click-through tracking problem

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dysong3

Member
Hi,

Yesterday I sent out one of our newsletters as usual. Only when I clicked on "send" I got a message asking me whether I really wanted to send out a message with "click-through tracking" disabled. Without thinking, I mechanically responded so that "click-through tracking" was enabled. Not long after having sent it, I started receiving a deluge of reactions from irate subscribers. All the links in my email had been transformed into one link that did nothing else than display to the end user the whole MLM database with which the email used to be sent. This is obviously a very serious breach of privacy. It then took me about ten seconds of troubleshooting to realize that the culprit was "click-through tracking".

Now the fault was entirely mine. I don't even know what "click-through tracking" is. I have since started to delve into the documentation to try and find a definition but as yet to no avail. So the first question is, where can I find an explanation of what "click-through tracking" is and what it is meant to do? Secondly I feel sure that it's purpose can't be to instantaneously offer the end user unlimited access to the database. So what went wrong here?
 
stanbusk

stanbusk

Administrator
Staff member
Look at your MaxBulk Mailer preferences, 'General' panel. What URL have you entered where it says 'URL'?
 
D

dysong3

Member
Sorry but I don't quite get it. Correct me if I'm wrong. As I understand it, you have to enter one URL to get to your database with MLM and then you have to change it to lm.php to get "click-through" to work ? And if you happen to forget and you enable "click-through" you offer your database to the world inadvertently ? If that's the way things are set up, it's not very safe or intuitive.

Could you tell me where I might learn something about what "click-through" actually is and does ? Spotlighting the folder where the Maxbulk documentation is has given no results.
 
stanbusk

stanbusk

Administrator
Staff member
Sorry but I don't quite get it. Correct me if I'm wrong. As I understand it, you have to enter one URL to get to your database with MLM and then you have to change it to lm.php to get "click-through" to work ? And if you happen to forget and you enable "click-through" you offer your database to the world inadvertently ? If that's the way things are set up, it's not very safe or intuitive.
Click to expand...
No, you have to enter the lm.php URL and that's all, no need to change anything. That same URL is the same for everything, loading lists, stats... Your URL should end with /lm.php This is the script entry point.

All the MLM information is available here.
 
D

dysong3

Member
Got it ! Thanks !

But it might be an idea to impede end-users from accessing the database if it as all possible when an idiot like me puts in the each list's URL rather than lm.php.
 
stanbusk

stanbusk

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, you can do that using mySQL rather than plain text files to store your data. Plain text files are not secure.
 
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