):

https://brainvoyagermusic.com/?es=cron&guid=gvhcxt-ndhxeg-jtchue-oeqswc-cpinby

Also, I have not received any substantive response yet either about the fact that your plugin sends out my Newsletter two times when using the “Send email immediately” as an alternative way to send my Newsletters.

As I said before, I have been thinking to upgrade to the paid version. But the “support” you seem to be offering me now, does not exactly urge me to indeed upgrade. I do not want to waste money on a buggy plugin that comes with seemingly almost no support. I hope you can understand that?

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

@prathameshp, @icegram,

I’m still waiting on any substantive response from support.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

@prathameshp, @icegram,

I’m still interested in a substantive response from support. Cron jon still doesn’t work.

Every time the cron is triggered, I receive an email stating:

cURL error: (47) Maximum (5) redirects followed

What does this mean? How to resolve?

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

Maybe ITS a Cookies-problem. Read this
https://stackoverflow.com/q/20622719/1200840
@icegram @brainvoyager @prathameshp

Thank you very much for your response @amarradi! I will check this asap!

Hello @amarradi,

Thanks again for pointing me to the article on Stackoverflow. I just read the article. I’m afraid this goes beyond my knowledge. Aside from that, how can I implement what they are explaining, assuming that this is the cause of my problem with cron?

@prathameshp and/or @icegram, can you help me? I lack the knowhow to make a good judgement as to the article @amarradi is referring to. Can you explain to me what cURL error: (47) Maximum (5) redirects followed means? I still don’t have any clue.

This morning my hosting provider TransIP told me for the third time that my problem has to be solved by the plug-in developer and that they cannot give any support on issues caused by plug-ins installed by their customers.

Right now I haven’t been able to send my Newsletter for 4 weeks since I started this topic.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

Evening @brainvoyager

I have been away for a while..

Four more things to note from my previous posts..

as @amarradi has said I did come across this post “cookies” not sure if it applies to you though…
1. “wget” has cookies enabled by default so you could look at the examples that @icegram support doc give and use that only as pre command to your cron URL.

2. are you testing this on a staging site as it is important to note that you need a minimum number of visits to initiate the cron on your host server site hence the above question, site activity is key.

3. Whole example string enclosed below, as a no brainer you could try this.
wget -q -O – https://www.xxxxxxxx.xx/?es=cron&guid=xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx

4. Note above is http: only I don’t use a SSL certificate (https:) I am not sure about the https activation for cron over https I take it you use a https SSL cetificate. you may need to validate this.

I use cPanel classic only because the host provider has not upgraded yet but the interface (UI) should be the same.

Andrew

Hello @andrewmperryman,

Thank you very much for all your help!!!

Unfortunately, like I said before, my cPanel does not accept pre-commands in the command field. No matter how hard I try and no matter what I use as my cPanel cron string, my cPanel only accepts the url like this:

https://brainvoyagermusic.com/?es=cron&guid=gvhcxt-ndhxeg-jtchue-oeqswc-cpinby

Or without the s:

https://brainvoyagermusic.com/?es=cron&guid=gvhcxt-ndhxeg-jtchue-oeqswc-cpinby

It doestn′t accept quotes and pre-commands. They all result in the error message: “URL invalid” when trying to save the cron job.

After more than 4 weeks I had hoped for some help from the plug-in developers. But I don’t think they know what’s going on as they are constantly ignoring me and maybe they are hoping I will close this thread out of frustration. It’s true that I’m frustrated right now.

I’m still waiting for a substantive response from @prathameshp or @icegram. It’s too bad I had to write a very negative review (with only one star, only because giving no stars at all isn’t possible) about their plug-in. Maybe they are punishing me for that right now? But the bad review is due only to their constantly ignoring me.

If their plug-in works well (and it did for more than one year!) then it’s absolutely a great plug-in! Too bad the support sucks big time. My problems started when my total number of subscribers went over 100. Too bad I had to advice a lot of people in my network lately not to install Email Subscribers because of the bad support of this plug-in developer.

Right now I’m testing the services of MailChimp. They offer a “free forever” plan up to 2,000 subscribers.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.

@brainvoyager

The cron string example is of standard syntax construction.

Unless your hosting provider has a unique or another system to utilise cron tasks nobody else will be able to help.

Unfortunately not seeing what you are seeing is a barrier too as regards your cPanel UI.

cPanel is a standard animal so I am confused for you as to why the string example is not being accepted.

Does your host provider have any in house documentation or clent knowledge base to assist with cron task setup?

Hello @andrewmperryman,

Many thanks for all your contributions, they are highly appreciated!!

Also, many thanks to the other people who responded and tried to help me!!

Like I wrote in my previous post, I am testing MailChimp. Yesterday I sent out my first Newsletter in 4 weeks to my 101 subscribers. It really works like a charm; a beautifully tailored Newsletter has been delivered to all recipients. Right now, I have chosen for their “forever free” plan. This plan is free up to 2,000 subscribers and a max of 12,000 emails each month. That will be enough for me for an extended period.

I have deleted the plug-in Email & Subscribers from my website. My frustration and even my anger grew to a level that just wasn’t good for me. They were aimed only at the lack of decent support though. They ignored me for more than 4 weeks, despite my asking and almost begging for a substantive response from their end.

Yesterday @icegram responded to my very negative review, asking me to open a new thread so that they can investigate it. But I’m absolutely done with them. I will not change my review either.

I’ve got a business to run, you know… ??

Thanks again @andrewmperryman, I wish you a very pleasant weekend!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by Brainvoyager.