Cron removes Simplenews subscriptions for blocked users

[amilenkov]

After upgrading Simplenews from 1.x-1.2.1 to 1.x-1.2.3, running cron unsubscribes/removes newsletter subscriptions associated with blocked user accounts created through Ubercart checkout.

The user accounts themselves remain present and blocked. Only the Simplenews subscriptions are affected.

This behavior appears even when simplenews_rules is disabled.

I would like to suggest making the relation between newsletter subscription status and user account status configurable.

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Environment

• Backdrop CMS: latest stable version
• Ubercart enabled
• Simplenews upgraded from 1.x-1.2.1 → 1.x-1.2.3
• simplenews_rules module disabled
• One newsletter list
• About 918 active subscribers before cron

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Steps to reproduce

1. Install/enable Ubercart and Simplenews.
2. Enable anonymous checkout in Ubercart.
3. Allow newsletter subscriptions during checkout.
4. Complete orders using guest/temporary customer accounts that later become blocked users.
5. Upgrade Simplenews from 1.x-1.2.1 to 1.x-1.2.3.
6. Run database updates.
7. Run cron manually.

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Actual result

After cron:

• active subscribers dropped from 918 to 222
• subscriptions associated with blocked user accounts were removed/unsubscribed
• blocked user accounts themselves remained present in the users list
• subscriptions belonging to active users (for example administrator accounts) remained intact
• subscriptions created through the public newsletter subscription form by visitors without user accounts also remained intact

The issue occurs even with simplenews_rules disabled.

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Expected result

Blocked user accounts should not automatically lose newsletter subscriptions unless this behavior is explicitly configured by the site administrator.

Many real stores intentionally keep newsletter subscriptions for customers whose accounts are blocked or inactive, because the subscription represents marketing consent tied to the email address, not necessarily to the current user account status.

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Additional notes

Version 1.x-1.2.1 does not show this behavior on the same site and database.

The issue became visible only after upgrading and running cron.

I currently reverted the production site back to 1.x-1.2.1.

[alanmels]

Hello @amilenkov and thanks for reporting this issue. Unfortunately, AltaGrade Team is working on a large project and won't be able to tackle this any time soon. But we would happily review and accept PR if you are able to provide one.

[olafgrabienski]

I would like to suggest making the relation between newsletter subscription status and user account status configurable.

I could only vaguely recall that there is a setting for this – and indeed, that is the case: on the page admin/config/services/simplenews/settings/subscription, there is an option called "Synchronize with account". Description:

When enabled, newsletter subscriptions will be synchronized with site user accounts. Subscriptions matching deleted accounts will be removed, and subscriptions will be deactivated or activated based on whether the associated account is blocked or unblocked. If disabled, subscriptions will remain unchanged regardless of account status.

But if you disable this option in the current Simplenews version, the setting is not being respected: Blocked user accounts continue to be unsubscribed during a cron run. So, to fix the issue, it should be enough that the "Synchronize with account" setting gets respected.