Hello 2.2.1: the newsletter plugin for Geeklog is back

More than a decade after its original introduction, Hello, one of the most complete newsletter plugins ever developed for Geeklog, is finally back with a modernized version designed for Geeklog 2.1.1 through 2.2.2.

The plugin is now maintained on GitHub in the Geeklog-Plugins organization and is available here:

Download and follow Hello on GitHub

The first Hello announcement on Geeklog.net dates back to November 2013, when the plugin was introduced for Geeklog 2.0. The downloadable Hello 2.1 package from that period already allowed administrators to create and send HTML emails to groups, while providing a plain-text alternative for mail clients that did not support HTML. (Geeklog)

Today, Hello 2.2.1 brings that concept up to date with improved deliverability, campaign statistics, click and open tracking, safer unsubscribe handling, throttled sending and a substantially improved digest system. The current code officially targets Geeklog 2.1.1–2.2.2 and PHP 5.6–8.x, according to the project documentation.

More than a simple bulk email tool

Hello can be used as a genuine newsletter system directly inside Geeklog.

Administrators can create HTML campaigns and send them to Geeklog user groups without relying on a separate newsletter platform. Messages can be queued instead of trying to send an entire mailing in a single HTTP request, and Hello provides configurable limits for the number of messages processed per execution and per hour.

Campaigns can also be paused, resumed, stopped or processed manually.

For sites with hundreds or thousands of registered users, these controls are particularly useful because they make it possible to adapt sending rates to the limits imposed by the hosting provider or SMTP service.

A much better Geeklog article digest

Hello also integrates with Geeklog's article publishing system.

This feature has existed for many years. Hello 2.1.1, released in February 2016, could already automatically send daily digests when Geeklog's email-stories feature was enabled. (Geeklog)

Version 2.2.1 significantly improves this functionality.

The new digest deliberately contains only one promotional link per article. The article title is displayed as plain text, and links embedded inside the introduction are removed while their visible content remains.

Only the final Read article call-to-action links to the story.

This makes the email easier to read, reduces unnecessary tracked URLs and, most importantly, makes click statistics much easier to understand: a tracked click represents a clear intention to continue reading the article.

Digest article URLs also use Geeklog's canonical article.php?story= format, so they continue to work when URL rewriting and URL routing are disabled.

Images included in article excerpts are normalized for email clients as well. Fixed dimensions are removed and responsive styling is applied to prevent blocked remote images from breaking the email layout.

Open and click tracking without an external service

Hello 2.2.1 provides optional first-party tracking.

Open tracking uses the traditional 1×1 image technique, while click tracking now uses short opaque tokens pointing to destinations stored server-side. Administrators can independently enable or disable both mechanisms.

This is an important improvement over older Hello tracking URLs, which embedded the destination using Base64.

The new system creates shorter and cleaner URLs and avoids turning newly generated links into unrestricted redirectors.

Backward compatibility has nevertheless been preserved. Previously sent Hello 2.2.0 links can still work, including external destinations when the URL can be verified against the stored historical campaign. Same-site destinations remain supported as a fallback.

So upgrading Hello does not automatically make links contained in previously delivered newsletters obsolete.

Test campaigns before sending them

One of the most useful additions is the improved testing workflow.

A test campaign is sent to the administrator who is currently logged in and receives a [TEST] prefix.

But the test is no longer limited to checking the visual appearance of the message.

Campaign tests and digest tests now exercise the real open and click tracking endpoints.

The test data remains isolated from real campaign statistics, so administrators can open the test message, click a tracked link and then return to the Hello administration interface to verify that both mechanisms are working correctly.

The unsubscribe process can be tested in the same way. Hello provides a simulated unsubscribe and resubscribe workflow without changing the administrator's actual subscription preferences or polluting unsubscribe statistics.

Better unsubscribe handling and email deliverability

Email deliverability has become much more demanding since Hello first appeared in 2013.

Hello 2.2.1 therefore adds standards-based unsubscribe handling, including the List-Unsubscribe header and RFC 8058 List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click.

A normal browser visit still displays a confirmation page before unsubscribing. This helps prevent security scanners and automatic link checkers from accidentally unsubscribing users simply by visiting the URL.

Administrative bulk newsletters also always include a visible unsubscribe link.

When the modern Geeklog mail class is available, Hello can provide both HTML and plain-text versions of the message, while compatibility with older Geeklog installations is maintained through the legacy mail path.

Hello also formats HTML more safely for SMTP transport to avoid excessively long lines inside generated email messages.

Queue management and safer administration

Hello 2.2.1 includes several less visible but important improvements.

Queue-changing actions now use POST requests protected by Geeklog CSRF tokens. Subscriber searches are hardened, administrative output is escaped more carefully, and the plugin's cron script is restricted to command-line execution.

The queued recipients are also processed by ascending user ID and creation time, which means the main administrative account will normally receive a real campaign near the beginning of a mailing when it is part of the targeted group.

That provides another useful opportunity to verify a production campaign before most subscribers receive it.

Hello is ready for modern Geeklog sites

The original Hello plugin filled an important gap in the Geeklog ecosystem: it allowed site owners to communicate directly with their registered community without exporting subscriber lists to another platform.

That remains valuable today.

Hello 2.2.1 keeps that original idea while adding the features expected from a modern newsletter system: HTML campaigns, article digests, queues, throttling, personalization, open tracking, click tracking, statistics, test campaigns and standards-based unsubscribe handling.

More than ten years after the original Geeklog.net announcement, the newsletter plugin Geeklog users have been waiting for is available again and ready for current Geeklog installations.

Download Hello 2.2.1

The source code, documentation and current release are available from the official Geeklog-Plugins repository:

Geeklog-Plugins/hello on GitHub

Users upgrading an existing Hello installation should back up their site and database first, review the new tracking and hourly-limit settings, send a test campaign and digest, and verify the new hello_links table before launching a large mailing.