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How to track forwarded email

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 3:24 am
by susovanchanda
Hi All,

I have sent an email to multiple recipients using PHP mail function. Now I want to track this email i.e. I want to know the recipients who have forwarded the email and the list of email addresses whom it has been forwarded to.

Can anyone suggest me how this can be done using PHP?

Regards,

Susovan Chanda

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 3:46 am
by Chris Corbyn
You can't very easily do that at all. The only way you'd be able to coneivably to do this is by forcing them to use your mail server when forwarding the mail. I'm not sure how read reciepts work but that's not really what you're needing anyway.

/me realises he should learn how to request read reciepts

How to track forwarded email

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 4:50 am
by susovanchanda
Is there anyway to implement this?

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 5:47 am
by Chris Corbyn
Don't use email for something like this... And if you're going to, make sure every recipient is using YOUR mail server so you can scan the messages as the get sent. I could go into detail on how to do that but it's complex if you don't know what you're doing (you need to write a system filter for your MTA). Is there a reason you need to use email as opposed to something that stays on the server?

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 6:34 am
by aerodromoi
d11wtq wrote: /me realises he should learn how to request read reciepts
Most people I know (using Thunderbird/Outlook Express) have disabled sending read receipts automatically.
The best susovanchanda could hope for then is that a recipient agrees to sending a receipt - which I doubt.
susovanchanda wrote:Hello,

Can anyone tell me whether its possible to add some javascript codes in the HTML email body?

Regards

Susovan Chanda
Seems like you're really into tracking emails... For one thing - some people use web based email interfaces. Nobody in his or her right mind would allow javascript to be executed on that page.

The same is true for email clients. Some support(ed) javascript, others don't. It's all a question of security.

aerodromoi

ps: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that the email you're trying to build... :x

How to track forwarded email

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 6:49 am
by susovanchanda
See I am going to implement a project that will be able to track the recipient addresses implicitly. It will neither depend on which email client is used by the recipient nor will it expect that any receipt from the recipient.

However till now what I have done that it can keep track of domain names as well as number of times the mail has been opened. I need to track the recipient addresses also.

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 6:51 am
by Chris Corbyn
aerodromoi wrote:
d11wtq wrote: /me realises he should learn how to request read reciepts
Most people I know (using Thunderbird/Outlook Express) have disabled sending read receipts automatically.
The best susovanchanda could hope for then is that a recipient agrees to sending a receipt - which I doubt.
I was thinking more of creating a plugin for Swift for other people to use if they really wanted to.... granted, it's not reliable but there could be some use for it :)

Re: How to track forwarded email

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 6:55 am
by aerodromoi
susovanchanda wrote:See I am going to implement a project that will be able to track the recipient addresses implicitly. It will neither depend on which email client is used by the recipient nor will it expect that any receipt from the recipient.

However till now what I have done that it can keep track of domain names as well as number of times the mail has been opened. I need to track the recipient addresses also.
I'm not really sure whether I should welcome this idea...

aerodromoi

Re: How to track forwarded email

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 7:07 am
by twigletmac
aerodromoi wrote:I'm not really sure whether I should welcome this idea...
Agreed - the thought of that happening without my knowledge or consent is somewhat uncomfortable...

Mac

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 8:05 am
by Chris Corbyn
What's this for? It sounds a little unpleasant? Hopefully I'm wrong, but the only reason I could see for doing this would be to track which email addresses are successully receieving spam.

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 8:46 am
by aerodromoi
d11wtq wrote:What's this for? It sounds a little unpleasant? Hopefully I'm wrong, but the only reason I could see for doing this would be to track which email addresses are successully receieving spam.
Imagine an innocent chain letter...