Comment Mail v161118 was released on November 18th, 2016 and includes 1 bug fix, 1 enhancement, PHP v7 compatibility detection, new SparkPost integration for the Replies via Email feature (Pro-only), and a new MailChimp integration feature (Pro-only).

New Feature: MailChimp Integration

The Pro version of Comment Mail now includes a MailChimp Integration, allowing you to specify a MailChimp List that visitors can choose to subscribe to when leaving a comment on your site. Users can now subscribe to the comments themselves and to your entire blog, or any other MailChimp List that you specify.

Comment Mail - MailChimp Integration Options

Comment Mail - MailChimp Comment Form Checkbox

Changelog for Comment Mail v160818

  • Bug Fix: Exclude unapproved comments from the dropdown menu on the 'Subscribe Without Commenting' form. See Issue #299.
  • Enhancement: When parsing templates, this release uses include() instead of eval() whenever possible. This improves compatibility with shared hosting providers and makes it easier to debug template parsing issues should they occur. See Issue #192.
  • PHP v7 Compatibility: After further testing, it was found that while Comment Mail is compatible with PHP v7.0, you must be running PHP v7.0.9+. Starting with this release of Comment Mail if you're running PHP v7 < 7.0.9 a warning is displayed in the WordPress Dashboard asking the site owner to upgrade to PHP v7.0.9 or higher. Note: While PHP v7.0.9 is adequate, PHP v7.0.10 is strongly recommended. See Issue #272.
  • New SparkPost Integration (Pro): It is now possible to use SparkPost for Replies-via-Email (RVE) instead of Mandrill. Note that SparkPost is now the suggested RVE Handler for Comment Mail because Mandrill changed its pricing structure a while back. In short, Mandrill requires a fee, whereas SparkPost (recommended) offers Relay Webhooks as a part of their free plan. See Issue #265.
  • New Feature (Pro): Adding support for MailChimp integration. It is now possible to give users the option of subscribing to your site-wide mailing list whenever they leave a comment or reply; i.e., in addition to subscribing to comment reply notifications they can also join your MailChimp mailing list. See Issue #114.

Props to everyone who helped with this release, including @kristineds, @renzms, @jaswsinc, IvanRF, @lucashall, @bobinoz, @aptharsia, and our 8 Beta Testers!

Upgrading to the Latest Version

Comment Mail Lite users should receive an update notification from within their WordPress Dashboard (Dashboard → Updates).

Comment Mail Pro users who have configured the Plugin Updater (Dashboard → Comment Mail → Pro Updater) should receive a notification to upgrade on the WordPress Dashboard. If you have not configured the Pro Updater, you can download the latest version of Comment Mail Pro by logging into your Comment-Mail.com account here. You'll find a download link for the latest version on your Account page. There's also a Release Archive if you need to access previous versions of Comment Mail.

Please report bugs and feedback on GitHub. If you are a Comment Mail Pro user and require priority support, please open a support ticket here.