Managing Your Poker Night Invites and Responses (4 Viewers)

Hi Everyone,

I just released version 3.2 of my Invite Tracker. This version has several improvements including a new tab and web page to track metrics on your guests. I've also finally completed a first draft of a manual for this app. A link to it can be found in the ReadMe tab and can also be accessed here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eyfRpOmiou1JxCcwtchMzHMXJqGDXmdtQjmo_o0CZFY/edit?usp=sharing

If you've already reached out to me for the older versions I've already shared the new version with you.

Enjoy!
Can I update it if I already started using the older version?
 
Can I update it if I already started using the older version?
Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this. What I would do is set up the new sheet then copy and paste your user list from the old to the new. You can do the same is you want for your WebActivity log and Archive log. You may also be able to to the same for any message templates you created.
 
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Huge fan of it, it’s made things so much easier. Can just log in on google sheets, change the date, hit send on the invite, everyone gets a text with the details for the week. Can automatically send reminders to those that haven’t RSVPed. It’s an awesome tool.
 
Google doesn’t seem to like it, and gives me a bunch of warnings about unauthorized access to my account. Is this safe?
 
Google doesn’t seem to like it, and gives me a bunch of warnings about unauthorized access to my account. Is this safe?
It’s just a warning that you are letting some third party code access your account on your behalf. So it’s only as safe as the code you allow. In other words if you trust my code then you’re good to go. I trust my code, mostly :). So I let it access my account. The code is open for everyone to see, so if there was something bad going on presumably someone could see it.

Google throws these warnings because they can’t vouch for what someone else’s code is doing. I mean, I could have written it with more nefarious purposes like say harvest all your friends email addresses and your game dates. Of course I did not, and if I did it would be there for everyone to see.
 
Anyone having issues sending to people with Verizon?

I'm getting a 550 5.1.0 sender rejected error message
 
Anyone having issues sending to people with Verizon?

I'm getting a 550 5.1.0 sender rejected error message
Many of my players are on verizon And I’ve never seen this error. The only issue I’ve had with MMS is random and sometimes very long delivery delays.

The 550 error usually means the sender account is on some SPAM blacklist. Anything going on with your gmail account?
 
Many of my players are on verizon And I’ve never seen this error. The only issue I’ve had with MMS is random and sometimes very long delivery delays.

The 550 error usually means the sender account is on some SPAM blacklist. Anything going on with your gmail account?
Nothing that I know of. I'll do some more research
 
Oh my goodness,

So I have been lurking this thread for a while, and now I took it upon myself today to "officially" set this up for my club. I am impressed with the latest version of the documentation, made setup super easy. I have so far sent it to a short list of a few people, I am awaiting responses, but as for my own phone, it's working great.

GAME CHANGER. Can’t wait to try it.
Couldn't agree more!

Don’t get your hopes up too much for the texting portion. It relies on you using the providers SMS email address for that. (xxx@txt.att.net, xxx@vtext.com etc.)

I host a game on Friday night, and will be asking everyone for their cell phone provider (and phone number if I don't have it already).

There is a way to look this up that hasn't been mentioned anywhere. You can type phone numbers in to this website and it will return the MMS Gateway Address.

https://freecarrierlookup.com/

You do have to complete a CAPTCHA every time, but I think that's a small price to pay to figure out any numbers where you don't know the carrier.

I could do something like that in a future release. Each player could be assigned to a list category. (I.e. A list, B list, C list etc). Then the email form could have a selector to send to all, some or one of the lists. You’d be on your own to determine who goes on what list.

I wanna be careful not to over complicate this thing though. I’ve already gone pretty far down the rabbit hole.

I’ll consider it in the future. For now I want to concentrate on finding and fixing any issues.
That's probably smart, that said I do have a couple feature suggestions:

1) Support lists for multiple events. (Given the way this is structured, I can see where this can get difficult. That said, nothing saying I can't run multiple instances from my google drive as a work-around.)

2) options for daily texts instead of hourly. I don't want to blow up anyone's phone that frequently. But a set it and forget it daily reminder the two days before the event, for example, would be my goldilocks zone.

But this thing is more than 90% of what I would hope for and a better option than group e-mail/text by far.

Thank you so much @Al Azouri for the effort here.
 
1) Support lists for multiple events. (Given the way this is structured, I can see where this can get difficult. That said, nothing saying I can't run multiple instances from my google drive as a work-around.)
Yeah, you're right about that. It would be very difficult the way it's structured. You've got the right idea though - about setting up a separate instance.


2) options for daily texts instead of hourly. I don't want to blow up anyone's phone that frequently.

That's easy to change. Just look at step 10 in the install document and change the settings accordingly.


Keep the suggestions coming....
 
I am awaiting responses, but as for my own phone, it's working great.
Don't forget to check the Metrics Weblink do see who is lurking around your system. Sometime people click on the link but don't post a response. That metrics page let's you see all of that. It's a little big brother, but oh well...
 
