MessageMagic Functions
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Search Patterns Section:
Add:
Enter a Search Pattern of 3 characters minimum and click Add. This will
add the Search Pattern to the window above the button. You can add as many
Search Patterns as you want.
Save to File:
If you have a list of patterns showing up in the Search Patterns window
you can save that list in a file. Just click the Save to File button and
chose what to name it.
Load From File:
If you have a .csv file containing rows of Search Patterns click Load
From File to bring those Search Patterns in to the window above the button.
The file should be a standard text file which contains one pattern per row.
There is no need for commas.
Search:
After entering or loading one or more Search Patterns, press Search for
the software to go look for users that match your Search Patterns. If/when
it finds matches the usernames will be displayed in the Users window.
Clear Search:
After entering or loading one or more Search Patterns, press Clear Search
to clear that window to start over.
Search for online users only checkbox:
This checkbox should be checked if you are only interested in searching
for users that are currently online. This option has very limited value but
you may find it useful.
Users Section:
Load From File:
If you have a .csv file containing rows of Skype Usernames click Load
From File to bring those Users in to the Users window. The file should be a
standard text file which contains one username per row. There is no need for
commas.
Save to File:
If you have a list of Users showing up in the Users window you can save
that list in a file. Just click the Save to File button and chose what to
name it. You may have done a search for a particular key word(s) and want to
save the resulting list of Users that you can load at a later time.
Load Contacts:
This function loads all your personal Skype contacts in to the Users
window so you can select the ones you want to send a broadcast message. If
you have your Skype Contact Groups enabled you will be asked which groups
you want to include.
Check All:
The Check All button will put a check mark beside all Users. This is very
useful if you want to either add the selected Users as contacts or broadcast
a message to them.
Check All Online:
The Check All Online button will only select the Users that are currently
online. This is useful if you want to restrict your broadcast to people
currently online.
Uncheck All:
This simply removed the checkmark beside all Users.
Message Text:
This is the message you want to broadcast. There are two ways to
broadcast a message: 1) When you Add Contacts, and 2) by clicking the
Broadcast Message button.
Add Contacts:
This is one of the two most important and powerful features of
MessageMagic. Once you have a list of Users showing up in the Users window,
and you have a checkmark beside the ones you want to target, and
have some sort of introductory message in the Message Text window,
press Add Contacts. This will add them as pending contacts, they will show
up in your main Skype Contact list with a ? to the left of their name, AND
they will get your custom broadcast message. Once they confirm your request
they become a new authentic contact of yours. Add them to the appropriate
contact group. The key here is that you have a
good introductory message they find interesting or compelling
enough to add you as a contact. If you do it this way then DO NOT send them
a broadcast message!
Broadcast Message:
After you have a list of users, some with a check mark beside them, and
some text in the Message Text window, click this button to broadcast your
message out to the list. That's it, you're done! Easy, wasn't it? If you
added contacts there is no need to send them a broadcast message because
they got the message you used when you added them as a contact. By the way,
just so you know, if a person has their privacy setting checked to NOT
receive messages from people not on their contact list then they will never
get your message. This is the cleanest and simplest form of SPAM filtering
available on the internet.
Words of Caution!
While there is no doubt the temptation will be there for some people to
use the tool we’ve provided in a way that will leave many plugging their
nose, going “whew!” what a smell, but I think those folks will learn
pretty fast that certainly isn’t the way to go. After all Skype will not
hesitate to shut abusers down pretty fast, no different than an ISP would if
a person was blasting emails all over the internet...
Here are some Skype terms passed along to me by the Skype legal team
located in the USA:
http://www.skype.com/legal/eula/#we_expect
http://www.skype.com/legal/terms/voip/#business_control_panel
http://www.skype.com/legal/terms/web
http://www.skype.com/legal/terms/callserviceprovider
Pending features:
... We are always open to ideas to make it more powerful. Let us know your thoughts.