[prog] Ideas for a script

[Kathryn Andersen]

On Wed, Oct 22, 2003 at 08:41:41AM +1000, Kathryn Andersen wrote:
> I'm thinking of starting a mailing list which has "dues" in it, and I'd
> like to write a (Perl) script(s) to keep track of the individual dates that
> people's dues are due, email them reminders, and email me if they are
> overdue, so that I can unsubscribe them.  And also have an easy way of
> updating the data with (a) new subscribers and (b) updating when people
> *did* post their dues, so that the script won't remind them if they've
> already posted.  And also keep track of people who have just left, so
> that they can't get around the dues requirement by unsubscribing when
> they're due and then resubscribing afterwards.
> I'd like to have as much of this automated as possible.
> 
> Got any ideas as to how I should structure this, any helpful modules and
> so on?  Thanks.

Now, someone wrote me privately but I think they meant to go to the
list, asking...
>Could you please give us an example? Like where you want to fetch the
>data from.....etc.

And my answer is -- it's all up in the air, isn't it?  The data has to
be put *in* before it's fetched *out*, which means the data could be in
any form I choose to make it, depending on what seems to best suit the
task -- whether it's better in a flat file, in XML file, or in an SQL
database.  While the mailing list is being run on a free server over
which I have no control, I'm intending this script suite to run on
my Linux box, which means I have a lot of choice as to what to do it
with.   I've already got Postgres up and running for another database,
but I'm not sure that using Postgres for this wouldn't just be overkill,
and whether a flat file might be better.  Not sure.  Since comparing
dates is involved, then maybe a full database would be better, or maybe
just a good date module.

I don't know!  Which is why I'm asking for advice.

The tasks needed to be done are as follows:
A) input mailing list member information.  This might be done by hand,
or by parsing a "a new member had joined" email which I as the
list-owner would be sent.  This would add to the data (whether database
or flat file)
B) input when a mailing list member has posted their dues.  It would be
nice if this could be done by parsing the list mail in which they sent
their dues -- it wouldn't be hard to declare that all dues mail must
have "DUES" in the subject or something like that
C) a nightly cron job calls a script which
  a) checks the dues data and emails the list member a week (or some
other period) before their dues are due
  b) checks the dues data and emails the list owner informing that a
particular list member's dues are overdue.
D) a script to either delete or mark as left, those members who
are no longer members.

It would also be nice if one could put exemptions and extensions into
the data (file/table), so that the script doesn't make me look like a
list-nazi.

Kathryn Andersen
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