Egroup Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Q-1. What is an Egroup? A. “Egroup” is a trademark of the Yahoo.com. An Egroup is similar to a ListServ for those familiar with these. The NEA uses many ListServs. There are two main kinds of Egroups: 1. A DISCUSSION group. This type of group sends all messages (emails) to ALL members. The advantage is open communication. The disadvantage is a significant increase in email traffic. 2. A DISTRIBUTION (“newsletter”) group. This is one-way communication – you to the group. While additional moderators can be added, there is no real way for individual members to address other members without going through a moderator. Advantages – less email and more control of information. Disadvantages – less information, more work for moderators. For more information about Discussion and Distribution Egroups and other FAQs not on this page click here. Q-2 How do I set up an Egroup? (Note: other providers, such as Google Groups, provide a similar service.) A. YAHOO! provides a free service called yahoogroups that is free and easy to use. Here is how: 1. Open or create a free YAHOO! account at yahoo.com. 2. Look on the left side of the Yahoo! main page for "Groups" and click there (or use this link: http://groups. yahoo.com/start). 3. Follow the instructions provided by YAHOO! Q-3. How is an Egroup superior to a simple address book? A. Two main reasons: 1. Security – the email addresses of the participants do NOT appear on the emails, only the Egroup name. While this can be accomplished with blind copy features on some Internet services, using an Egroup is easier. 2. Flexibility – Egroups can be used without a personal Internet Service Provider from any computer with Internet access. Egroups may also be easily configured and controlled by the owner and the user. Egroups provides a “tour” link that shows how. Q-4. What is the advantage of Egroups over AOL Groups or group-bot, etc? A. yahoogroups.com is the most flexible and easy to use. It has only one major draw back – Egroups cannot be stacked. That is, one Egroup cannot have another subordinate Egroup as a member. This is a minimal problem for most people. Q-5. How do you join, quit or send messages to the XXX Egroup? A. Email Addresses: Post message: XXX@yahoogroups.com (only allowed in DISCUSSION type Egroups – see Q-1 above) Subscribe: XXX-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: XXX-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: XXX-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: XXX-owner@yahoogroups.com (Sends a message to the Egroup owner) URL to group page: http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/XXX Q-6 How do I get my Egroup messages? A. They are delivered to you as email. NOTE – Egroup emails often contain hyperlinks (blue text that when clicked leads to another Internet page). They also send “two-week reminders” that contain hyperlinks. Do NOT click on the hyperlink to read your email – just scroll down below the hyperlink. Q-7. What about disclaimers if I set up an Egroup? A. You need one. Something like this might be good. Check with your legal services department for assistance. Sample –“This service is provided without warranty of any kind. Use all information and files at your own risk and verify information prior to acting upon it. Downloads my contain viruses, etc. The owner of this Egroup may exclude any user at his/her sole discretion.” Q-8. How do I change my email address? Answer: Changing email addresses on Yahoogroups. Standard Yahoogroups Change Address Instructions Yahoogroups are self-subscribing. You must change your subscriptions. gaEnews and MSCLeaders email groups are examples of SELF subscribing Yahoogroups. People sometimes change their email addresses. If you are changing yours, we want to keep your subscription to the gaEnews & MSCleaders active! Therefore, we are providing you with this information so you can change YOUR subscriptions. To CHANGE your email address: This example is for gaEnews. For other Yahoogroups, such as "mscleaders", substitute the name of the other Yahoogroup for "gaenews". Remember to keep the hyphens. Upper and lower case do not matter. 1. From the OLD email address send a blank email to gaenews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Yahoo will read your email address off the email you sent and REMOVE the OLD email address from the subscriber list. 2. From the NEW email address send a blank email to gaenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The computer at Yahoo will read your email address off the email you sent and add it to the subscriber list. 3. You MAY receive a confirmation email from Yahoo. If you do, please follow the instructions in the email. You have now changed your email subscription to GAEnews. Repeat this process for your other Yahoogroup subscriptions by substituting the name of the Yahoogroup (such as "mscleaders") where ever "gaenews" appears in the instructions above. Further changes to email addresses can be avoided by using an email service that is independent of your service provider. Some service providers are: ATT, Comcast, Charter, Bellsouth, Windstream, etc. Some free email services are: AOL (http://aol.com), Yahoo (http://yahoo.com), Hotmail (http://get.live. com/mail/options), Google (http://gmail.com). If you are a participant in any organization (such as the GAE District 2 Council) that uses Google documents and other features, you will need a gmail.com email account to fully access these features, so using a gmail.com email account may be easier for you. This listing is FYI and is not an endorsement or recommendation of any services. Thank you for subscribing to GAEnews. Please encourage other GAE members to subscribe as well. |