Sending Mass Emails
(note: still a work in progress draft here...)
If you need to send mass email on behalf of Launchpad, here are some things to consider.
- Do you really have to send the email?
Seriously, think about it. Is the email absolutely necessary?
Be cautious and try to find other means of notification -- blog, identi.ca, twitter, etc. If you do have to send email, then make sure you blog first. Emails should be supplementary notifications where the importance of the notification warrants contacting people directly.
- Build email script on other people's work
See spam.py in lp:~launchpad/lp-dev-utils/trunk as an example
A flawed script that deryck used is at lp:~deryck/+junk/lpjunk
- Make data changes first
- If your email is based on changes being made on Launchpad, then make those changes before sending email.
- Remember: you're sending email to people
Not projects, packages, etc. Make sure you send one email per person.
- Ensure the people have permissions for required action