✨✨General Discussions

When I first took on the role of "IT Guy" here at NaCCRA, almost all the forums were set up so that every NaCCRA member was automatically included as a member of that forum. Moreover, the default for the forum mail was set so we got an email copy of every post.

Consequently, when activity on the forums increased, people were inundated with emails that didn't really interest them. Many people clicked the button for "stop all [forum] mail."

I suspect that new members also get mail from all of the forums until they adjust their profile settings. So, here's my question:

Should I reconfigure all of the forums except "General" to be opt-in membership? They would still be visible to all, but NaCCRA members wouldn't get mail unless the opted in.

The regulars here know that they can almost always elect to follow one particular thread of discussion in any forum by email if they wish. There's a button for that in the upper right corner of the screen.

Comments?

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

I say leave it as is. Thus people will be aware of all Forums and discussion. This is often valuable information, keeps members informed of all concerns. One can always opt out of those of no interest.

I agree with Delores, "I say leave it as is. Thus people will be aware of all Forums and discussion. This is often valuable information, keeps members informed of all concerns. One can always opt out of those of no interest."

I clicked the link to see Forum Policy at the bottom of an email. Further down the email bottom there is a link to On-line Profile to opt-out. There is the topic Forum Memberships to manage opt in or out of a forum. These are good, but perhaps there should be a link that goes directly to the Forum Memberships when saying the link is to opt-out. Make a separate link for Profile. Make the bottom of emails not so wordy and streamline the choices, to make it clearer. Policy, Profile, Opt-Out/In Settings.

On-line, there is no button in the upper right corner of the screen anywhere that I see. (I may need another cup of coffee, it is early). The only place I see a button for settings is when I open a forum like General Discussions, and on the upper LEFT of the screen is the button My Forum Preferences including to send emails.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

I would not make new forums "opt-in". If someone doesn't care for them, they can opt out.

Which one is the join icon?

Thanks Richmond for all the great work you are doing on the website!

Susan Farkas

Susan,

The green icon is "join".

In the screenshot below, the red symbol [on/off], when clicked, turns the forum off. It is replaced by a green symbol that, when clicked, turns it on to opt you in.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

Even though all of the forums are visible to NaCCRA members on the website, NaCCRA members probably give more attention to their email accounts than to the NaCCRA website. 

Since getting emails of forum messages is dependent on forum membership, making all forums except “General” opt-in for forum membership decreases NaCCRA members’ awareness of the forums, and thus their participation in them. And this would especially be true for new NaCCRA members.

For that reason, I oppose making all forums except “General” opt-in for membership.

Why is clicking on a “join” or “quit” icon to opt in or out of forum membership even needed?

As it is, all forums, except for three (“Announcements”, “Community Associations”, and “Financial Soundness”), are available for posting by all NaCCRA members.  Why require them to go through the opting in/out step?

At present this is required for only six forums, but if you “reconfigure all of the forums except "General" to be opt-in membership”, that would be 25 forums.

I had the same question. But then I discovered that lots of our members didn't know how to choose what mail they would get. So they would get a separate email every time someone posted. That can be several a day. Sure, you can opt for a summary instead, or even "no mail" for topics of low interest, but many don't know that. I'll look for a time to do a drop-in coaching session for those who want to fine-tune what they get.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

Richmond,

Other possible ways to educate about controlling emails:

Append an explanation at the bottom of all emails.

Make a video explaining this, include it on the website, and refer to it at the bottom of all emails.

Philippa,

Give me a critique of the fine print at the bottom of all the forum emails.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

Richmond,

I'm so sorry! I didn't realize there was already instruction about emails at the bottom of each email. I should have looked.

I'll get back to you later with any critique I may have.

Perhaps the fact that I never noticed this before says something about whether it's worthwhile even having it.

I have participated in other online forums, and none of them have the complexity of settings that NaCCRA's does. For me it's a turn-off, but I can see it's due to having multiple forums for different topics.

Philippa, I opened the Forums main page. I went to the special forum section at the bottom.

To opt in to a forum: I click to open the forum "Florida Legislative Discussion Forum". I am not subscribed. I see at the screen top "To participate in this forum, click here to go to your Profile – Forum Memberships screen and join the forum.". The Forum Memberships page has a list of forums with a green symbol by each forum to opt in. If you already are opted in (auto or otherwise), you get an edit symbol to edit your preference. It may be that "reset to default" causes an opt out? Not clear to me.

