FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FFSFBA YAHOO MAILING LIST GROUP
 

1. Do I have to be a subscriber of Yahoo?

No, you will receive emailed copies of FFSFBA announcements if you have a valid email address, whether or not you have signed up as a Yahoo subscriber. However, signing up as a Yahoo subscriber is free, and it does have some advantages. For example, it makes it possible for you to easily control your email from the group, to change your email address yourself, to review past email messages in the group archive, etc. Filling out part of your Yahoo Member Profile allows you to determine how your name appears to others who view the list, overriding the initial name format used when the group was created. Yahoo subscribers can also use web-based email, which can be handy when you are traveling and rely on Internet Cafes instead of carrying your own computer along. Subscribers also get a Yahoo email address, which you don't have to use unless you wish.

If you pay $20/year, or if  you have a Yahoo account through your Internet Service Provider (ATT/SCB), you can set it to forward all emails to your usual email address, or you can have your usual email software fetch the emails using the usual POP (Post Office Protocol) service. Otherwise, you'll have to log in to Yahoo from time to time to check whether you have any email. Make sure you choose not to accept email with Yahoo promotions and promotions from Yahoo's friends whenever you are given a choice, however, or you could begin receiving new unwanted emails from those sources.

 
2. Will being part of the FFSFBA Yahoo email group cause me to get a lot of spam?  

No, only members of the ffsfba Yahoo email group are allowed to send emails to the group, so the only way you'd get spam is if someone maliciously joins the group in order to spam it. Yahoo has also made it difficult for outsiders to get and copy the email list of the group, though it is not impossible. The list manager can ban malicious users, so any problem should be temporary, and if this gets to be annoying we can stop allowing people to join the group on their own, requiring managerial approval. We can also require each message sent to be approved by a group manager (moderator) if this becomes necessary. We haven't turned on that feature yet, because it causes delays that could reduce the usefulness of the email (the messages then have to wait until some member authorized to moderate the list notices them, which could be several days at times).  

3. How do I change my email address for the ffsfba Yahoo group?  

There are two ways.

• As a Yahoo nonsubscriber, the easiest way is probably to send email from your old address to: ffsfba-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com . Then send email from your new address to: ffsfba-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .  
  

  If you have problems, you can reach management of the list by emailing to: ffsfba-owner@yahoogroups.com .
  So, emailing ffsfba-owner and asking the owner to change your info is another alternative. But it's less work for everyone if you can just do it yourself . . . .  
   

• If you are a Yahoo subscriber, sign in to Yahoo using your web browser and then go to your Groups page by clicking on the Groups link in the list following the "Connect" category name. (Since Yahoo pages can be customized, your experience may differ.) On the Groups page, in the upper left is a list of "My Groups" to which you belong. Click on the ffsfba group. There you can see the archived messages, and you can click on "Edit my Membership" to change your email address or change the way your email is delivered (e.g., with HTML allowed or not, as individual messages or collected in digests daily, etc.) Then click on "Save Changes" to complete the update.  

 
4. How do I send messages to the group?  

Compose your email as usual, and address it to: ffsfba@yahoogroups.com .

 
5. What happens if I reply to an email sent to the group?  

The first email you got, telling you about the formation of the group, was special–if you reply to that one, it removes you from the group. (Yahoo doesn't want anyone to be in the group involuntarily, so they make it really easy to get out!)  

All subsequent emails will have subject lines starting with "[ffsfba]" to make them easier for you or your email filter programs to recognize. If you reply to one of these, your email goes only to the person who sent the email message you are replying to, not to the whole group. Your email software, however, may change this behavior. Some email programs add the group address automatically to the cc: line, which you then have to manually delete (or not, as you wish).  

 
6. How do I reply to a message with copy to everyone, if I want to do that?

Add the address "ffsfba@yahoogroups.com " to the "To:" or "Cc:" field of the reply email you compose, and it will go to the whole list.  

 
7. What can I include in an email to the group?  

You cannot send any attached files. This restriction also blocks pictures included in the body of the email, because those are usually treated like attached files. The reason for this restriction is that the only kind of material that can be reliably read by everyone's email software is plain text. HTML (styles) are not permitted. You must send plain text without styles or other formatting. Note that your email program may require you to change your preferences or options in order to send plain text email.

If you need to distribute an attachment of some kind (e.g., pictures or a map), send it directly to our webmaster first. The webmaster can convert the material to a universally readable format (like PDF) and then put the material on the FFSFBA web site and provide you the URL to include in your email. Thus, your email will say something like: "For a map, see http://www.ffsfba.org/MapForParty.pdf" or "For a map, see the party information on the FFSFBA web site: http://www.ffsfba.org/".  

Summary: keep your email brief and simple, using unformatted text. Put all the big or complex stuff like drawings, maps, flyers, or photos on the web site instead, and tell people where to find it.
 

8. How can I view the archived emails that have been sent to the group?  

With your web browser, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ffsfba/   Note that you must have a (free) Yahoo ID (account) in order to view the archived emails.