InviteTracker v3.3 has been released

Release Notes:
  • Fixed send error when there are no recipients
  • Rounded status button
  • Added Recent Event Hits to Metrics Page
  • Added Event Status to Metrics Page
  • Fixed Metrics page when Prompt for Identity is turned on
  • Added option for guests to add comments to event
 
Got everything transferred over from my previous version to v3.3 and it's all working thus far.

Since we're only using cell phones, I'm hoping to take a crack at iterating through a list so if I do send to "unknown" group, it sends an individual text to everyone with a certain designation instead of adding names one by one.
 
Seems like everyone here is hyped on the custom solution -- sweet!

BUT, I thought I'd offer up what our group uses. We use a free app called Group Me, and it has served us well for the 2+ years we've had our poker group, from beginning with 5 members to today, where we have a distribution list of 26. Our average game is 10-16 players.

New players just have to download the app and then anyone in the group can send an invite to them to join. We play every other Thursday, and the host sends out a text to the group via the app that gives the details of the game, asking for an "in" or "out" response from the players. Simple enough!

The other nice thing about Group Me is we have a smaller group of players within the app (five of us) to discuss ideas for the game, hosting, etc. without having to bug the whole group. We also have a third group for players to voluntarily join and share their exploits at card rooms and casinos. If you were so inclined, you could even go further and create additional sub groups for each event and post a link to the new sub group in the main group for players to voluntarily join if they intend to play at said event. This would be an easy way to tally as well. So far, the simpler, single-group solution has worked great for us.
 
I have 40+ members on my invite list (some of which don't know each other that well). When I was doing text messages, I would turn group MMS off to save all the notifications from blowing up phones that didn't want everyone in one big group. I like the individual component and show up to play on game day.
 
Since we're only using cell phones, I'm hoping to take a crack at iterating through a list so if I do send to "unknown" group, it sends an individual text to everyone with a certain designation instead of adding names one by one.
Maybe I’m not understanding but: That’s exactly what sending to the unknown - or any group - does.
 
There is a way to look this up that hasn't been mentioned anywhere. You can type phone numbers in to this website and it will return the MMS Gateway Address.

https://freecarrierlookup.com/

You do have to complete a CAPTCHA every time, but I think that's a small price to pay to figure out any numbers where you don't know the carrier.
Thanks for the great find on this.

The biggest PITA of this otherwise awesome system has been bugging my players to tell me who their cell provider is! :LOL: :laugh:
 
Maybe I’m not understanding but: That’s exactly what sending to the unknown - or any group - does.
Exactly.

I was easily able to send out reminders only to those who had not responded or committed (e.g. maybe, likely) and leave people alone who were definitely in or out already.
 
BUT, I thought I'd offer up what our group uses. We use a free app called Group Me, and it has served us well for the 2+ years we've had our poker group, from beginning with 5 members to today, where we have a distribution list of 26. Our average game is 10-16 players.
Yeah, I tried GroupMe and many other apps before creating this system. The apps are great but I struggled with adoption. I needed something that did not need to be installed and configured by the recipient.
 
Maybe I’m not understanding but: That’s exactly what sending to the unknown - or any group - does.
I haven't tried it since the original version I think and it was throwing everyone in the same group message. I'll give it a shot when my quota resets lol
 
I haven't tried it since the original version I think and it was throwing everyone in the same group message. I'll give it a shot when my quota resets lol
Argh. I need to find a way to get past this dumb quota.
 
Argh. I need to find a way to get past this dumb quota.
Really the quota shouldn't be a problem unless the list is more than 100 if you disable the instant notifications. Even at that, if the list is at 50 recipients, the only way to exhaust the quota in a day would be if everyone responded within 24 hours. (unlikley)

It would be nice, but I think as is, even with the quota, this would cover 95% of application. I don't think there's a way around so long as gmail is setting the quota.
 
True. I usually do 3, 2, 1 week out and then day before, day of messages for my monthly game. I had a nasty mixup issue with my guests sheet and need to resend to 42 people twice yesterday. Goodbye quota! Lol
 
My game tends to come together over a couple of days. I also tend to send texts and emails because texts through MMS gateways can be flakey. Delivery is not guaranteed and I’ve seen delays ranging from hours, to days to never. So 25 players times two plus the hourly reminder to those who don’t answer can quickly exhaust my quota to the point where I can’t send the message saying the game is on.

Maybe I’m trying to do to much. But I like to flex what this thing can do.

I could overcome the gmail limit by using a 3rd party that offers an API into their messaging platform. In theory I should be able to call it from the google AppsScript. Unfortunately none of them offer an adequate free service.

I suppose the easiest thing to do is to upgrade to a google paid subscription for 3BB/Mo. I’m just being cheap.
 

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