File format for advertisers

For each advertiser who has registered with the newsletter system, a separate file is kept containing their records. The name of the file for any particular advertiser is their username (isn't that convenient). Contained within this file is all of the information relating to their advertisement, number of impressions to date, and current impression ratio.

The format of the file is as follows. Each line within the file contains a single key:value pair of information (e.g. username=someone). The file is terminated with an equals sign on the last line of the file. Both the keys and values stored within this file are stored in a URL-Encoded format; the same one used for CGI parameters when they are sent in/out of your browser.

Configuration options

contactname: Name of the contact person for this advertisement.
contactemail: E-mail address for the contact person for this advertisement.
username: Username for this advertisement. This username is used to identify any users who were referred by this sponsor as well as being the username which the sponsor will use to access their statistics.
password: Password for the user. Note that the password is stored in plain text and is not encrypted.
chequeto: Name of the company/person to whom cheques should be written as payment for their referral of subscribers.
street: Street address of where cheques are to be sent as payment for this sponsor.
city: City for the address of where cheques are to be sent as payment for this sponsor.
provstate: Province/state for the address of where cheques are to be sent as payment for this sponsor.
postalzip: Postal/zip code for the address of where cheques are to be sent as payment for this sponsor.
adtitle: Title that is to be output in each newsletter for this advertisement.
adtext: Full text of the advertisement that is to be included in each newsletter.
adurl: URL to the location that users are directed to within the newsletter if they would like to know more about what was described by the advertisement.
registrations: The current number of existing registrations in the system for this sponsor. Note that this is not the total number of registrations that this sponsor has referred over time, it is the number that are currently active and receiving the newsletter.
impressions: The current account balance of remainin impressions that this sponsor has left. Each newsletter that is sent out with their advertisement counts as one impression and this value is decremented accordingly.
ratio: For every user that this sponsor refers to the newsletter, they get this many impressions added to their account. Similarly, when a user they referred to the newsletter cancels his subscription, this number of impressions are removed from their account.
totalsubscribers: Total number of subscribers that this sponsor has ever referred to the newsletter. Note that this value is a running total and does not necessarily reflect the current number of active subscribers in the system.
payments: List of payments that have been made to this sponsor. Payments are tracked on a monthly basis, simply by appending to the list of payments.
paymentbalance: Current balance within the sponsors account waiting for payout. This value is kept as a running total of the payments owed to a given sponsor in order to determine when a cheque should be written.
unpaidsubscribers: Current payment due for subscribers who have been removed from the distribution list since the last payment was calculated. The value shown here is in dollars and is kept as a running total in order to facilitate payments per subscriber changing over time; each subscriber gets paid out at the value set when they were removed from the distribution list

Example:

contactname=Joe%20User
contactemail=joe%40user.org
username=kingkong
password=acapulco
chequeto=Joe%20User%20Incorporated
street=1234%20Anywhere%20lane
city=Nowhereville
provstate=Middle%20of%20nowhere
postalzip=ABC%20123
adtitle=Hot%20sweaty%20bodies%21
adtext=Hot%20bodies%21%5Cn24%20hours%20a%20day%21%20Non-stop%20action%21
adurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnowhere.doesnotexist.com%2Fsweat.html
registrations=16
impressions=32
ratio=2
totalsubscribers=24
payments=April_1998%202.48|May_1998%203.56
paymentbalance=0.48
unpaidsubscribers=0.24
=

The data shown above represents the following sponsor:

Contact: Joe User

E-mail: joe@user.org

Username: kingkong

Password: acapulco

Cheques to be made to: Joe User Incorporated
Address to send cheques to: 1234 Anywhere lane
Nowhereville, Middle of nowhere
ABC 123
Ad title: Hot sweaty bodies!

Ad text: Hot bodies! 24 hours a day! Non-stop action!

Ad URL: http://nowhere.doesnotexist.com/sweat.html

Registered users: 16

Impressions left: 32

Impression ratio: 2 impressions per user

Total subscribers referred 24 subscribers

Payments made April 1998; $ 2.48
May 1998; $ 3.56

Payment balance $ 0.48

Payment due for removed unpaid subscribers: $ 0.24

Contact:	Joe User
E-mail:	joe@user.org
Username:	kingkong
Password:	acapulco
Cheques to be made to:	Joe User Incorporated
Address to send cheques to:	1234 Anywhere lane Nowhereville, Middle of nowhere ABC 123
Ad title:	Hot sweaty bodies!
Ad text:	Hot bodies! 24 hours a day! Non-stop action!
Ad URL:	http://nowhere.doesnotexist.com/sweat.html
Registered users:	16
Impressions left:	32
Impression ratio:	2 impressions per user
Total subscribers referred	24 subscribers
Payments made	April 1998; $ 2.48 May 1998; $ 3.56
Payment balance	$ 0.48
Payment due for removed unpaid subscribers:	$ 0.24