Mailer is sending emails w/o 'process' initiation

I've been having issues with site errors when posting a reply to follow up on this...so I'm going to try to attach a file with my follow up reply.

< editing the post to remove secured URL issue >

You need to contact your host regarding CRON usage. Supply them with the URL and they should be able to help you with setting up CRON usage for it.

Regarding your substitution usage there is no [SUBSCRIPTION_EXPIRATION_DATE]; it's [SUBSCRIPTION_EXPIRY_DATE] as seen directly below the body of the email inside of the "Substitutions" fieldset, which explains the available extra substitutions.

I tried that approach with the hosting company. Was told they could not help me with any custom coding. I simply asked "is this done right? - I used your 'fill in the blank and build a cron job" but was told they couldn't help write custom code. Great.

As for the "expiry" vs "expiration" - see my attached screenshot. My version of Mailer indicates "expiration" so that's what I used. ( on CB 1.8, can't tell what version of Mailer)

I tried that approach with the hosting company. Was told they could not help me with any custom coding. I simply asked "is this done right? - I used your 'fill in the blank and build a cron job" but was told they couldn't help write custom code. Great.

It's not custom coding. They should have an interface for setting up CRON. Such interfaces often have certain ways for you to format the URLs. Only they can help with this. We are not your host so we can't help you with host related problems.

As for the "expiry" vs "expiration" - see my attached screenshot. My version of Mailer indicates "expiration" so that's what I used. ( on CB 1.8, can't tell what version of Mailer)

I see, unfortunately this could just be a bug. You're on an out of date CB and CBSubs release. Maybe try expiry and see if it works. If not then best I can suggest is to upgrade to GPL release and if issue persists with GPL I can at least review source code and offer a quickfix if possible; something I can't do with non-GPL.

yeah, I get that with the out-of-date issue. I will try 'expiry' and see if that works next time.

as for this:
"They should have an interface for setting up CRON. Such interfaces often have certain ways for you to format the URLs. "

I did use their interface for setting up the CRON, then asked if it was correctly done. and that's when I got the answer of "can't help you there".

I used to love BlueHost - but as I told them that day - their support has really gone down the toilet in the last 2-3 yrs. Seriously.

But can you help me answer the issue of "logged in user" initiates the send vs a URL that isn't a "logged in user" -- or is the fact that the "key" is embedded in the URL this 'by-passes' the need for a logged in user to initiate the send ?

thanks
LrG

But can you help me answer the issue of "logged in user" initiates the send vs a URL that isn't a "logged in user" -- or is the fact that the "key" is embedded in the URL this 'by-passes' the need for a logged in user to initiate the send ?

Don't understand the issue. You mean when you're trying to access the CRON URL it's wanting you to login? The key in the URL is to validate the CRON so it goes through. You need to use the exact URL supplied in backend. Also ensure you've a public and published Joomla menu item to CBs profiles (this is mandatory) as Joomla may pickup the URL and block it using ACL.