User Guide
Subscribing/Posting via Email
User Guide
YahooGroups could be used online or via Email. In its final year, it was only possible to post via Email and many users have expressed a wish to be able to continue to post that way.
As Forums.Group was designed to be a replacement of YahooGroups, we have to provide the ability to let it work with email, like YahooGroups.
A phpBB forum does not have that function by default, so we had to build it. As forums have more than section, we had to add the ability to set the forum the user wishes to post in. We discuss this below.
Subscribing to the Group via Email
Before you register, you need to determine following information:
Groupname: The name of the group you wish to join.
Email address: You have to decide which email address you want to use with the forum. All messages to the forum have to use this address, as otherwise they will be rejected.
Username: What username you wish to use, this is one word and you can use underscores in it. e.g. "healthguy" or "health_guy" but not "health guy"
Groupname: The name of the group you wish to join.
Email address: You have to decide which email address you want to use with the forum. All messages to the forum have to use this address, as otherwise they will be rejected.
Username: What username you wish to use, this is one word and you can use underscores in it. e.g. "healthguy" or "health_guy" but not "health guy"
Password: It is possible to determine the password you want to use, otherwise you will be assigned a password.
On this page, we will use the following sample data. Substitute it with your own data on your group:
<groupname>: Minutus
<your-email> : healthguy@example.com
<username> : healthguy
<your-email> : healthguy@example.com
<username> : healthguy
<password> : MyPassword1234
You need to send the subscription emails to the correct email address. We use the same convention as YahooGroups.
In our example, you would send the email to: minutus-subscribe@forums.group
Email-syntax : <groupname>-subscribe@forums.group
Example - To : minutus-subscribe@forums.group
- Start your email program and compose a new email.
- Set the From address to healthguy@example.com
- Set the To address to minutus-subscribe@forums.group
- Set the subject line to: healthguy
- Leave the body blank and send the email. It can take 5 or more minutes before you receive a reply.
- The reply will give you the login data and your password that you can use to login to the forum.
Note that the group admin may have to approve your account before you can post.
With the above procedure, you will be assigned a password and it will be sent to you. If you want to define your password as well, add the following to the body of the text:
Username: healthguy
Password: MyPassword1234
This will override any username given in the subject line.
Send the email and wait for the reply, it can take up to 5 minutes for the system to send you a reply.
Where necessary, wait for the admin to approve your account.
Logging in to the Group Forum
While you can subscribe, unsubscribe and post messages via email, the group forum offers a lot more functionality that can only be done online. Once you have registered and been approved, you should login to the group's forum to learn more, update your profile and browse the messages that have already been posted.
You now just have to login to use the forum. If you click on the little 'Remember me' box, you will remain logged in the next time you visit the forum on the same device.
UnSubscribing from the Group via Email
To remove yourself from a group, you need to know the correct name of the group, the email address you use and your username.
In this example, we are using the same example data as when Subscribing.
Email-syntax : <groupname>-unsubscribe@forums.group
Example - To : minutus-unsubscribe@forums.group
In our example, you would send the email to: minutus-unsubscribe@forums.group
- Start your email program and compose a new email.
- Set the From address to healthguy@example.com
- Set the To address to minutus-unsubscribe@forums.group
- Set the subject line to: healthguy
- Leave the body blank and send the email. It can take 5 or more minutes before you receive a reply.
When the reply comes, check it to determine if your unsubscription was successful.
Note: If you unsubscribed in error, please contact the admin - do not try to subscribe again as that would create a new account.
Posting a new Topic on the Group
Important: We generally recommend posting on the forum itself which you can learn about, here.
Posting via email has been implemented to make it easier for those who prefer to post that way.
This is slightly more complicated than it was on YahooGroups as a forum has more than one section. You therefore need to define the section you wish to post to on the subject line in this format:
Subject: [Minutus] <forumname> - <Topicname>
Do not write "Subject:" on the subject line.
Writing the group name is optional, e.g. "[Minutus]"
<forumname> is the full name of the forum to post to. You must have permission to post to that section. e.g. "Books & Authors"
" - " is simply a space, a hyphen and another space to separate the forum name from the topic name.
<Topicname> is the title of the new topic you want to start. If the topic name already exists, your post will be added to the end of it. e.g. "This is a Great Book to Read"
Example for the subject line: [Minutus] Books & Authors - This is a Great Book to Read
Alternative shorter subject line: Books & Authors - This is a Great Book to Read
You then have to write the text for your message, of course. When finished, send the email out to everyone.
Allow at least 5 minutes for your post to appear on the group. If it does not, check your email account for an error message.
Replying to a Topic on the Group
Note: This feature is still being completed and is subject to change.
Posting via email has been implemented to make it easier for those who prefer to post that way.
When you receive a post from the forum via email, all you have to do is click reply, write your message and then send it.
Important: DO NOT CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE!
The system uses the subject line to properly assign your message to the correct post. If you change the subject line, a new post will be created, instead.
Syntax : Re: [<groupname>] <forumname> - <Topicname>
Example: Re: [Minutus] Books & Authors - This is a Great Book to Read
Do not write "Subject:" on the subject line.
Writing the group name is optional, e.g. "[Minutus]"
<forumname> is the full name of the forum to post to. You must have permission to post to that section. e.g. "Books & Authors"
" - " is simply a space, a hyphen and another space to separate the forum name from the topic name.
<Topicname> is the title of the new topic you want to start. If the topic name already exists, your post will be added to the end of it. e.g. "This is a Great Book to Read"
You then have to write the text for your message, of course. When finished, send the email.
Allow at least 5 minutes for your post to appear on the group. If it does not, check your email account for an error message.
Writing to the Group Owner (admin)
If you need to send a private message to the admin team (all admins will receive this), you can use the owner email address. This has the same format as with YahooGroups.
Syntax : <groupname>-owner@forums.group
Example: minutus-owner@forums.group
Note: Such emails are checked for spam and against the stopforumspam database. Sending spam to the owner can get you reported to the stopforumspam.com database and banned from forums.group
