Simor has written an excellent program. I've just started using it this week and it has so filled me with confidence that I want you all to give it a go.
The features of it (pros) are: Very easy to use, from csv (comma separated value) files which you can edit in excel. I copy and paste the info I want in, and bang, it's ready to go.
It has some security, you have to send simor the list of players in your tourney so he can create a license that allows you to send mass pm's to those players only (so no room for abuse outside of tourney use). This job should be taken over by a TO or someone higher up, as simor doesn't want to keep doing it regularly, it's not his job he made the thing. But for now he'll do them. Send him a pm with a list of players in your tourney and he will customise the license.
It has MAIL MERGE - you can send "body generic" but "content specific" (game number, game password, game opponents) messages to people. You will see an example of this in action below. Here is an excerpt from the CSV file I created to send out the Round 5 games of CC's Historical Battles
username subject game1 password op1 op2 op3 op4
hschroed78 CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305241 #### hschroed78 Daryth TheBourneBeast RedLeadersFault
Daryth CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305241 #### hschroed78 Daryth TheBourneBeast RedLeadersFault
TheBourneBeast CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305241 #### hschroed78 Daryth TheBourneBeast RedLeadersFault
RedLeadersFault CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305241 #### hschroed78 Daryth TheBourneBeast RedLeadersFault
trk1994 CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305243 #### trk1994 dfp2dep CarrotKhan jpcloet
dfp2dep CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305243 #### trk1994 dfp2dep CarrotKhan jpcloet
CarrotKhan CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305243 #### trk1994 dfp2dep CarrotKhan jpcloet
jpcloet CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305243 #### trk1994 dfp2dep CarrotKhan jpcloet
brikb CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305244 #### brikb Syndrome zuul ga7
Syndrome CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305244 #### brikb Syndrome zuul ga7
zuul CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305244 #### brikb Syndrome zuul ga7
ga7 CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia 1305244 #### brikb Syndrome zuul ga7
This is the first 3 games, each part is in a cell under the headings in the top row. I can refer to the headings as %username% and %password% in the body of my message, so they get changed for each player. The body I sent out was
Hello %username%
Welcome to the Battle for Australia. It's now Round 5 and the top 20 are currently as follows. If you're not in this list, check your score in the forum.
There are 3 more games to come, so it's still anyone's tourney!
Your game number for this round is %game1% with password %password%
Your opponents are %op1%, %op2%, %op3% and %op4%
which created these messages:
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Username]: hschroed78
[Subject]: CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia
[Message]:
Hello hschroed78
Welcome to the Battle for Australia. It's now Round 5 and the top 20 are currently as follows. If you're not in this list, check your score in the forum.
There are 3 more games to come, so it's still anyone's tourney!
Your game number for this round is 1305241 with password ####
Your opponents are hschroed78, Daryth, TheBourneBeast and RedLeadersFault
Please join your game as soon as you can Smile Some games will need to wait on freemium players, please be patient Smile
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Username]: hschroed78
[Subject]: CC's Historical Battles - Round 5 - Battle for Australia
[Message]:
Hello hschroed78
Welcome to the Battle for Australia. It's now Round 5 and the top 20 are currently as follows. If you're not in this list, check your score in the forum.
There are 3 more games to come, so it's still anyone's tourney!
Your game number for this round is 1305241 with password ####
Your opponents are hschroed78, Daryth, TheBourneBeast and RedLeadersFault
Please join your game as soon as you can Smile Some games will need to wait on freemium players, please be patient Smile
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Basically, it rocks... It has made my tourney organising life -so- much easier. Even mass-pm from php3 hasn't got -all- these features. It's really cool and really worth a go. And really easy to use. Get a copy, send him your userlist, and if you need help, ask me or him or any others using it (post here so we know who's out there).
Here's the link to his forum thread - http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33693 Send him a message.
Cheers