Mini Mass Mailing

[Rottingham]

Hello,

 

I'm making a newsletter script that is responsible for sending an HTML email out to about 480 email addresses. The script works well, and it usually only takes about 30 seconds for the script to end.

 

However, I'm noticing that if I send to about 20 people at a time, the email comes through right away. If I email to 60-70+ people, it takes a long time for the email to hit the recipient.

 

Is this because the server is working on it slowly in the background, or is it failing?

 

I'm using mail()...

 

All headers/etc are correct and the emails come through fine. The only problem is it seem to take ages for the email to reach the target when sending so many.

 

Any ideas?

[BlueSkyIS]

you're probably filling your email queue and your email application sends out one email at a time, going down the list. that can take a while for several hundred emails. or to answer more directly, "the server is working on it slowly in the background"

[Rottingham]

you're probably filling your email queue and your email application sends out one email at a time, going down the list. that can take a while for several hundred emails. or to answer more directly, "the server is working on it slowly in the background"

 

Would it be faster, and/or better to translate my recipient list to the BCC header, rather than looping through each recipient and using mail() per email?

[BlueSkyIS]

if you could get it to work, it might be faster but probably not better. my guess is that there is a limit on the number of BCC's and/or a limit on the content of the mail header.

 

if you're sending out email too fast, you're more likely to get tagged as a spammer. most batch email programs send out emails in smaller batches over time. i typically set a script to send 20 or 30 every hour, more often if necessary.

[Rottingham]

if you could get it to work, it might be faster but probably not better. my guess is that there is a limit on the number of BCC's and/or a limit on the content of the mail header.

 

if you're sending out email too fast, you're more likely to get tagged as a spammer. most batch email programs send out emails in smaller batches over time. i typically set a script to send 20 or 30 every hour, more often if necessary.

 

Interesting...

 

I actually have it set to send out 15, sleep for a moment and then send another 15 until the end of the list. Would my hosting server be shutting me down?

[BlueSkyIS]

you're probably filling your email queue and your email application sends out one email at a time, going down the list. that can take a while for several hundred emails. or to answer more directly, "the server is working on it slowly in the background"

[Rottingham]

you're probably filling your email queue and your email application sends out one email at a time, going down the list. that can take a while for several hundred emails. or to answer more directly, "the server is working on it slowly in the background"

 

Yea you were right! I called my host and they had me set for 50 emails per hour! I got it upped to 500 per hour. Looks like I'll need to figure out cron jobs...