To subscribe to a thread in the forum: I then opened up a thread "Update - FLiCRA Newsletter". I do not see an opt in symbol on top right of the screen that others are saying is there. I do see a red button "Subscribe". The button changes to unsubscribe if clicked. So, this is a back-and-forth toggle to opt in or opt out of the thread.

Does anyone see anything different? I think a clear "how to" is needed overall for all of this. Perhaps clarity of text at the bottom of emails, and at the top of a forum page, and at the top of a thread page can help with this.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

For some reason I cannot edit my last post - frustrating.

I did go to the Forum Memberships page, and back to the special forum that I opted into on Florida Legislative Discussion. And if I click the green symbol, that is how to opt out, and the edit button disappears. The special forums are the only ones with this process. The other forums are automatic subscribed to members and all have just the edit button to edit preferences.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

Linda,

Re your third paragraph:

The "subscribe/unsubscribe" button in a thread is not for opting in or out of the thread. It's for getting/not getting emails for the thread if you aren’t a member of the forum, or if you are a member of the forum but didn’t choose to get emails for all the messages in the forum.

Linda,

What I just posted appears to be wrong. I quit the “Fundraising” forum, and when I go into the individual threads, there is no “Subscribe/unsubscribe” button. 

To the best of my knowledge, being a member of a forum and being a member of a thread are mutually exclusive. It is one or the other. Our webmaster knows best.

Also Club Express provides some options for configurations but many things cannot be just changed at will just because we don't like the way they are.

Philippa - yes, I know that. I was simply reporting what I saw.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

_________________________

Linda,

Re your third paragraph:

The "subscribe/unsubscribe" button in a thread is not for opting in or out of the thread. It's for getting/not getting emails for the thread if you aren’t a member of the forum, or if you are a member of the forum but didn’t choose to get emails for all the messages in the forum.

Philippa - I only see the red button "Subscribe/unsubscribe" in the Members Only and Special Forums forums, when I open a thread.

The variations of the forums and managing preferences is very complicated.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

Richmond,

My critique:

There are three topics: Source of this email, limiting emails, and NaCCRA non-responsibility for truth of members’ posts, but as presented these are scrambled.

I would put source of this email first, assuming this is the most frequent problem for new members. 

Limiting emails 2nd - related to #1 - see critique below.

NaCCRA non-responsibility 3rd. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Limiting emails - existing text:

You may choose to limit emails like this. There are many options. Change the settings in your member profile to get only the email you want or even none at all.

Change preferences (including opt-out): Online Profile. Click on 'Forum Memberships' to change your settings for this forum, or 'Forum General Preferences' for all forums.

Maybe should explain that there are multiple forums to handle different topics, which probably new members haven’t experienced before.

Suggested new text:

You may choose to limit emails like this by going to your Online Profile. and choosing “Forums”. There are different forums for different topics. To stop emails for individual topics, choose “Forum Memberships”. To stop all emails from all the forums, choose “Forum General Preferences”.

For the sake of simplicity, the above does not mention daily digests or thread subscriptions.

Thanks. I have put your suggestions on my to-do list. I'm thinking of adding a link to a snippet of video to show how to open the profile and navigate to the forum settings pages.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

Philippa,

I was able to substitute your wording for the original but not change the sequence. The last part is on all email the website generates, the part you restated is specific to the forums. The way ClubExpress works, I can change that sequence. Also, I can't add live links --- at least not without monkeying with code, and that's not something I do well.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

Richmond, I do not see that red - green symbol. What page is that on? Can you give a full screen shot?

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

You probably need to scroll down to the bottom of the screen. (Screen shots attached)

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator

Richmond, thanks for the screenshots. Now I see you are in the My Forum Preferences that I myself referenced before.

Someone had said there was a opt in symbol on the top right of the screen, and I cannot find that anywhere, hence my question. I thought that was when reading in a forum and viewing a page or something.

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

Linda,

Richmond said there’s a button in the upper right corner of the screen “to follow one particular thread . . . in any forum by email . . . .” That would be in the upper right corner of the page for the thread.  

If you do not have that it’s probably because you are already getting emails for all threads in the particular forum. If you weren’t you would see a red “subscribe” button in the upper right corner of the thread page.

correct. If you already get email the button is not displayed.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Moderator